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.
-Goodreads
The novel … takes place in 2044, in a world devoid of resources due to climatic catastrophes. Wade Watts, like most of humanity, escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia. Like others, Wade dreams of discovering a virtual Easter Egg that lies concealed within one of thousands of virtual worlds by the OASIS’s creator, the late James Halliday. Halliday stipulated in his will that the person who discovered the egg would inherit his entire estate, including management and control of the OASIS itself, a prize worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
–CTV News in “Spielberg to return to sci-fi with Ready Player One”
Goodreads Reviews
4.2 rating based on 1,221,457 ratings (all editions)
ISBN-10: 030788743X
ISBN-13: 9780307887436
Goodreads: 9969571
Author(s): Publisher: Crown Publishers
Published: 8/16/2011
Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here
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.
But 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.
