#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. “Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix.”—USA Today • “As one adventure leads expertly to the next, time simply evaporates.”—Entertainment Weekly A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready? In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is … the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days.
When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself.
Then Wade cracks the first clue. Suddenly he’s beset by rivals who’ll kill to take this prize. The race is on—and the only way to survive is to win.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Entertainment Weekly • San Francisco Chronicle • Village Voice • Chicago Sun-Times • iO9 • The AV Club
“Delightful . . . the grown-up’s Harry Potter.”—HuffPost
“An addictive read . . . part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance, and all heart.”—CNN
“A most excellent ride . . . Cline stuffs his novel with a cornucopia of pop culture, as if to wink to the reader.”—Boston Globe
“Ridiculously fun and large-hearted . . . Cline is that rare writer who can translate his own dorky enthusiasms into prose that’s both hilarious and compassionate.”—NPR
“[A] fantastic page-turner . . . starts out like a simple bit of fun and winds up feeling like a rich and plausible picture of future friendships in a world not too distant from our own.”—iO9
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There is a very good reason that this one got made into a movie.
Very good story
Awesomely Eighties
I’ve been in a stump with books ( a series of short stories had me gnashing my teeth) and then this book came along. I’m reviewing as I’m reading…yeah, it’s that kind of book.
I’ve not played video games in a while…messed around recently with Halo Spartan Strike and Spartan Assault on my Windows 10, and I’m currently struggling with Dungeon Hunter 4 on same platform. It’s complicated, there are so many things to do and to see, and it’s really making me feel my age, sigh. What are kids playing these days, huh?
So, when this book mentioned Contra, mentioned The Matrix, mentioned Firefly, oh, boy, you can bet your rear I woke the hell up.
The mix of references to stuff I grew up with and loved, with the new stuff (VR gaming and all that stuff) was just awesome. I like the way the author seeks to include as much audience as possible. “***from the Metaverse to the Matrix. The Firefly universe was anchored in a sector adjacent to the Star Wars galaxy, with a detailed re-creation of the Star Trek universe in the sector adjacent to that. Users could now teleport back and forth between their favorite fictional worlds. Middle Earth. Vulcan. Pern. Arrakis. Magrathea. Discworld, Mid-World, Riverworld, Ringworld. Worlds upon worlds***”
And you can just plainly see he’s an author that cares about the people reading. He’s concerned with actually entertaining as well as educating folks on this gaming subculture. Example; “***Completing quests, fighting NPCs, and gathering treasure were the only ways a low-level avatar like mine could earn experience points (XPs). Earning XPs was how you increased your avatar’s power level, strength, and abilities***”. The fact that he bothered to even explain what XPs were just blew my mind. I would have just assumed that every reader alive knew what XPs were…!
I first ever knew of IRL from this book. And figured it out all by myself. Yeah, allow me gloat. Saw a clip of the movie and saw Robocop strolling by. Y’know, the real silver Robocop. Not that black matte dude. Also saw Leonardo from TMNT, the bulky one from the…Michael Bay movie?
I think I’ll like the RP1 movie.
I appreciate the way the author keeps the dangers of online presence crystal clear. It’s easy to see he’s the kind of person that loves gaming and the Internet…but also has a healthy fear of it.
The bleakness of the “real” world he built was so, well, so real. And so freaking scary (“***My visor was a brand-new pair of Dinatro RLR-7800 WreckSpex, featuring a top-of-the-line virtual retinal display. The visor drew the OASIS directly onto my retinas, at the highest frame rate and resolution perceptible to the human eye. The real world looked washed-out and blurry by ccompariso***”). Sorta makes you glad you’re not immortal, eh?
*The Shaptic ÜberBetty* had me ROTF. And also “***A dude just ahead of me in line actually had a top-of-the-line miniature Sinatro OASIS console concealed inside a prosthetic testicle. Talk about balls***” .
I simply loved checking the references I wasn’t familiar with on the Internet.
