At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, Ready Player One is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.
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. 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?
*Check out the very fun website for the book.*
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. 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?
*Check out the very fun website for the book.*
Jackie says:
"This is 384 pages of pure '80s geekfest fun, turbo injected and ready to bogey to every video on the brand new MTV. I spent my whole teens in the 1980s (be polite and don't do the math, please), and I remember vividly about 75% of the references, and had vague memories of the other 25%. You'll "get" the book even if you are '80s proficient', but you won't remember nearly as many embarrassing facts about yourself as those who are will.The book is actually set in the year 2044, where the world has turned to a dark and nasty place. To survive it, most people spend most of their time in Oasis, a computerized virtual reality that has endless worlds to explore, schools to go to, fun things to do. Things got REALLY interesting when the game's creator, James Halliday, a man obsessed with the '80s, died and left his vast fortune to anyone who can find a very special 'Easter egg' (a hidden treasure in a game for those not in the know). With the rampant poverty in the world, there are millions looking for this thing. Wade Watts is one of them. He's just turned 18 and has no prospects other than winning the contest. Not only does he want the money, he wants to keep the teams from IOI, a corrupt corporation if ever there was one, from winning and taking control (and ruining) Oasis, which has been his home for all of his life.
I can't really tell you more about this because it's just too much fun to experience completely on your own, much like the gamers that populate this book. This is part adventure, part love story, part social commentary and completely fun to experience.
Drop your quarter now: Ready Player One."
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