Ready Player One

Written by Ernest Cline

Narrated by Wil Wheaton

It's the year 2044, and the real world has become an ugly place. We're out of oil. We've wrecked the climate. Famine, poverty, and disease are widespread.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes this depressing reality by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia where you can be anything you want to be, where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade is obsessed by the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this alternate reality: OASIS founder James Halliday, who dies with no heir, has promised that control of the OASIS - and his massive fortune - will go to the person who can solve the riddles he has left scattered throughout his creation.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that the riddles are based in the culture of the late twentieth century. And then Wade stumbles onto the key to the first puzzle.

Suddenly, he finds himself pitted against thousands of competitors in a desperate race to claim the ultimate prize, a chase that soon takes on terrifying real-world dimensions - and that will leave both Wade and his world profoundly changed.

Wil Wheaton is an American actor and writer best known for his role as Wesley Crusher in the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, and for playing Gordie Lachance in the film Stand By Me. More recently, he has appeared in several episodes of the TV series The Big Bang Theory as himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House UK Audio
• Release date: Apr 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781448149582

Reviews for Ready Player One

[jessika.c · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What more can I say about a book that a lot of people have read recently?Ready Player One is about a witty teenager named Wade that loves video games. He uses them to escape the dire reality of Earth's crumbling situation and his sad family life. The person he has idolized from an early age, James Halliday has invited everyone to participate in the worlds biggest video game competition and the top prize isn't just bragging rights but inheiriting the multi million empire he has created. Wade is snarky and and nihilistic. He's a teenage boy with no adult figures to look towards for advice or help. But what he lacks in real life familial ties he makes up for in the online world of OASIS where he has his best friend Aech and a new friend Art3mis. Sure he says some pretty ignorant things but nothing overly offensive that wasn't corrected right away. This book was way ahead of its time. With the reemergence of heroing books I can see why everyone has flocked to grabbing a copy of this book to read. This was a fun love letter to the culture of the 1980s and I had fun compiling a playlist of every song mentioned in the book.

[cindywho-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

YA for nerdy genXers. Popcorn addictive. (fluffy and a few bits stick in your craw) Getting Wil Wheaton to narrate the audiobook was a fabulous idea.

[howifeelaboutbooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book! It was recommended to me by a friend who said I’d like it even though I don’t like sci-fi. To clarify, I don’t like hard sci-fi. I like things that seem like they could happen, like dystopia and robots and establishing a life on other planets. This book was amazing because it could be read as a statement on what direction the world is going in - so much is done online, not face-to-face. Life seems so great on Facebook but it’s not in reality, etc.

Wade basically lives in the OASIS, an online world that’s better than the real world, especially considering that people live in trailers stacked on each other. He squats in an abandoned van to log in to the OASIS and become Parzival, an avatar who is still in high school, but is searching for the egg the OASIS creator left encoded in the game before he died. I don’t want to give too much away, but this book totally sucked me in, and I already want to re-read it!

