READY PLAYER ONE BY ERNEST CLINE
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian
Format: Audiobook
“Being human totally sucks most of the time. Videogames are the only thing that make life bearable.”
― Ernest Cline, Ready Player One
Synopsis:
It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.
And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune — and remarkable power — to whoever can unlock them.
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved — that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.
And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.
Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt — among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life — and love — in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.
A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?
WOW! This is every nerdy kid’s dream! Listening to this book, being narrated by Wil Wheaten made this book 10x better if that is even possible. I was a little hesitant when I first picked up Ready Player One. Because I have heard nothing, but good things about this book.
I was worried about it being over-hyped (and oh man was that a mistake. It is so worth all the hype!) Although I have an intense love of books and a nerdy side. Gaming has never really been an obsession of mine.
At the beginning of the book, there were times I felt a little confused. I was trying to keep up on all the gaming and way the system works. But Cline does an absolutely amazing job with details and descriptions. It did not take me long to understand and see the world unravel before my eyes. I have to say being a huge movie fan ( and one that loves movies from the 80s) I totally loved all of the 80s pop culture references and the part it had played in the whole story.
The story was action packed and Cline took the story in interesting directions. I was never quite sure what to expect. I feel like this book was filled with content that can appease to so many different readers. It was a super fun read! I had a hard time putting it down. I was completely captivated and totally immersed into the story and characters. At times I also felt like I was getting a peek at the future. There are so many parts of this story that are already starting to take place. (like peoples dependance on technology etc) The characters were also an amazing part of this book.
Being in a situation where you have two different lives, a real and virtual. It was interesting to see the characters develop and evolve from both sides. Wade as well as the other characters had complex backgrounds. It was nice to see their back story unfold as well and give more insight to their life/ actions they take in Oasis.
Overall this was a fantastic book that completely surprised and shocked me. It brought out my nerdy side and added to my already obsessive love for the great accomplishments of the 80s! (John Hughes movies!) I loved that this book had more than just a gaming aspect. It really covered some topics of love and life! I recommend this to everyone who enjoys gaming, 80s pop culture, fun adventures, gripping action packed stories! Basically I think every person could find something they love about this book!