So, were those deux ex machinas? I’m not sure. I would have preferred we’d been given offhand hints near the start of the novel. But, still, hell of a good job.
There is absolutely no way I will not ever buy this book, God granting me life. This book was simply awesome.
Off to watch the movie tonight. Must not sleep off in church tomorrow morning though…
I listened to the audio book for this one, then bought the Kindle book. I think it’s hilarious that the author had Wil Wheaton as a character in the book, then had him read the audio book. Very enjoyable read, so good I’m refusing the watch the movie.
This was good fun. An enjoyable read.
In my opinion, this book might be enjoyed especially by those who are into video games (esp. historic video games). It is a quick read. There are only a few major characters and it is easy to keep up with them. The plot is intense, but not complicated. I really enjoyed reading this book, but again, it’s not for everyone (but what book is?).
Great 80’s nostalgia!
I couldn’t put I down. It has an excellent plot. And it makes me wish we had VR like they have.
I’m a child of the 80’s. I loved the 80’s. I want to go back there.
So like every other tragic fan of that era I thought this book was tailor made for me.
Unfortunately this was the closest I’ve ever come to a DNF. 80% of this was not a story. It was name dropping for the sake of it. For the first half of this book I felt like I was sitting in a room with someone simply reading through a list of 80’s movies, TV shows, songs and fictional characters. That’s it. That’s all it was. It was 20% story, and 80% filler. And the 20% story was filled with overly convenient and simplistic plot devices.
“Oh let’s pull this thing out of my inventory that was never mentioned anywhere else in the the book which just happens to be the exact thing I need to progress further!”
Sorry, but I’m angry. Because so many people love this book. So many people I respect. But I can’t help but think they all got so caught up in the reminiscing that they didn’t notice that this is a terrible story.
I look forward to seeing what Spielberg does with the movie, because if anyone can make something good out of this, he can. And he’s the perfect person to turn this into what it should have been.
ok, not memorable
Way better than the movie, and full of great 80’s references like D&D, Ghostbusters, old Atari Video games etc. Lots of fun, especially for nerds B-)
Wow. Any nerd/geek/sci-fi/gamer/80’s child needs to read this book!
A wonderful take on the immersion of a VR world, where the lines are blurred between reality and fiction. Wade Watts, an extremely likable hero is immersed in OASIS, an online world simulation that is so well built, rendered and thought out, I was expecting to see it advertised in real life.
His quest, along with everyone else, is a race against time to beat the corporation who is trying to hijack the OASIS world by finding the creators final Easter egg. Cue an overload of geeky and 80’s references which eventually become a little too much.
Whilst the book is wonderfully written and gave my goosebumps and got me pumped up, it felt a little too convenient at times, that the characters had a wealth of knowledge far beyond what anyone could manage. BUT – what an entertaining few hours!
Best Sci-Fi I Have Read Since The Forever War
This is truly a masterpiece from Ernest Cline, he did an amazing job showing a “flash forward and flashback, at the same time” – Steven Spielberg,
I Recommend this book to anyone and everyone who loves pop-culture references, sci-fi, action and adventure!
It wasn’t the movie, but it reminded me greatly of the 80’s that the trivia from the book/movie is based upon
Cline has managed to combine a dismal future world with the best of the 80’s to create a country where Wade a teen lost in the Oasis a, VR wonderland, can become a hero. You can be a child of the 80’s or teen today who loves all things gaming and VR and love this book. As always, the movie was great but the book was even better.
Ready Player one is a clever look at a dystopian future where retro pop knowledge might actually save your life.
I LOVE techy—BUT and this is a big but—- this book is anti Christian— actually makes fun of it. And has a few swear words — almost put it down because of this….. sad that it is such a good story line but I knocked off a star because of this.
The movie bears a passing resemblance to the book. The book includes a lot of history of video games and computer systems as well as being futuristic. The characters are well developed, there is lots of action and a some 1980s trivia.