A couple of days ago, one of my good friends sent me this list called 65 Books You Need To Read In Your 20′s. She had started reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. When I read the description, it didn’t sound like something she would read at all, but she claimed to absolutely love it so far, so I bought the Kindle sample and started reading too.
The premise is based on the death of a multi-billionaire software developer who has recently died, but left clues inside of his simulation world (that the entire world is plugged into) so that someone can decode the clues and obtain control of the OASIS (the simulation) and the massive fortune that he left behind. It reminded me immediately of a Willy Wonka sort of competition, because you have to be clever enough to find and decode everything. It’s literally FILLED with 80′s references galore, some of which I got and some I didn’t, but I assume it’s even better if you know them all.
It’s also really cool that Ernest Cline literally put an “easter egg” of sorts into the print editions of the book for readers to find, and the winner won a Delorean that Cline had purchased for the competition. (You can check that out here.)
Overall, it reminded me somewhat of Ender’s Game, but then again not really. There’s not really anything that I could compare it to, so you’ll just have to read it and find out for yourself! It was definitely a change of pace to have a male protagonist instead of female, as are most books that I read these days. Cline definitely knows how to throw you for a loop, because I legitimately had no idea what was going to happen next, even though I thought I had it all figured out.
Also, there are a ton of different covers for this book, which are all really cool, and you understand once you’ve read it. Happy reading!
