From the Bookshelf of Crazy Challenge Connection…

Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)

Ernest Cline

Why we're reading this: A really fun and inventive story with numerous flashback for those of us growing up in the 80s and 90s :)
[close] A really fun and inventive story with numerous flashback for those of us growing up in the 80s and 90s :)

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Nov 28, 2018 Darlene rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2018, audiobook, books-i-own, dystopia, debut, science-fiction, book-to-screen, audio-1000

This book has been sitting on my TBR for a long time! I had heard lots of rave reviews, but I quite honestly wasn't sure whether reading a futuristic book set a virtual world would appeal to me. A prompt for one of my reading challenges is to read a cyberpunk book. That's a really tough genre for me. When I spotted this book on a cyberpunk list, I knew this was the time to tackle it. Plus, the movie came out this year! I'm glad that I finally got to it, and it does live up to the hype!

James Hall This book has been sitting on my TBR for a long time! I had heard lots of rave reviews, but I quite honestly wasn't sure whether reading a futuristic book set a virtual world would appeal to me. A prompt for one of my reading challenges is to read a cyberpunk book. That's a really tough genre for me. When I spotted this book on a cyberpunk list, I knew this was the time to tackle it. Plus, the movie came out this year! I'm glad that I finally got to it, and it does live up to the hype!

James Halliday, a video game/virtual reality designer, released a video at the time of his death. With no heirs of his own to inherit his massive fortune, he issues a challenge to the general public: The one that can find the Easter egg (that is cyberspeak for something that is hidden within the game's code that is not readily apparent) within his most popular game, The OASIS, will inherit not only his $240 billion in assets but also the controlling share of stock in his company. There are three different keys (copper, jade, and crystal), and each key unlocks a secret gate. Unlocking the third gate leads to the final challenge to acquire the Easter egg.

After the issuance of Halliday's challenge, a scoreboard appeared within The OASIS. At first, the public went nuts trying to crack the code. Everyone got their hands on everything they could to learn more about Halliday: the movies/books/music he liked and vintage video games that Halliday grew up with in the 80s. However, interest began to wane when years went by without any success. That all changed in 2045, five years after Halliday's death. The scoreboard was lit up with Parzival's name, indicating that he found the copper key. This renewed interest in the challenge.

Parzival, aka Wade Watts, is an 18-year-old boy living in his aunt's trailer outside of Oklahoma City. He is approached by an organization with an offer to collaborate. Wade could have access to Halliday aficionados who have studied and learned everything there is to know about the cyber-genius. However, the organization wants to take over The OASIS and start charging a fee so that they can make money off it. When Wade turns them down, they put out a hit on him. He has to stay one step ahead of them in both the real and virtual reality worlds.

I have to admit that it took me a bit to get into this one. While I grew up in the 80s and enjoyed my Atari and ColecoVision, I was never a hardcore gamer. I really enjoyed the pop culture references to the movies and music of the 80s, but I felt at first that it was hard to follow Wade's descriptions of what he was trying to accomplish in the game. Once his life was at stake and there was more action, I did get sucked in. I really loved getting to know the other characters, including Aech, Art3mis, Shoto and Diato.

By the end of the book, I was just in awe over how Cline developed the storyline and the characters. I cannot believe this is his debut! Wow, he is seriously talented and imaginative. I am excited that he is writing a sequel, and I will definitely be reading (listening) to it!

Wil Wheaton was totally THE BOMB!! Although it did take me a bit to get into this one, I do highly recommend the audiobook because it is fabulously narrated. I love the attitude that he brought to the characters.

This review was posted on my book blog:
https://darlenesbooknook.blogspot.com... ...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Debbie (Doc) rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, urban-fantasy, read-in-2014, glad-its-done, fiction, dystopian

3.5 Stars rounded to 4 stars

After reading this book, I have decided to read other reviews to see how mine compares. It appears that I am in the minority of my rating as most readers are including this as a 5 star read. I did like the references to 80’s video games as that is probably the last time that I played. Perhaps if I was a gamer, I would appreciate this book more than I did.

It’s 2044 and the world is definitely different than now. Poverty and war rule. Most of the citizens spend their t ...more

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May 28, 2018 Kathryn rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: dnf-did-not-finish, audiobooks, fiction, library, fantasy-scifi, e-read-illinois

5/2018 Gave this a good try and enjoy the 80s references, but not enough to continue with the book.

7/11/2018 Tried listening to this through E-read Illinois on the Axis 360 app. I was over an hour or more into the audiobook and the app crashed and had no idea where I left off. I'll take that as a sign that I wasn't met to read this. Basically, I was only reading it for the 80s references, since I dislike science fiction and dystopian. ...more

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Jan 27, 2013 Gretchen Hicks rated it really liked it

Even though science fiction is not my genre at all, I have to say I really enjoyed this book. It was a very fast read and I had a hard time putting it down several times. Having played several MOG's myself it was fun to see all of the references to current games. It was also fun and somewhat alarming to imagine this as a future reality. Even though I felt the ending was pretty obvious from close to the beginning the ride was so enjoyable that I didn't mind the predictability. I think anyone who ...more

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Oct 22, 2018 Lori rated it really liked it

Very unique and it not easy to find books that have an original storyline. I was a little bored when he was inside all the video games but it ended strong.

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