[therinknite-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

[Cross-posted to Knite Writes]Okay, so this book is basically a young (male) geek’s ultimate dream — from the smart, down-on-his-luck orphan protagonist to the kickass gamer girl who’s really only there to be a love interest to the impossible quests the protagonist somehow keeps winning despite all odds. Premise-wise, there is very little about this book that strays outside of today’s common “boy hero” tropes, and if it wasn’t for the incredible world-building and downright zany plot, Ready Player One would have fallen flatter than a pancake for me.As it stands, I found this a pretty fun (but sometimes tedious) read.Firstly, you need to be aware that this book contains more pop culture references than any other book you will ever read in your life. Video games. TV. Movies. Anime. Books. You name it, it’s in this story — and all of it is focused on the 80s. So, if you were born later than that, prepare to be lost on many occasions when the story goes off on a tangent regarding some piece of 80s trivia you are completely unaware of. Don’t worry, though, because most of the time the nature of the trivia in question is explained in detail.Which brings me to my biggest criticism of the book — I think it’s best I get this out of the way early: this story suffers from a horrific amount of info-dumping. In my opinion, an unacceptable amount of info-dumping. Dumping that goes on for pages and pages and pages, to the point where it’s often easy to lose track of what’s actually happening with the plot because said plot has come to a virtual standstill. There are info-dumps as filler, info-dumps in the middle of action scenes, info-dumps at pivotal moments. Info-dumps. Info-dumps. Info-dumps. Everywhere!And every last one is an in-depth explanation about an element of 80s pop culture the average person has no desire to know.You’ve been warned.If that doesn’t throw you off attempting this book, though, then let’s move on.Despite the info-dumpy nature of the narrative, it actually proves to be a fairly fun read as time goes on. The OASIS contains so many elements from so many shows, movies, books, anime, etc. all combined into one, massive world that you’ll have a hard time not smiling at the abundance of references strewn about as the plot progresses. Reading some of the battle scenes made my day — because, more often than not, the battles involved objects from a variety of fiction I was familiar with. Picturing such vastly different things being involved in the same fights amused me to no end.The OASIS in this book is basically a simultaneous crossover of every single piece of fiction (across all mediums) ever created. It’s pretty fascinating. And makes for a great setting for the majority of the book.The characters, on the other hand, were a little lacking in the originality department. I didn’t like how Art3mis ended up relegated to love interest more and more as the book went on. I didn’t like how shallow and underdeveloped most of the major characters were. The bad guys were the fairly generic “evil corporation” types often present in cyberpunk and other futuristic sci-fi; there wasn’t anything particularly special about Sorrento or his vast, anonymous army of Sixers.That being said, however, I did think the main characters made for an interesting gang of heroes (even with their lack of development), and the final showdown against the antagonists is pretty spectacular (even with their generic nature).Overall, I found this book a mixed bag — in the end, it was an enjoyable read, but there were a lot of parts (i.e., the info-dumps) I found tedious to get through, to the point where I occasionally ended up skimming a few passages here and there. The plot fulfills the premise in an unfortunately straightforward way and doesn’t deviate at all from some pretty tired tropes about boy heroes and rags-to-riches stories; despite this issue, though, it still builds a fairly interesting and engaging narrative. Lastly, the characters are lacking in a lot of ways, but, thanks largely to the amazing setting, are able to hold interest throughout the story.A decent read, in my opinion, but nothing to write home about.

[strongpieces · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Originally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.Possibly the biggest love letter to nerds and 80s pop culture out there to date, Ready Player One following Wade, aka Parzival, as he hunts for a treasure within the virtual reality game he spends most of his time in. Aside from the fun of the virtual reality and pop culture references, what makes this book really resonate is the way Wade grows as he deals with friends, enemies, and the difference between his virtual world and the real one. At times I felt the book dragged on a bit with all the pop culture descriptions and the length of time between the moments the action picked up again, but I always sprang right back when things got interesting again. It's incredibly fun, engaging, and as someone born in the middle of the 80s, it made me feel so awesome to know about 98% of all the pop culture references.

[phoenixterran · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ready Player One is Ernest Cline's debut novel, released by Crown Publishing in August 2011. Cline is probably best known for his work as a screenwriter for the film Fanboys (which I haven't actually seen but have been meaning to). When I was first offered a copy of Ready Player One, I hesitated accepting but not for long. I may not have been familiar with Cline and his previous work, but I couldn't resist wanting to see what was in store from an author who gladly discussed Space Invaders, The Lord of the Rings, Cowboy Bebop, Ultraman and all sorts of other wonderful geeky things all within the same interview. Cline is a self-proclaimed geek and clearly a man after my own heart. The more I learned about his novel, the more excited I became to read Ready Player One. The reviews and publicity I've seen for the book have been overwhelmingly positive and the novel has already been optioned for a film. (I think it would make a pretty good one, too.)In a bleak near future, most of humanity spends most of their time logged into OASIS if they can afford it. Originally, OASIS was developed as a gaming platform but it has since evolved into an immense and highly complex alternate reality system. It's also one of the only ways that people can escape their depressing lives and a world that is crumbling around them. When James Halliday, the creator of OASIS, dies, he announces a contest: he's hidden an Easter egg somewhere in OASIS and whoever finds it first will inherit his entire fortune. But first, the participants will have to find a set of three keys and three gates to lead them there. Five years pass before the first key is found, unexpectedly by an impoverished high school student named Wade Watts. Now Wade's life has gotten a lot more interesting, and a lot more dangerous.Ready Player One is inundated with pop culture references. Most important are those from the eighties, but any part of geekdom before or after that is still fair game. This includes references to films, video games, books, and just about anything else. I know for a fact that I didn't catch everything but I was completely delighted when I did, which was often enough that I found myself grinning through most of the novel. What really sold me on the book was a heated conversation early on between two characters about the relative merits and worth of Richard Donner's film Ladyhawke as an eighties classic. Some of the pop culture references aren't incorporated into the plot as well as they could be, but at least Cline has created a semi-legitimate reason for them to be there. And those that are really important to the story he makes sure to explain in more detail for readers that aren't in the know.Ready Player One is pure escapism for a very specific audience. I don't think that Cline will win any new converts to geekdom through his novel, but for those of us that are already devotees (and there are quite a few of us out there), Ready Player One is an absolute blast. Granted, the novel isn't breaking any ground; there's nothing new here that I haven't seen before. The plot and characters are fairly straightforward and don't show much development. The book doesn't have a deep, hidden meaning, although Cline does cram a few moral lessons in at the end. Still, I found Cline's world-building interesting, even if he has a tendency to infodump towards the beginning, and he's come up with a good excuse for esoteric pop culture geekery to not only be accepted but valued in society. If nothing else, Ready Player One is a lot of fun; sometimes you just want to be entertained.Experiments in Reading

