Ready Player One

By: Ernest Cline

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins

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)

Nostalgia

If you were born in the early 1970s you will find a lot to relate to in this book. It brought back a rush of memories as well as immersing me within an awesome story! Love this book and now count it as one of my favorites!

perfect

Perfect book, a gamers dream... just love it. narrator was perfect with his voices and how he interpretated everything

Great story!!

I love this book. I’ve listened and read it over 10 times. The movie is great too but they are different so don’t expect the same thing from both of them! But they both are great!

Nothing new, yet it is balanced

I read half way through, watched the movie, and then finished. Not stellar, yet very clever, detailed and pleasant book. It has a structure. Secondary characters could be described better, however, that might have unnecessarily stretched the book, ridding it of its great pace.

Vivid and entertaining

Fast paced and entertaining, this book was extremely vivid in imagery and world building. The main premises of the story is interesting and gripping, though I found it to be a bit childish at times. I also found it hard to fully appreciate the obsession regarding the 80's culture... but even still, it kept me completely engrossed and it was actually hard to put it down. This was a really fun, easy read sci-fi.
Wil Wheaton did a really great job in reading it. Loved his subtle acting choices and overall performance.

a heading is required

Ready Player One was enjoyable to listen to. I loved the book's mention of the Narrator Wil Wheaton, very meta. I look forward to revisiting this again.

if you are not familiar with 80's games/movies this may be a little hard to follow along. thankfully there's Wikipedia to help.

.

I loved Wil Wheaton as the reader. fun book. no regrets. now I want to rewatch all the movies that are referenced.

Excellent

What a great story! RPO kept me wanting more at the end of every chapter. I am excited to get started on Armada!

A nostalgic homage to the pop culture of the 80s

Ernest Cline has you on the edge of your seat as you follow the bread crumb trail of the most intricate scavenger hunt imaginable. I can't imagine anyone else doing a better job narrating RP1 than Wil Wheaton, he did an outstanding job. Wil captured the essence of Ernest's characters in his performance and articulated the imagery of a fantasticyly crafted fantasy world created by Ernest.

Don't make the same mistake I did... RP1 has been constantly showing up on my recommended list, but I kept ignoring the recommendation. I thought the preview to the Spielberg RP1 movie looked cool so I decided to give RP1 a chance before the movie was released and the plot spoiled. Normally, I only listen to audiobooks on my drive into work and my drive home, but RP1 occupied all of my spare time. Several nights I found myself in bed early hiding from my family just to sneak in a couple of more chapters before the daily grind of life started up again.

Also, this book is drastically different from the movie. I believe Ernest wrote the screenplay and purposely played with some alternative "what if this happened instead" ideas. I recommend this book to anyone that will listen to me.

Amazing!

This book was great and Will Wheaton has done an awesome job bringing all the characters to life!