DownTime-Ready Player One

Ready Player One, written by Ernest Cline and published in 2011, tells a story about a collapsing society and a sudden ray of hope shining through, and the effort it takes to keep that hope alive and out of the hands of the ones who will snuff it out. The OASIS is a virtual reality world that almost everyone on Earth uses to escape their own difficult lives and to be a different person. When the multi-billionaire founder of the OASIS, James Halliday, dies, he creates a contest for someone to inherit his fortune. The prize at the end of the last trial is called “The Egg,” and once in possession of it, the person inherits his fortune and control of the company. This starts a global obsession with Halliday and his obsession with 80s pop culture, and the race is on. Years pass, and no clues are found to even start the contest, and the popularity of the contest has considerably died down. However, when Wade Watts finally cracks the fist clue, he makes headlines and the hunt for the fortune starts up again, with even higher stakes than before, with millions of people searching and an evil corporation close behind. What starts as a competition for billions of dollars and control of the company that runs OASIS becomes a race against a rival company who wishes to control and completely change the world and mission of the OASIS. It kept me on the edge of my seat even during the second read. The leaps that Wade Watts and his fellow OASIS users must take are brave and calculated, even when they’re going against those who have proven they will do anything.

I’ve read this book twice. I think what draws me to it is the fact that it dips into current real-world issues and is a dramatization of what could happen with climate change and resource depletion. It includes references to modern-ish text slang and 80s pop culture, including video games, movies, TV shows, and books. It kept me on the edge of my seat even during the second read. I rated this as five stars on my Goodreads profile.