Book Review, Ready Player One

You know when you read a book and it's so good...so perfect...that you just sit there in awe and stare at it?

That was me when I finished Ready Player One.

Written by Ernest Cline, Ready Player One is set in the very near future--the year 2044. 

The planet has become an ugly place. Most people live in trailer stacks (yes, that's exactly what it sounds like), the fossil fuels have been almost completely used up and global warming has become a reality.

Luckily, there is an oasis...Called OASIS. The internet has become everything we've dreamed it will be. OASIS is total virtual reality, where you interact with people and the world completely inside a huge, immersive game.

The creator of OASIS, James Halliday, has died and leaves behind a will. In that will, which is broadcast around the OASIS world at the time of his death, he left an easter egg.

An easter egg worth all of Hailliday's fortune, 344 billion dollars.

To find the easter egg, you must find a solve all of the puzzles that Halliday has hidden in the gigantic word of OASIS.

Halliday's love was all things 80's. The music, the movies, the TV,  the video games, the culture.

He was a teen in the 80's and, being a geek and an outcast as a kid, he lost himself in the wonderful world he remembered as a teenager.

Enter Wade Watts, who is one of millions of people trying to find Halliday's puzzles. Since Halliday's death, Wade has been studying everything Halliday loved in an attempt to try to find the easter egg.

Pac-Man and Devo, Monty Python and Family Ties, Rush and Max Headroom...EVERYTHING 80's is popular again!

This book is so full of geek culture and retro mentions that every page turn will make Gen Xer's (like myself!) grin with delight.

Have the whole script of Monty Python and the Holy Grail memorized? Beat Pac-Man? Know all the lyrics to Rush's 2112? Love giant robots? Then you'll fit right in to the author's amazing world.

I read this book so fast...I basically just gobbled the whole thing up. I had to tell myself to slow down so I wouldn't miss anything, I was just SO immersed in this book!

I was so involved that, at one point when something happens that really ticks the reader off, I actually THREW the book across the room, then had to run to get it so I could keep reading! 

Then at the other end of the spectrum, there's one part where I actually cheered OUT LOUD (and scared the heck out of my dog), and laughed with complete glee and triumph!

Not five minutes after I'd finished it, I'd already sent a tweet to the author (@erniecline) THANKING him for writing such a brilliant book. It blows my mind that THIS is Cline's very first book! 

Ernest Cline

Two minutes after that, I was telling EVERYONE they had to read this book.

I'm not exaggerating when I say it felt like this book was written specifically for me. It was like someone went into my head, took out everything I loved as a teen and put them all in this book.

If you grew up in the 80's, you'll LOVE this book. If you're a gamer, you'll LOVE this book. If you're a geek, you'll LOVE this book. If you love someone that's any of these things, you'll LOVE this book!

Here's my list of favourite books-

1. LOTR/The Hobbit

2. Ready Player One

I'm not kidding, here!

What else can I say? READ THIS BOOK! Three thumbs up! 6 out of 5 stars! A+++++!!

I would LOVE to hear what you thought of Ready Player One! Comments are very welcome!