[moniquesnyman-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book gets better every time I listen to it! 😁

[jothebookgirl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
This book is not for everyone and I'm surprised I finished it. I guess due to the good writing.

Wow, this was quite a fast paced ride. I listened to this on audible and thought the narrators were excellent. I'm not a gamer, but I was kind of fascinated with reading a different genre than what I'm used to.

Planet Earth hasn't been taken care of. Whaaaaaa??? So now in the year 2045 families are living in "the stacks." This refers to trailers stacked on top of each other in the small area folks can still live. 16 people living in a single wide trailer is not considered to be crowded.

Welcome to the OASIS, a hyper-realistic, 3D, videogame paradise. Nearly everyone logs in to the OASIS daily to escape their terrible lives, lives affected by overpopulation, unemployment, and energy shortages. Eighteen-year-old Wade Watts is one of these people, and he has a mission: to find an Easter egg hidden inside the OASIS by its unorthodox creator, James Halliday.

In order to get to the egg, a player must first find three keys and unlock three gates. Wade—playing as his avatar, Parzival—finds the first key, the Copper Key, inside the Tomb of Horrors. There he also meets Artemis, a young blogger with a sexy, shapely avatar that catches Wade's eye. Could it be love at first sight?

Wade unlocks the First Gate by re-enacting the entire movie WarGames. If you loved the 80's this is a book for you. Lots of reference to that decade. Suddenly, Artemis cuts off communication with Wade, because she wants to focus on winning the big prize. They are after all in competition with each other.

While trying to find the Next Key, Wade investigates the planet Archaide. There, he plays a perfect game of Pac-Man and wins a quarter. Not even a real quarter—it's an item for his inventory, and it doesn't appear to have any practical use whatsoever. Really?

Artemis plan to cut off Wade works because finds the Next (jade) Key first, followed by Aech, the samurai Daito and Shoto, and the Sixers, employees of IOI, an Internet Service Provider putting all its resources into finding the egg so that they can control the OASIS. Things are getting dicey. Aech gives Wade a clue to the key's location, sending him to the planet Frobozz, a recreation of the classic computer game Zork. Wade gets the key no problem, and proceeds to unlock the Second Gate and grab the Crystal Key with little effort, heading through worlds that re-enact Blade Runner, the game Black Tiger, and the Rush album.

But there's a problem: the Sixers already have the Crystal Key. The good news is that they have no clue how to unlock the Third Gate, so the game certainly isn't over yet. Thanks to their knowledge of Schoolhouse Rock! Wade and the gang know how to unlock the Gate: they need the power of three. 80's stuff, I told you.

After an epic giant robot versus Mechagodzilla battle, Parzival, Aech, and Artemis unlock the Third Gate just as the Sixers set off the Cataclyst, killing everyone instantly. Thankfully, the quarter Wade received after his perfect game of Pac-Man serves as an extra life. Parzival survives. He enters the final gate, triumphs over its challenges—a game of Tempest followed by a recreation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail—and finds himself in Halliday's office. There, he meets Anorak, Halliday's avatar, and is awarded digital immortality and Halliday's billions of dollars in assets. Bonus!

