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Ready Player One
Ready Player One
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. “Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix.”—USA...
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. “Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix.”—USA...
Reviews-
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As narrator of this offbeat, futuristic adventure, Wil Wheaton must evoke a teen's na•veté and cynicism about real life and incorporate this veteran gaming geek's expertise of '80s culture. With nods to Willy Wonka, William Gibson, and Neal Stephenson, a cross-genre plot involves gaming jousts as the hero attempts to win top score on his quest to inherit a dead billionaire's control of an interactive universe of cyber-worlds. Wheaton is up to the task, presenting an engaging treasure hunt while also dramatizing the hero's enthusiasm at playing classic games like Pac-Man. Also a twist on PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, this novel has something for everyone. J.L. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
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April 25, 2011
This adrenaline shot of uncut geekdom, a quest through a virtual world, is loaded with enough 1980s nostalgia to please even the most devoted John Hughes fans. In a bleak but easily imagined 2044, Wade Watts, an impoverished high school student who calls a vertically stacked trailer park home, lives primarily online, alongside billions of others, via a massive online game, OASIS, where players race to unravel the puzzles OASIS creator James Halliday built into the game before his death, with the winner taking control of the virtual world's parent company, as well as staggering wealth. When Wade stumbles on a clue, he's plunged into high-stakes conflict with a corporation dedicated to unraveling Halliday's riddles, which draw from Dungeons and Dragons, old Atari video games, the cinematic computer hacker ode War Games, and that wellspring of geek humor, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (Of course.) The science fiction, video game, technology, and geeky musical references pile up quickly, sometimes a bit much so, but sweet, self-deprecating Wade, whose universe is an odd mix of the real past and the virtual present, is the perfect lovable/unlikely hero. -
Janet Maslin, The New York Times
"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 favorite toys and games into a perfectly accessible narrative."
- Entertainment Weekly "Triggers memories and emotions embedded in the psyche of a generation...[Cline crafts] a fresh and imaginative world from our old toy box, and finds significance in there among the collectibles. A-"
- Boston Globe "A most excellent ride...the conceit is a smart one, and we happily root for [the heroes] on their quest...fully satisfying."
- USA Today "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."
- Cleveland Plain Dealer "A fun, funny and fabulously entertaining first novel...This novel's large dose of 1980s trivia is a delight...[but] even readers who need Google to identify Commodore 64 or Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde, will enjoy this memorabilian feast."
- Huffington Post "The grown-up's 'Harry Potter'...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."
- Austin American-Statesman "Incredibly entertaining...Drawing on everything from "Back to the Future" to Roald Dahl to Neal Stephenson's groundbreaking "Snow Crash," Cline has made READY PLAYER ONE a geek fantasia, '80s culture memoir and commentary on the future of online behavior all at once."
- New York Daily News "READY PLAYER ONE is the ultimate lottery ticket."
- Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse series "This non-gamer loved every page of READY PLAYER ONE."
- Daily Mail (UK) "Gorgeously geeky, superbly entertaining, this really is a spectacularly successful debut."
- Chicago Reader "A gunshot of fun with a wicked sense of timing and a cast of characters that you're pumping your fist in the air with whenever they succeed. I haven't been this much on the edge of my seat for an ending in years."
- Mark Frauenfelder, BoingBoing "A rollicking, surprise-laden, potboiling, thrilling adventure story.... I loved every sentence of this book"
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "A 'frakking' good read [featuring] incredible creative detail...I grinned at the sheer audacity of Cline's imagination."
- Annalee Newitz, io9.com "[A] fantastic page-turner....READY PLAYER ONE may be science fiction, but it's also written for people who have never picked up an SF novel in their lives..."
- Terry Brooks, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shannara series "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."
- Will Lavender, New York Times bestselling author of Dominance "I was blown away by this book...A book of ideas, a potboiler, a game-within-a-novel, a serious science-fiction epic, a comic pop culture mash-up--call this novel what you will, but READY PLAYER ONE will defy every label you try to put on it. Here, finally, is this generation's Neuromancer."
- Daniel H. Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse "I really, really loved READY PLAYER ONE...Cline expertly mines a copious vein of 1980s pop culture, catapulting the reader on a light-speed adventure in an advanced but backward-looking future."
- John Scalzi, New York Times bestselling author of Old Man's War "A nerdgasm...imagine Dungeons and Dragons and an 80s video arcade made hot, sweet love, and their child was raised in Azeroth."
- Patrick Rothfuss, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wise Man's Fear "Completely fricking awesome...This book pleased every geeky bone in my geeky body. I felt like it was written just for me."
- Booklist, starred review "An exuberantly realized, exciting, and sweet-natured cyber-quest. Cline's imaginative and rollicking coming-of-age geek saga has a smash-hit vibe."
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Publishers Weekly, Pick of the Week
"This adrenaline shot of uncut geekdom, a quest through a virtual world, is loaded with enough 1980s nostalgia to please even the most devoted John Hughes fans... sweet, self-d
