Title: Ready Player One
Author: Ernest Cline
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Publication Date: August 16, 2011
Hardcover: 384 pages

Where’d I Get It: Initially borrowed from the library – then purchased the hardcover.

Synopsis (From Goodreads): 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. 

My Thoughts: This is another one of those books that Bree over at 1 Girl 2 Many Books told me to read.  She’s so bad about making me buy books… but I can’t NOT, because they’re always SO GOOD!

I was born in the 80s. Early 80s. (Yeah, I’m old…*sob*) So, 80s and 90s trivia about video games and music and all that good stuff makes my heart go pitter-pat.  It also amuses me to remember the stuff from back then.  That, of course, helped me fall in love with this book; it is FULL of references to 80s and 90s pop culture and lifestyle.

Now, that said, you don’t -have- to know all about all that stuff to get this book and enjoy it.  The story itself is beautifully crafted and the characters are well rounded and deep individuals who make you love them or hate them.  There’s enough explanation that even the folks who have absolutely no idea about PacMan and Asteroids and Cyndi Lauper will be able to easily follow along. (But how can you NOT know about these rings?!) Anyway… If you are a child of the 80s, read this book STAT.  I have made all my geeky gamer friends grab it and every single one has loved it.  I’ve also made some of my non-geeky non-gamer friends read it and they’ve adored it, as well. See? It’s almost one-size-fits-all!

Back on point – the writing is crisp and clean, the characters develop decently, the plot is fantastic, and the world is believable in a totally apocalyptic-ish kind of way.

Get it. Read it. Hug it. Love it.

Rating: 5 of 5