Back in the real world, Wade meets Artemis (for real, not her avatar) for the first time. She's as beautiful as he had imagined. He tells her he loves her (she doesn't respond in kind, but he doesn't notice), and together they ponder what to do with their newfound fortune. An eternity of leisure and videogames, or world peace? Tough call.

I've actually left a lot out so I know you're wondering about all this lingo. I'll stop now, if anyone actually read this far.

[daumari · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets Neuromancer meets I Love the 80s. Delightfully nerdy, especially as much of geek culture was born in the 80s (video games, D&D, etc.), but if you're not super familiar with much of the source materials (80s mecha anime? arcade games?) it's easy to get lost. My brother's of the opinion that you either love this book or hate it for the 80s infodumps.

[decaturmamaof2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyed this read, although the ending was quite predictable. Lovers of 80s culture will be quite entertained!

[schatzi_5 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Wow was this disappointing. I've been hearing for years how amazing this book is and how every nerd who grew up in the 80s HAS to read this, so I was expecting something great. Instead, I got a book that was horribly boring with info dumps all over. I got 56 pages into the book before I realized that I didn't care enough to read yet another info dump and called it quits. Life is too short to read boring books, no matter how highly they are reviewed.

[roses7184_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I LOVED this. I won't spend too much time on this review, because you can tell from the overall rating that it's a great read, but you should know that I LOVED this book. It's intelligent, it's funny, it's a love letter to all things 80's nostalgia and it has the kind of plot line that makes me smile because it all wraps up beautifully. Were there perhaps some convenient things that happened now and then? Sure. Did I have any nagging questions left at the end though? No, I did not. That makes me more happy than I can express. I had a blast navigating this world with Wade, but I loved that all the main characters got enough love to be really fleshed out and enjoyable. I also so appreciated the attention to detail in the world building, both inside and outside the simulation. I felt like I was there, and that made all the difference. This book was excellent. Period, end of discussion. I'm glad I finally buckled down and read it!

[sandeen_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ernest Cline has written something, alright.If you are not into geeky things, just turn back now. I enjoyed this book for all the references, but the storyline itself was meh.The writing was excellent as well, but, set in a dystopian not-so-distant future where everyone turns to OASIS, a simulation, to escape the reality of the world… Not a fan. Why don’t they try to fix it? The main character, Wade, is on a quest (along with everyone else) to find the Easter egg that the creator of OASIS left in game after he died. The winner? Gets his fortune and the company that made the game.Yeah, there is a prize for you! If you enjoyed Monty Python, read this book. If you are into all the geeky things, read this book. It is an interesting journey and one that I did enjoy.

[ron18-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Some of the set-up was feeling overly derivative in the beginning - and the writer's style and abilities grew from chapter to chapter (with a couple hiccoughs in the beginning) - - but it grew on me in a big way and became a book I hated to put down.

I was an 80's kid, myself, and there are many juicy rewards for readers of my generation in here. Also, some ponderous obsessions (Silver Spoons... really?) - but for the most part, wonderful reminders of a time period and a spirit that pervades the whole novel - right through the conclusion.

Ready Player One is a lot like Snowcrash, with more of a YA vibe, and fewer of the pretensions that slightly weighed down Snowcrash.

It's such a good feeling to read a book that lives up to its hype and promise. Don't read it for depth - it honestly strikes me as a YA book and I'm surprised it isn't categorized as one - but it's some quality escapism, about the qualities of escapism.

[patl_53 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was very much looking forward to reading this to see what all the buzz was about. The story concept is really good, and I loved the odes to 80s geek culture.

But the way that the plot played out was SOOOOO simplistic! Stupid plot devices abound that remove any challenge to the protagonist. I wondered if this was just a YA book which started out with a lot more promise. Could have been really memorable, but in the end, it was a throwaway read with a great starting point.

[boundtogetherforgood · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really did not expect to read this book, nor to like it. So many friends read it and liked it and many were people I wouldn't have expected to read this book either.Cline just really hooked me with his story. My interest never waned; I was always eager to get back to the story.Yes, it's dystopian, but I got past that.This will surely be one of my favorite books this year.

[firewild · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

In the beginning when Oasis was described a gamer in me almost had a nerdgasm, however that quickly evaporated as a subpar naive YA-type story started to unfold with all the teenage dating clumsiness and excessive pop-culture references. The world is interesting enough but not much is done with it. Cardboard characters are either angel good or satan evil and the main guy is a virtue in the flesh. I am glad that I listened to it, not read it.

