Originally posted at Otherwhere.co

A futuristic dystopian, with video games, as an homage to the 80′s, narrated by Wil Wheaton. Done.

Wade had me hooked from the very first word. His world was immediately interesting, colorful, realistic and disturbing. A world living almost exclusively in the virtual world, where Wade goes to school, most work and where everyone plays. In some ways it reminded me of V-World in Caprica. A game that is fully immersive and infinitely expandable. The descriptions of the Oasis brought me into every time. I loved it.

In a Willy Wonka style competition Wade and the rest of the Oasis begins a long search for the hidden easter egg. Halliday, the creator of the Oasis was a lover of all things 80′s the book is full of great references and anecdotes about movies, music and gaming from that era. Using his favorite decade he leads the players of Oasis to the end all, be all, of all prizes.

True to dystopian form the world has gone to pot, what I really loved about it was how very plausible the world in Ready Player One is. It wouldn’t be a far stretch to see this happen to us. This really set the tone of all the fantastical adventures played by Wade and his friends from within the Oasis. I loved every riddle, every pop culture reference, every conversation between Wade and Hech or Art3mis.

The Point: A love letter to the culture of the 80′s set in a poignant dystopian with a rich and colorful world where even in the intangible human connection still beats all.

The Audiobook: You couldn’t have a better narrator than Wil Wheaton for Ready Player One. He captured the story, the characters and the subtleties perfectly. One of the best audiobooks I’ve every listened too.