Out Of The Turkey Coma, A Review of Ready Player One

Hello everyone!  Long time no post.  I had a great Thanksgiving (Mom came out of surgery just fine, thanks for everyone who asked and kept her in your thoughts) and had several days to recuperate and catch a cold.  But now I'm back and read to review a book!

Read Player One, Ernest Cline

Genre: Dystopian Future, YA

Rating: 4.5 stars

It's 2044 and we've trashed the planet.  Polar ice caps melted, fossil fuels ran out and a great(er) depression has set in.  The "real" world is quite depressing, so most people live their lives in a virtual reality world called the OASIS.  In the OASIS you can be whomever you'd like: your avatar can look however you'd like it to and your personality can be the same or different.  You can work, shop, attend school and fall in love in the OASIS.  The inventor of the OASIS has died and in his last will and testament, he has left his vast fortune and the OASIS to anyone who can solve his puzzle within the OASIS - "easter eggs" that you can only know by knowing what his favorite things were...80s trivia

17 year old Wade Watts wants out of his deplorable living situation and is one of the "gunters" (egg hunters) searching for the easter eggs.  He has studied movies, songs, tv shows, commercials, cereal boxes, video games and more from the late 70s and 80s.  He can recite full dialogs and can beat all the games.  This knowledge helps him solve the first puzzle and changes his life forever.

I don't remember who recommended this to me, but thanks.  I enjoyed this book so much.  One of the first conversations where Wade is arguing with his best friend on whether or not Ladyhawke was a good movie had me in hysterics.  (And had me rushing to my best friend to read her that because we watched it so many times.) Reading all about the 80s and the things I grew up with as a kid brought on a wave of nostalgia and good feelings.  Aside from the 80s flashback, I also enjoyed the story.  The puzzles were well disguised, and while I thought the actual winning of each "prize" was a bit rushed, I still enjoyed it immensely.

I recommend this for: anyone who loves VH1's I Heart The 80s, adults/teens/children of the 80s, gamers, frequent movie quoters,  and anyone who knows the answer to "Where's The Beef?".  Not that the saying is in the book, but because you know.  You were there.  You know the answer.  It's at Wendy's.