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Ready Player One

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Ready Player One

By: Ernest Cline
Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

***NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE DIRECTED BY STEVEN SPIELBERG***

A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready?

It's the year 2044, and the real world has become an ugly place. We're out of oil. We've wrecked the climate. Famine, poverty, and disease are widespread.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes this depressing reality by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia where you can be anything you want to be, where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade is obsessed by the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this alternate reality: OASIS founder James Halliday, who dies with no heir, has promised that control of the OASIS - and his massive fortune - will go to the person who can solve the riddles he has left scattered throughout his creation.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that the riddles are based in the culture of the late twentieth century. And then Wade stumbles onto the key to the first puzzle.

Suddenly, he finds himself pitted against thousands of competitors in a desperate race to claim the ultimate prize, a chase that soon takes on terrifying real-world dimensions - and that will leave both Wade and his world profoundly changed.
____________________________________

If you loved READY PLAYER ONE and can't wait for more, check out ARMADA, Ernest Cline's latest geek masterpiece!

'Wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, Ready Player One is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut' Independent

'Part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance, and all heart' CNN

'Ernest Cline's novel deserves to be a modern classic' SciFiNow

'Gorgeously geeky, superbly entertaining, this really is a spectacularly successful debut' Daily Mail

© Ernest Cline 2011 (P) Penguin Audio 2012

 Adventure Cyberpunk Dystopian Science Fiction Thriller & Suspense Exciting Fiction Geeky
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Continue the series
Ready Player Two cover art
Ready Player Two By: Ernest Cline

Critic reviews

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 byBlade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed (Justin Trudeau)
The science-fiction writer John Scalzi has aptly referred to Ready Player One as a 'nerdgasm' [and] there can be no better one-word description of this ardent fantasy artifact about fantasy culture…But Mr. Cline is able to incorporate his favourite toys and games into a perfectly accessible narrative (Janet Maslin)
A most excellent ride . . . the conceit is a smart one, and we happily root for [the heroes] on their quest . . . fully satisfying
Gorgeously geeky, superbly entertaining, this really is a spectacularly successful debut
If you grew up with an Atari or maybe had a Commodore 64 back in the day, you are going to really enjoy this one. Cline really captures the feeling of those good old days in Ready Player One
The strength of Cline's first novel, other than its geeky referencing of 1980s pop culture, is the characterisation of the Candide-like Wade and his redemptive quest in both VR and the real world
Ernest Cline’s novel deserves to be a modern classic…the most relevant novel of the 21st Century to date (Steve Wright)
The mystery and fantasy in this novel weaves itself in the most delightful way, and the details that make up Mr. Cline's world are simply astounding. Ready Player One has it all
Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets the Matrix. This novel undoubtedly qualifies Cline as the hottest geek on the planet right now. [But] you don't have to be a geek to get it
Fascinating and imaginative...It's non-stop action when gamers must navigate clever puzzles and outwit determined enemies in a virtual world in order to save a real one. Readers are in for a wild ride
All stars
Most relevant
I never read books.
Always thought ....

" pffft, Naaaaaaa. . This is for nerds " ... BORING! ..etc.

So just brought one of those alexa devices, set it up added some skills played some music and all the other stuff when you get something new etc..

Came across this audible app and how you get a free audible book on sign up, something free always sounds good so went for it, thought nothing off it just did it for the sake of it.. after sign up the first book I see is Ready Player One, so just thought yeah that will do as I planned to see the movie soon which a the time movies beat books any day was my way of thinking THEN!!

Man how I was so wrong, I went on to have the book play while I was preparing to sleep, thinking yeah this will make me doze right off ... 6 hours later I was now sat up with a drink and snacks excited to find out what happens next ! totally amazed !

so for the regular bookworms this book may not do much justice I guess, but for me it will be the first book I have read/listened from start to finish and what has now made me want to read or listen to more and more from here on out.. I have a new hobby and it is thanks to this amazing book. .. please guys give it a try .. especially non book readers... it may change your perspective on thins 😃😃😃

This Book Changed My Life 💙 New Hobbies Found 💜

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Oh what a ride this was! For sure it helps that I am precisely the target consumer for this having had my teenage years across the 80s. And yes I loved the video games of the time and of course have long lived in thrall to a certain Canadian Holy Trinity who feature so prominently.

Even so, having questioned the wider appeal of some other LitRPG-style books this one blows away any such doubts. While there are stats and game rules in this that's not at all the key feature. It's a wonderful space opera of a game within a story. The nostalgia of 80s pop culture, video games, music and all the rest of it is a massive bonus for me and those with interests in the decade but the story more than stands on its own considerable feet.

Cline imbues his dysfunctional geeks with warm character, gives them personality and even a certain twisted nobility as they battle corporate evils in an online quest that boils over with real-world implications. Towards the end I was willing them to succeed and genuinely enthralled with this curiously geeky adventure.

Of course to be the real deal an audiobook needs a good narrator and for this book Wheaton strikes precisely the right tone and hits all the right notes.

Yeah, yeah, I know this isn't going to win any Booker prizes but it's pure entertainment on a stick!

Five Stars all the way.

GAME OVER

Radio, Video, Boogie in a Suitcase!

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How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

It reads like an audio description of a B-movie. Characters are a bit stereotyped / 2D, story rather linear and too often predictable, too much description of what the protagonist did (I did this, and then I did this, and then I did that...).

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No

Any additional comments?

It would be great for anyone obsessed with 80's computer games and geek culture. Otherwise, it's fairly interesting and fun, but really, there's better.

Badly written but interesting

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I am an avid gamer and own a Virtual Reality set, so the book's premise is right up my street. I am also of the age where the 80s and 90s culture was once a reality for me, so once again no issues there.

The book falls down a little where I get the impression that the book's author is still a teenager and is living out his unfulfilled fantasies, especially when it comes to the fairer sex and it just gets a bit awkward rather than cute. I am no prude, but it really does get a bit "cringe" for the author rather than the character, which yanks you out of the story.

Other than that the book was still quite enjoyable and I think it lends itself even better to a movie than it did to an audiobook. My wife, who is a complete non-gamer also enjoyed the book.

It's a bit infantile

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Sci-Fi is not normally one of my favourite genres but this is an exception that everyone should read. It is set in a classicly styled dystopian future, where the balance of global power is tipping inexorably toward corporate might and away from the common man. Gaming and social media have evolved into the all-consuming Oasis: a virtual universe so immersive that more and more people prefer it to the real world.

The Oasis' creator has died and left all his riches and the control of his virtual world to the winner of a near-impossible game within the game, and gamers and corporations alike dedicate their lives to completing it.

The secret, as unlikely as it seems, lies in obsessive geekery over the 1980s pop culture that the game's creator so loved. The result is a hilarious, thrilling, page-turning stonker of a novel that also serves as a nostalgic trip through the films, movies and video games that every child of 80s will remember. A unique and brilliant book.

Into the future and back to the 80s: a masterpiece

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