Thursday, August 25, 2011

Ready Player One

I just finished this great book called Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.  It's set in a dystopian future, starting in year 2044.  In this world a genius named James Halliday had created a virtual world called OASIS, where most of the citizens of the world spent their time to escape the bleak reality.  Before Halliday died, he decided to hide three keys in OASIS that would unlock three gates.  Whoever solved the game first would win Halliday's entire fortune.  The protagonist of the book is an overweight high school senior from a trailer park, Wade Watts, who was the first to get the first key, and set off on an adventure.  Along the way he met friends and had to dodge real villains who would commit murder to get what they wanted.

Halliday loved the 1980s, so all of his clues were related to the pop culture of the 1980s, including role-playing games, video games, music, and movies.  The novel is definitely chock-full of 80s nostalgia, from War Games to Dungeons and Dragons to Rush.

I highly recommend the book to anyone, not just those who grew up in the 80s.  It's a great mix of mystery, romance, thriller, and sci-fi.  The writing is very accessible and the book will move quickly.  It has gotten great reviews from everyone, so definitely check it out.

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