• Ready Player One

  • By: Ernest Cline
  • Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
  • Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (258,211 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Ready Player One  By  cover art

Ready Player One

By: Ernest Cline
Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $22.50

Buy for $22.50

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Warning: This Video Contains Spoilers

Discover More From Our Spoiler Alert Series
0:00

Publisher's summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg.

“Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix.”—USA Today • “As one adventure leads expertly to the next, time simply evaporates.”—Entertainment Weekly

A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready?

In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days.

When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself.

Then Wade cracks the first clue. Suddenly he’s beset by rivals who’ll kill to take this prize. The race is on—and the only way to survive is to win.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Entertainment Weekly San Francisco Chronicle Village Voice Chicago Sun-Times iO9 The AV Club

“Delightful . . . the grown-up’s Harry Potter.”HuffPost

“An addictive read . . . part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance, and all heart.”—CNN

“A most excellent ride . . . Cline stuffs his novel with a cornucopia of pop culture, as if to wink to the reader.”Boston Globe

“Ridiculously fun and large-hearted . . . Cline is that rare writer who can translate his own dorky enthusiasms into prose that’s both hilarious and compassionate.”—NPR

“[A] fantastic page-turner . . . starts out like a simple bit of fun and winds up feeling like a rich and plausible picture of future friendships in a world not too distant from our own.”iO9

©2011 Ernest Cline (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

2017, Laura Hillenbrand Outstanding Literary Award, Winner

“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.” (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)

“This non-gamer loved every page of Ready Player One.” (Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse series)

Featured Article: The Best Sci-Fi Audiobooks to Blast You into Another Galaxy


There’s a certain magic in losing yourself in the imaginative world of science fiction. But when new landscapes and realities are paired with brilliant audio performances, the experience is more immersive than ever. We’ve curated some of the best science fiction audiobooks, ranked not only for their vividly constructed narratives, but also for the compelling, stellar narration that brings them to life. So grab your headphones and settle in as reality fades away.

What listeners say about Ready Player One

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    212,820
  • 4 Stars
    34,702
  • 3 Stars
    7,182
  • 2 Stars
    1,969
  • 1 Stars
    1,538
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    201,019
  • 4 Stars
    29,215
  • 3 Stars
    6,415
  • 2 Stars
    1,375
  • 1 Stars
    946
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    192,440
  • 4 Stars
    33,694
  • 3 Stars
    8,274
  • 2 Stars
    2,340
  • 1 Stars
    1,737

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Virtual Reality Teen Fiction that did not Suck!

I generally dislike virtual reality SF.

I am not a teen, so teen fiction usually has to be transcendent to interest me.

I saw 10,000 ratings with an average of 4.7…and thought “how bad could it be for light summer reading?”

Ready Player One is virtual reality SF teen fiction, is not transcendent, but it majorly did not suck.

Now, I must admit, I am a geek. I owned and programmed the TRS-80, Amiga, Commodore 64, and had first-hand experience with much of the tech and geek-pop of this novel. My main annoyance with this book was the failure to give the Heathkit EC-1 it’s due (admittedly not the 80’s). Ok, Ok, I am an uber-geek. If you are an uber-geek and lived through the 80’s, you will likely appreciate this book, even if you don’t love it.

I did not love this book. It made a few geek-annoying mistakes, and was firmly in the first-kiss-goal-teen-fiction genre. The romantic tension is a first kiss, not, well, you know. This is only great fiction if you have spent WAY too much time playing video games. Yet, it is a pleasant little story with a Geekgasm of references that made it well worth the listen. I might even listen to this one again.

The narration by STNG’s Will Wheaton was spot on throughout.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

40 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Large amounts of filler

Will Wheaton does little to bring life to the characters. At times I wasn't sure who was saying what, due to the same voice/tone used for all characters.

The story is a cool walk down nostalgia lane, but there were too many internal dialogues when it felt like the protagonist needed to move forward.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

37 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Conceptually intriguing, stylistically lacking

I really wanted to like this book. In truth, I was captivated by the concept and overarching storyline. However the writing style makes it hard to get through in some points. I'm not sure of the target demographic, but perhaps I'm older than it because the writing seems juvinile throughout. Some sections are just lists which drone on and on....
I'm excited for the movie though because the story is there, I just think someone else needs to tell it for us to get the full effect.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

36 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

As if written by a lonely nerd then read by him...

