In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
Before I start my review of this book it might be of interest to know that Sophie (my buddy book reader) had rather differing opinions on this so we're off to a good and rather split start!
This book is written with many, many references to nerd culture specifically from the 80's and I want to say that if you're concerned you might not really appreciate the references please do not worry! As a female who has never been huge into gaming and was born a decade after the 80's I still LOVED and understood most of the references!
I really enjoyed the story of Ready Player One, the characters were very likable, the writing was enthralling and it has lot's of plot twists that were unexpected and seriously had me wanting more.
There's humour, mystery, nerd culture and some pretty fantastical worlds to be found.
The only negative I would have is that I feel the book didn't need to be as long as it was, on a few occasions while reading I found myself willing it forward and looking for more action. These were mostly in the first half and by the time I reached the half way point I was gripped and it sped along!
I liked Ernest Clines writing style as it was technical in all it's description but without being too jargon heavy so newbies like me can get to grips with all the gaming lingo!
I was interested in reading more from him but haven't heard amazing thing about his other book Armada .... if you've read it let me know what you thought!
Over all I adored this and urge anyone that is slightly inclined to nerdy passions to give it a go - I've already passed it on to my sister.
4.5 on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/35936088-sara-johnson
The next buddy book for April will be The Dumb House by John Burnside.
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