Check out the book website to explore more and and read a long overview of the book: http://www.readyplayerone.com/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.
Show More 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?
My Thoughts
Easily one of my top reads of the year. I am placing this right up there with Game of Thrones for my fiction reading of 2011(more science fiction). I was put into memory bliss reliving and reading names of games and 80’s pop culture that I grew up with. I kept a tab on all cultural references and now have a long list of items to read, watch, and play.
Aside from my nostalgia moments, the story was so intriguing. I was fascinated by the online world. It seems so plausible as each generation growing up is more tuned in online than the real world. I was so curious about how the author would intertwine all the elements presented. I was blown away more than once at how he integrated so much and made it seem so easy to follow. I felt like I was actually part of a game myself.
There is a lot of action, a lot of tense moments, very likable characters, and of course everything for a geek to love and adore. If you are a fan of movies, video games, pop culture, the future of technology, etc. then you MUST read this book. You will not be disappointed. Too bad this book is going to put a damper on my reading time as I go back to relive my moments of glory on my 8 bit NES.
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