Ready Player One

Ready Player One
By: Ernest Cline

When this book was published I read several reviews about it,
some good and some bad, so at the time I decided to pass on reading it. Recently, a young lady told me that it was her favorite book. That got my attention, so when I finished the book I was reading I decided to give this book a try. I am so glad I did!

James Donovan Halliday was a genius computer scientist, inventor, and visionary who created video games and developed a virtual reality universe called the OASIS. When he dies having no family or heirs leaves his vast 450 billion dollar fortune and his company Gregarious Software Systems (GSS) to the person who finds his Easter egg hidden inside the OASIS. Immediately people start searching for the egg; some even people even become professional egg hunters, known as gunters for short. The book begins 10 years after Halliday's death in 2044, a dystopian United States, with an 18 year old high school student Wade Watts who his hunting for Halliday's egg.

To find the egg he must decipher clues that reference 80's music, movies, video games, Japanese animation, role playing games, and so much more. Wade not only has competition from millions of other egg hunters but a ruthless telecom called ISI which is exploiting  loopholes in Halliday's will to hunt for the egg, with corporate gunters nicknamed Sixers,  so that they take the money, GSS, and most importantly control the OASIS. ISI will stop at nothing to get to the egg first, endangering Wade and his friends.

There is so much to love about this book! If you are even a little into the growing Geek culture or a fan of things from the 80's you will absolutely love the book. If you like video games, role playing games, anime, you will love the book. If you are someone like me and you like all of the above, you will be in Geek heaven. The book moves quickly most of the time and the more obscure references are explained for those who might be unfamiliar. With a love story that is quick but not overwhelming it adds character and depth.

I liked this book so much that I started looking for other books that were similar to read next and I would say that this is one of the best books that I have read in some time (at least the last year).