Descriptions of unimportant things went on far too long. At least half of the book is a reference of other people's work. I listened to the whole thing since it was a decent story idea, however I spent 90% of the story rolling my eyes. Narration was just plain terrible.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

35 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Shallow and Predictable

What would have made Ready Player One better?

A central theme.

What could Ernest Cline have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Fleshing out the characters.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Stale dialogue, contrived plot points, missed opportunities with the world he created.

What character would you cut from Ready Player One?

I'm not really sure what "the brothers" did for the story.

Any additional comments?

This book does a great job of listing the things the author likes. These are the sort of lists that could make a cool blog post referencing all of the neat 80's trivia to doll out his fan service. Unfortunately this is a work of non-fiction, and Cline doesn't make the reader think, or engage the reader in any meaningful way. It read's kind of like a fifth grade show-and-tell where you get a lot of "hey look at this it does this and this and then when you do this it does this and I think it's really neat."

That being said the narrative does provide an interesting premise, which promises for a thrilling adventure. Unfortunately this adventure is bogged down by long winded references, contrived plot twists and even less subtle clichés. There are brief glimpses into the fictional dystopia the author has created, and ironically even though the focus is on the virtual world I felt more compelled to further explore what was actually happening in the real one.

The protagonist is a self identified expert with everything in regards to his quest. His character ark runs a pretty flat line. He goes through a lot but doesn't really respond in any realistic manner. Sure, he's a social misfit but this can't excuse the poor writing that evades any sort of response from him. Some of the most pivotal moments on his path felt rushed and left me underwhelmed.

Other characters in the story are all one dimensional. In fact some of the writing feels like the writer hasn't met people of this gender, race or age at all. Some of the dialogue is laughably bad. At times I was questioning if this was all intentional, being some sort of satire on the tv shows/films of the eighties. But nope, this is straight up how the writer interprets these people and their interactions.

If you're a child of the eighties and love video games this could be a good nostalgia trip for you. But if you are looking for that there are probably way better resources. I heard this was originally written as a screenplay and that would probably make sense. It is written rather plainly and directly. This can be a good thing, in this case it just seems to be because of a lack of verbosity or narrative ability. With the subject matter, you would expect a lot of room for discussion on the ethical and social questions the premise presents, but we never really go there.

For a younger audience, say 12-16, there could be some merit in reading Ready Player One. The romance and adventure is similar to the fair you'll find in Twilight or The Hunger Games , although it is a less focused story with less engaging characters. BUT if you are a video gamer and vampires or teenage battledomes aren't your thing, this may be for you. The book does offer a trip and at times the ride is good, just be ready to grit your teeth as you wade through the virtual dogma.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

33 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

an 80's pop coulture history lesson

For those of us who were born in (but technically did not grow up in the 80’s). We were exposed to a little of the nostalgia that this book highlights. consequently the book becomes an amusing little game of Spot the reference with occasional trips to YouTube to see the things you missed but you were sure were references

For the others among you who are interested in this book keep YouTube open because the references come in thick and fast

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

Lots better than the movie. Listened to it twice in a row. Will listen again

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Neckbearding Abound

I'm a sci-fi fan but this truly isn't for everybody, and you should ignore those who claim so. The dialogue was at times absolutely brutal to get through.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Simple & entertaining, lacking substance.

If you're not up for a very challenging listen, you may find Ready Player One worthwhile. My eight year old son found it very interesting, and enjoyed it very much. I was less impressed, but did find myself playing along with the main characters in their hunt for the egg. I found the personal relationships significantly less interesting.

The prize of the contest, for the characters, represents an escape from dystopia, but also serves as a decent allegory for common struggles of youth. However, it seemed to me to veer too close to validating geeks; something that has already been accomplished IRL.

Will Wheaton put in a professional performance, and even seemed to have fun taking part in a production which included himself as a minor player.

All in all, I found it entertaining if unrewarding. It won't change your life, but it may serve as escapism for a few hours, much like The Oasis itself...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

good fun but gets a little cheesy

I very much enjoyed this book - even though I didn't have the video game fluency that at first I thought I would need to really appreciate the story. Cline's description of gaming history and culture drew me in as did his very appealing characters. The story did get slightly cornball - and toward the end I was getting a bit squirmy - but at that point cheesy was somehow apropos and true to the spirit of the story. I look forward to giving this book to my four teenaged sons and their geeky friends!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

28 people found this helpful