Title: Ready Player One
Author: Ernest Cline
Year Published: 2011
Narrator: Wil Wheaton
Audiobook Length: 15 hours 46 minutes
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. 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?
Review: This was my first Audible audiobook and I absolutely loved it. Wil Wheaton's narration really added to the story. I think it also helped that he was familiar with the nerdy material of the 80's. There are even instances where he references himself or Star Trek: The Next Generation.
If you aren't familiar with the nerdy pop culture of the 80's, it isn't necessary. There were many references I didn't already know, but there were also plenty that I was familiar with.
The characters in this book are all very interesting. Most of them have devoted their lives to this one competition. They are all filling different voids in their life. I was completely enthralled by all the characters.
I highly recommend this book to any nerdy reader, especially those familiar with the 80's geek culture. The future world created is so interesting. If the Internet progresses in a similar direction, I would be completely fine. I give this book a 5/5.
--PAUL
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