Ready Player One

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What to expect

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.
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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

Critics Review

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
Independent
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
New York Times
A most excellent ride . . . the conceit is a smart one, and we happily root for [the heroes] on their quest . . . fully satisfying
Boston Globe
Gorgeously geeky, superbly entertaining, this really is a spectacularly successful debut
Daily Mail
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
WIRED
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
Guardian
Ernest Cline’s novel deserves to be a modern classic…the most relevant novel of the 21st Century to date
SciFi Now
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
Huffington Post
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
USA Today
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
Terry Brooks, #1 New York Times bestselling author

User Reviews

Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
5.0
5.0
Loved this. I watched the film first which I enjoyed. The book was way better, but I also understand why the film was the way it was.

The book is much more detailed and layered and the eighties references provided points of nostalgia for me which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Loved Wil Wheaton narrating, but again being a huge geek it just added to the experience for me.

Gone straight onto Ready Player Two
CarolS8 10/02/2024

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