[ar_bookbird · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic book! Fun, nostalgic, edgy! Just skyrocketed to one of my favorites of all time...

[wordsampersand · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

2.5 stars. Ready Player One reminded me, at first glance, of a weird mash-up of The Westing Game and the great anime film Summer Wars, just without a modicum of depth of either. It's a really easy book to read, and the second half is honestly engaging enough that I had a hard time putting it down. But here's my biggest problem with Ready Player One--in Cline's efforts to provide an ultimate geek-out experience of non-stop '80s/'90s nerd culture references, the book is little more than a collection of name-drops with a layer of story slapped on. Many of the classic video games and movies and comics and books he mentions are great, but for specific reasons. Cline never gets into that, instead being content to just say how awesome such and such thing is and move on. Plus, the other problems: the few stabs at depth are present-day hot-topic issues jammed into the story for a sentence or two; and the cool geeky protagonists are kind of awful people (at worst) or character cut-outs (at best). But hey, it's really readable, and I'd lie if I said I wasn't blazing through the second half.

[nadishka-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I haven't read a sci-fi book in a while, but this one was one hell of a ride! I really have to watch the movie now... It pays tribute to all forms of entertainment especially from the 1980s which struck the right chord with me. I've never been much of a gamer but his descriptions are so vivid it pulls you through the story. Of course you know how it's going to end... the fun is in finding out exactly how the protagonist gets there. A Geek book that a lot of people will LOVE

[serenova_phoenix · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Though I enjoyed the premise of the book, the whiny teenage male protagonist annoyed me just enough that I couldn't truly enjoy it.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After reading the review of the movie, I wondered how a book set in the future could have so many pop culture references and yet be confined to the 80s. The book quickly explained that aspect for me. I am not a gamer of any kind but I found the novel compelling nonetheless. The world of OASIS was so rich that the descriptions of real life were easily overlooked or forgotten. I found the online relationships so rich and it direct opposition to the IRL social life of Wade. The race to win the game was compelling and exciting

[violetbramble · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a July SFF/SFFFKIT book. It took me a while to get into this one. At one point I noticed that the movie was available on pay per view. I thought it might help me read the book faster if I watch the movie. The movie was so different from the parts of the book that I'd read already that it made me mad. But it also made me want to finish the book which is so much better than the movie. Set in a dystopian future where everyone spends most of their time with their heads in a Virtual world, mainly playing games. When the inventor of this virtual world - The Oasis- dies, he leaves his billions to the person who can find an egg that he has hidden. Wade, aka Parzival, a poor high school student, finds himself among the top 5 contenders in the race for Halliday's Egg.

[florian_brennstoff · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ein dystopischer Science Fiction und gleichzeitig eine nostalgisierende Zeitreise in die 1980er Jahre aller Nerds und Computerspielenden der ersten Stunde. Das Buch ist so eine Art "Generation Golf"-Variante, mit einem Jugend-Science Fiction drumherum.Mir hat das Buch großen Spaß gemacht, zumal ich es mit meinem Sohn zusammen als Hörbuch hören konnte und er, angehender Nerd und passionierter Spieleprogrammierer, sehr begeistert war und ist. Die vielen Anspielungen und Beschreibungen von alten Spielen auf uralten Konsolen oder dem berühmten "C64" sind für mich schöne Erinnerung und für ihn Inspiration gewesen.Es lohnt sich übrigens, das Buch zu lesen und dann in Berlin ins Computerspielemuseum zu gehen, oder auch ins ZKM in Karlsruhe, wo man einige der im Buch genannten Spiele und Geräte betrachten und z.T. sogar spielen kann.

