Ready Player One

great gimmick in this book: a bill gates type guy in the future has created the most successful and popular way to utilize the internet up and dies. he has no heirs and his will is readaloud in said popular/successful simulation game: his fortune and controlling shares in his company will be awarded to the player who can locate 3 hidden keys inside the game. add an evil corporation that wants to gain control of the game and start monetizing it (and will do anything, include kidnapping and murdering lay gamers), and you've got a race.

but that's not the gimmick. it's the game creator's obsession with 80's pop culture, movies and music that makes this a fun run. 80's references are everywhere and it's like a trip down memory lane as lyrics are unfurled, and the dolorian from back to the future drives up, and brundle-fly pops up. it was light on actual believable plots - real sci fi geeks will be able to punch holes in the story immediately - so i was surprised to find it in the science fiction section; it read like a YA novel - especially given it's teen protagonist. but hey, i can't fault a book that is so obviously aimed at ME :)

"It suddenly occurred to me just how absurd this scene was: a guy wearing a suit of armor, standing next to an undead king, both hunched over the controls of a classic arcade game."<br/><br/>This is a truly spectacular work: for a debut novel the writing is first rate and the entire premise astounding.<br/><br/>The year 2044 sees Humanity escaping the reality of increased energy depletion and environmental damage in a virtual world.  One of the creators of this virtual world eventually dies and, rather than being conventional about his will, leaves everything hidden in his creation, secreted and hidden away behind clues, quests and games. Of course, everyone wants to win, and so begins a mass study of this guy's likes, tastes and era of upbringing.<br/><br/><br/><br/>"At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest<br/>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<br/>by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed."<br/><br/><br/>The story follows one such Gunter (an "egg hunter"), and chronicles his progress through searching for the coveted goal.  The real world crumbling around him, our hero escapes, like everyone else, into the very real but totally artificial world of the OASIS. <br/><br/>"When I reached the bar, I ordered a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster from the female Klingon bartender and downed half of it."<br/><br/>Because the world is virtual, everything you can think of is included: it's a crossover of every book, movie, music, meme and trope you can think of, and because of this the book was sold to me as an uber geeks paradise.  Of course, there's a lot in there that appeals to my inner geek, but seeing beyond that, it's also a superb story, a compelling world with a stellar protagonist and it even packs a bit of a moral punch, too.<br/><br/>"They pooled their resources and purchased two very expensive, very powerful antimatter bombs on eBay." <br/><br/>It's a classic Good versus evil, corporate-slamming romp, with warnings of monopoly and corporate greed intertwined with heartening messages of tolerance and respect for choice and acceptance. Above all that, there's the story, and it's an epic: a fantastic quest, with our hero from as low a background as you can think of, masterfully trying to rise above the odds (and doing it in an impressive geeky way, of course).<br/><br/>I struggled to put the book down, and would truly recommend it for any science fiction, fantasy, or fan of the eighties.