READY PLAYER ONE Book Review

Ready Player One¹ (book 1 in series) by Ernest Cline, audiobook, 15h 40m Synopsis from Audible: A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready? In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days. When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself. Then Wade cracks the first clue. Suddenly he’s beset by rivals who’ll kill to take this prize. The race is on—and the only way to survive is to win.

BOOK REVIEW: As with The Martian, I might be a bit bias in my rating because I love Wil Wheaton as the narrator. I could listen to him all day! Back to the book. I did not know this was a book until after I saw the movie that apparently came out in 2018 but I swear my husband and I saw it back when we lived in Seattle in like 2014...but I would be wrong. I know I saw the movie. I know it takes place primarily in a virtual reality world and that the main character was a boy and then he met a girl in the OASIS but after that...couldn't tell you anything! Really I went into this pretty blind so it worked out in my favor.

I loved all the 80s references. During our book club discussion, I asked my Gen X aunt if she loved all the references and she did and got super giddy about it. I think that's how I will feel when I read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow because I heard that is like 90s based video game era stuff. I loved the story and the characters so much I already got Ready Player Two as an audiobook to keep going with the story.

5 stars. Again...am I biased because I love the narrator? Maybe. But in all honesty I really did enjoy listening to this book. I love old arcade games and had no idea that there were that many levels to Pac-Man. I love the music references, movies, the quotes. I did forget when it was taking place for a second and when it is mentioned that Wade is born in 2024 I almost choked on my coffee. This book is full of nostalgia for anyone who loves the 80s. If you find that you can't get into reading the book, I highly recommend listening to this because Wil Wheaton does an amazing job bringing the characters to life and it gives me a chuckle when he mentions Star Trek or even when Wade calls Wil Wheaton something like an old geezer.

5/5 Stars

2025 Reading Challenge: 25/50 complete

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