Kathryn S

A mere four days after it came out, I finished listening to Ready Player One this morning, an incredible debut novel by Ernie Cline (of Nern Porn Auteur and other comedy gems) and performed by Wil Wheaton. Originally, I picked this audiobook up based on the mere fact that Wil read it. (I've done this before, with Fuzzy Nation, to great success so I'm at a point where if he is the voice actor I will try any book he reads. I'll be starting Andriod Dreams next.)

However, two pages into this book and I was utterly hooked. I had to force myself NOT to listen to it at night because I wanted to have something fun to look forward to during the workday.

RPO is the story of an 18 year old boy as he solves the world's greatest puzzle and becomes a man in the process. Wade lives in a not-so-distant future where a game called "The Oasis" allows people to live virtual lives in as many worlds and settings as you can imagine. The children even have the option to go to school virtually, solving many of the overcrowding problems plaguing public schooling.

The inventor of The Oasis is a reclusive genius that dies and then leaves control of his company as well as his fortune to the first person who can find an Easter Egg in his game. And thus the race begins to solve multiple puzzles in an attempt to find keys and open gates.

This book is an 80s fan's dream. I grew up in the 80s, even though I am a bit young for some of the references. Overall, I got most of the references, except for the anime characters. The books and movies were a blast from the past, and several of the game situations make me wish something similar exists in today's society.

The information on this book indicates that the day after the rights were bought up in a fierce bidding war, the movie rights were purchased with Ernie Cline himself as a screenwriter. I can't tell you how excited I am for this as well.

Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy today.

I have friends who love the author's blog, who follow it daily and who think she is a very funny writer. Based on their recommendation, I picked up this book.

I want my credit back.

The author's experiences are probably interesting enough, except she colors it by all these witty interludes, in a "Look at me! Look at how clever I am!" style. I really feel this book would have been better served by an editor that would have trimmed it down by 1/3.

Watchers is one of the first Koontz books I ever read, so recently I decided to pick it up as an audiobook. Now, I really wish Audible had a return policy. The story holds up just as I remember, however the narration sounds like one of those awful speech-to-text books that were popular so many years ago. I'd suggest passing on this version, and picking up the book instead.