[wisealma-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ready Player One Book Review
by Author Ernest Cline
I’m giving this book 4.5 easter eggs out of 5.
One of the ways I judge a book is by its gravity, so to speak. Do I feel pulled toward it? In other words, when I was away from the book, did I feel like I needed to get back to it. If a day went by without reading it, did it bother me? I listened to the audiobook version of Ready Player One, and let me tell you, it pushed all my buttons (ha!)
When my wife asked me if I’d be willing to go pick my daughter up from dance, or to go to the store or (fill in the blank) I quickly said, “yes,” thinking that it was another opportunity for me to flip the audiobook on and keep plugging away at it or a few more minutes.
Set in the future, Ready Player One is, in so many ways, an homage to 80’s culture. Movies, music, styles, and especially video games all play a critical role in the plot. When a former video game developer, and rich business mogul learns that he only has a short time to live, he constructs an elaborate contest that he has placed inside the Oasis (online MMORPG type world). There are three phases (gates/keys) to the contest, and the first one to get through them all, wins “the egg,” or his ultimate prize—all his wealth and assets—billions.
The story revolves around a less fortunate, yet brilliant, young guy named Wade that spends all his time on the Oasis. Like many others, he is devouring anything he about the 80’s in an attempt to figure out how to progress in the contest. James Halliday, the billionaire that created the contest that would take over just about everyone’s heart and mind, loved the 80’s, and was rumored to have based the whole contest on 80’s pop culture. So, everyone studied up in order to be able to play the game, including Wade. This was Halliday’s way of resurrecting the 80’s, maybe buying it an extra life, as it were—deposit your quarter, right here, thank you very much.
The author does a fabulous job world building not only interesting things about the 80’s, but the futuristic world that would obsess about a dead man’s fortune, and stop at nothing to get it.
This book was a wild right down memory lane. I’m proud to say that I got most of his references. I did have to look a few up, however. At any rate, the book is well-written, and the plot was good fun. It has murder, mystery, tons of 80’s backstory, and even romance.
I really enjoyed this book.

[dknight0918 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It took me a while to finish it because I did not want the book to end. Hope the movie does this book justice. Loved the characters and their VR world. Glad the good guys win in the end.

[acargile-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Wow! This is a popular book--it’s always checked out! I finally decided to read it by listening to it. You may have seen the movie, but I’m sure the book is very different. It’s a lengthy book that couldn’t really be done easily in two hours, so you’re probably missing out on a lot if you haven’t read the book.Wade Watts has a non-stellar life. His parents are gone and he lives with his aunt who is awful. He dislikes school because he doesn’t fit in. The year is 2045 and the world is not a great place. People are starving and only a few have money. Wade lives in the “stacks”--so many people are poor that they stack trailer homes-- one on top of another until they are many, many stories high. It’s very dangerous. Wade can escape this terrible world because he is great with computers. There is an alternate world called the Oasis. You can put on your haptic clothing and live in the Oasis, only coming back to the real world for food and bathroom breaks. Wade loves that he has been accepted to attend school in the Oasis, giving him a better unit to interact with this world.Five years previously the inventor of the Oasis died. He left a puzzle for people to solve. Whoever solves it first inherits his very vast fortune. At the very beginning of the novel, Wade says that he is the one who solves the puzzle. The rest of the novel is how he solved it and the obstacles he overcame with courage. Wade is the first person to solve the first puzzle, which is where he meets Artemis, a famous gamer. He also has a best friend he calls “H” because he won’t tell him his real name--only that it begins with an “H.” Within a short time, Artemis, H, and two more people get past the first gate. They have to fight against the huge corporation that is trying to get the fortune as well, but they don’t want to team up. They each want to win on their own to show they were smart enough to figure it out. Circumstances will require that they help each other.I am not a gamer at all. I don’t enjoy video games; I appreciate the abilities needed to understand and be amazing at them and even the coding that people are capable of accomplishing. I’ve never gushed about a book that takes places around and in computers. This is a book for gamers; it was fine/okay, but I didn’t love it. I am not interested in the gaming descriptions; I wanted something to happen. Kids have loved this book for several years, so I know it’s really popular; our copy is falling apart. Therefore, if you are a gamer, read this novel. All the kids at our school say you’ll love it!

[thecrow2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I do hate nostalgia, I cannot stand it stil love this book. Obvious that the writer LOVES and knows the geek subculture and wants to share this with everyone. The story not a very unique one, basically the tale of the smallest poor boy who conquers the three quests and gets the love of the princess and the half of the kingdom. But it’s ok, we need fairy tales.

[karenvg3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thoroughly enjoyed this one. All the 80s references were so fun. Such a blast from the past. I’m not sure what took me so long to read this but I’m so glad I did. I just hope the movie is as fun. 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[donnijo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was amazing! I cannot believe it took me so long to pick it up and read.