Product Details
- Title: Ready Player One
- Author: Ernest Cline
- Read By: Wil Wheaton
- Audio CD: 13 Discs (15 hours)
- Publisher: Random House Audio; Unabridged edition (August 16, 2011)
- Genres: Science Fiction, Utopian and dystopian fiction
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0307913147
- Borrowed from Public Library
- ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Book Synopsis
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 by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.
It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.
And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.
And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.
Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.
A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?
It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.
And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.
And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.
Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.
A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
My Review
My 15 year old son and I have started listening to audio books together this past year. It's something fun we can do together. The last ones we listened to were the Reckoners Series: Steelheart, Firefight, and Calamity by Brandon Sanderson.
We both are so excited to see the movie Ready Player One, but in our family it's customary for us to read the book before seeing the movie, primarily because we all know that they will be so different from each other. One thing to say at the first, I wish I'd known before hand that there are some inappropriate sexual talk and swearing in this book. Some of it made it very uncomfortable to sit there and listen with my son, so we skipped a few tracks at times.
Now on to the great things: I loved listening to this book narrated by Wil Wheaton of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame.
He does an amazing job reading this novel! I know some readers say they had a hard time getting into the first 100 pages, but this is not a problem when listening to the Audio version. Wheaton's reading is done in such a compelling way it's hard to stop listening. We dedicated a whole weekend to listening to Ready Player One and finished all 15 hours and 13 CD's.{Granted I was still getting things done correcting papers, cooking/baking, folding laundry, and writing blog posts while listening}
I loved the Geek 70 's & 80's culture that is the heart of this novel. This is when I grew up and I was laughing and loving so much of it when mentioned.{War Games was one of my favorite movies!} My son knew quite a bit of the references, but not as much as his mom. I also loved the world building and thought the main character was strong and likable. The second half of the novel was so exciting it was hard to just sit and listen without jumping around with excitement. Overall, this was a great read/listen and I'm glad that I finally was able to experience the adventure found in Ready Player One.
We both are so excited to see the movie Ready Player One, but in our family it's customary for us to read the book before seeing the movie, primarily because we all know that they will be so different from each other. One thing to say at the first, I wish I'd known before hand that there are some inappropriate sexual talk and swearing in this book. Some of it made it very uncomfortable to sit there and listen with my son, so we skipped a few tracks at times.
Now on to the great things: I loved listening to this book narrated by Wil Wheaton of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame.
He does an amazing job reading this novel! I know some readers say they had a hard time getting into the first 100 pages, but this is not a problem when listening to the Audio version. Wheaton's reading is done in such a compelling way it's hard to stop listening. We dedicated a whole weekend to listening to Ready Player One and finished all 15 hours and 13 CD's.{Granted I was still getting things done correcting papers, cooking/baking, folding laundry, and writing blog posts while listening}
I loved the Geek 70 's & 80's culture that is the heart of this novel. This is when I grew up and I was laughing and loving so much of it when mentioned.{War Games was one of my favorite movies!} My son knew quite a bit of the references, but not as much as his mom. I also loved the world building and thought the main character was strong and likable. The second half of the novel was so exciting it was hard to just sit and listen without jumping around with excitement. Overall, this was a great read/listen and I'm glad that I finally was able to experience the adventure found in Ready Player One.
My 15 year old son said:
Epically awesome, but awkward listening to some scenes with my mom. My favorite part was when Parzival was in the final battle before getting into the third gate. I also liked when Parzival and Art3mis met in real life at the end.
Interesting Facts Found in/about the Book
-What does IOI stand for in Ready Player One?
Audio
Book:
I may try this one in audio - I like Wil.
ReplyDeleteHe truly does an amazing job! I liked listening to him as much as I liked Jim Dale on the Harry Potter audio books. Try it out!
ReplyDelete