Let me start by saying I listened to this book on audio, read by Wil Wheaton, yes *the* WIL WHEATON, so right there you know it's going to be good. There is so much to say about this book, the characters, the writing, the setting, all of that was incredible. But the 80's pop culture, that topped it all that. It was like re-living my youth - movies, television shows, music, books, video games...it was totally awesome...see what I did there :)
Amazon Best Books of the Month, August 2011: Ready Player One
takes place in the not-so-distant future--the world has turned into a
very bleak place, but luckily there is OASIS, a virtual reality world
that is a vast online utopia. People can plug into OASIS to play, go to
school, earn money, and even meet other people (or at least they can
meet their avatars), and for protagonist Wade Watts it certainly beats
passing the time in his grim, poverty-stricken real life. Along with
millions of other world-wide citizens, Wade dreams of finding three keys
left behind by James Halliday, the now-deceased creator of OASIS and
the richest man to have ever lived. The keys are rumored to be hidden
inside OASIS, and whoever finds them will inherit Halliday’s fortune.
But Halliday has not made it easy. And there are real dangers in this
virtual world. Stuffed to the gills with action, puzzles, nerdy romance,
and 80s nostalgia, this high energy cyber-quest will make geeks
everywhere feel like they were separated at birth from author Ernest
Cline.--Chris Schluep