#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
more
Although the story lags at times, if you are into sci-fi or nostalgia about the 80’s computers and video games, you will like this book.
The simplest thing to say about this story is that it is a lot of fun. It’s like a roller coaster ride, so have patience with the slow build up the first hill. After that, it takes off and is an enjoyable journey. The blend of virtual reality and the real world is so seamless that suspension of disbelief comes easy. The movement into virtual reality is so smooth that it creates tension and risk for the hero through his avatar. I also enjoyed Neuromancer and Snow Crash, and would place Ready Player One next to them on a shelf.
I really loved this book! It was unusual, and very
Sci-fi. I really like reading or seeing Sci-fi!!
This boy had many disadvantages and so he escaped into another world created by a genius.
This man, the genius, was giving away something big if anyone could find something
very hard to find!! It is real exciting and builds and builds till the end!! I recommend this book
highly if you like Sci-fi nonstop action!
Briefly about the book – We are in the future, in 2045 into a world where real life is not worth too much and growth takes place mainly in the virtual world. But here, the virtual world is the eighties we all know with the shocking music, the Atari computer games and worshiping the details of strange trivia.
Wade solves a puzzle in the game, and like in a Pacman game, all the monsters chase him and try to kill him. I suppose you already get the idea of the book now.
The writer takes us for a journey in every possible detail on the many computer games as well as various songs that were common in the eighties. It gets a bit tedious sometimes, but it helps that the writer also knows how to write well, and thus puts us into a fascinating and somewhat addictive computer game. It’s hard to get out of it until life is over.
Game Over.
It is a book that builds around the reader a virtual world that is no longer so much science fiction but as old age. It is possible that life on Earth in thirty years from now will look like described in the book. No, I don’t believe so, but it’s fun to think about it.
The book is characterized by the tension that is evident in the various games and some tiresome descriptions of the 80s that, for me, has managed to destroy the same atmosphere.
Warning, the book has some individual sections of sex that make it unsuitable for youth.
In short, this is a lovely reading book that is worth four stars.
Wonderful fun. Inventive, intriguing, and completely entertaining. So, essentially, everything the disappointing movie adaptation was not. Forget the movie and read this instead.
This book is a love letter to 80’s sci-fi and pop culture. Cline has taken the toys, movies, music, TV shows, cartoons, and books of my childhood and created an original and fully immersive world. I’ve read the book three times. The Gamergate backlash heaped a lot of unjustified vitriol upon this book, and the movie pales in comparison. But if you love 80’s pop culture, do yourself a favor and read Ready Player One. You won’t be disappointed.
I saw the movie first so the book was a surprise as it is not much like the movie at all….way better.
Loved all the 80s references. A really fun book to read, with a fast-moving story.
Despite not being the demographic target for this novel, I loved it! I bought copies for my sons, 27 & 21-years-old, and can’t wait to compare notes.
I couldn’t get more than about 3 chapters into this book before returning it. It was almost hatefully anti-religion, of any kind. Since religion doesn’t have anything to do with the story, the attack on religion and the people that practice it was shocking and offensive. You don’t have to like religion, but I do think you need you respect other people’s beliefs.
One of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Very imaginative! Anyone that loves 80s videogames and music will enjoy this book.
book very good, movie very bad
A good reminder to enjoy the real world.
as a child of the 80s, very much enjoyed the 80s lore/triva incorporated in the story line
premise was really intrigued, held my attention well!
What a start-to-finish satisfying read. Ernest Cline’s debut novel is a masterpiece, painting vivid colors of intricate world building, deep, three-dimensional characters, and a tension-filled plot with the brush-stroked highlights of 1980s culture throughout. If you’re a Gen X-er like me and grew up in the 80s, this is a must-read. I never realized just how satisfying it would be to immerse myself in a book that constantly showcases little details from my childhood, most of which I had forgotten.
On top of that juicy thrill, the mechanics of the story are flawless. Not so far into our future, we’re following a hard luck kid named Wade Watts whose only passions are video games and 1980s trivia. He spends his time in the Oasis, a virtual reality interface that has hijacked the world’s attention. In the background, the real world is going to hell. Prospects for a satisfying life are practically nil. Wade himself has no money, no parents, and his only refuge is immersing himself in the Oasis from the back of a busted down van in the busted down wreck of The Stacks (a depressing place where people live in mobile homes stacked on top of one another like skyscrapers).
It’s hard to imagine a more consummate underdog than Wade Wats, and so it is deeply satisfying to watch him, one step at a time, become a contender in the most lucrative worldwide scavenger hunt of all time.
Read Ready Player One. It lives up to the hype.
This book is just fun to read! No wonder it was chosen for a movie!
Cute but predictable
Great story with great memories attached to a lot of the games in it.
Better than the movie, but not as campy
Great dawn of tech in the 80’s book.