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)

80s ride!

Loved the nostalgia this book created for me. If you were a kid or teenager at any point during the 80s, this book is going to make you laugh and reminisce! The story was fun, and I enjoyed how it brought in specific video games and music and other pop culture references from my childhood. Heck, I may even have to go play a game of Zork now!

The best science fiction novel!

If you love video games and enjoy good stories this is the book for you. I grew up playing various consoles growing up and now having them referenced throughout the book made me happy. I hope you enjoy this amazing novel as much as I did. BTW Wil Wheaton does a fantastic job narrating.

Great Book! Great Narrative!

Great flow. The action had a great flow. Wil Wheaton's inflections were spot on and help paint a great picture in my mind. Just a great way to reminisce on the 80's and geek out!

Great book

It is a great story I really loved it!! Better than the movie. I highly reccomend

A Must Read!

This book was one of the best that I have listened to. The plot was great, and I had to keep listening to it. When the book had ended, I was disappointed, but all great things come to an end. I just wish there was a sequel to the book.

appreciate reality

I loved the story. This makes you realize and appreciate reality. Be kind and live your life to the fullest.

Beats the Movie Completely!

Absolutely loved it, the movie was good but the book is 100 times better, and Wil Wheaton does an amazing job as the narrator!

Excellent book. Would highly recommend. Of course, not perfect

I tend to be highly critical in my reviews of books, and seem in-proportionately disliking compared to liking of a book. So let me set the record straight, this is a great book. Filled with a deep love for 80’s pop culture, intense struggles, fun action, a few chuckles, and a clear love for all things nerdy. As a nerd, I love it.
Consider that to be at least a 19/20th of how I feel for this book. This next bit is the 1/20th.

The love for 80s pop culture can also cause the books problems. I love a book with references, but it results in large numbers of pages, often in succession, delving into how this world is built around 80’s pop culture. So if you’re not incredibly familiar with that time period’s nerd culture, these pages will be lost on you. At least they were lost on me. Still fascinating, but it means I’ll have sat around for 10-30 minutes or more listening to how the character is going through long lists of nerd references that I can only observe and, unfortunately, lose my connection with the story. Easy to stick through because it can be interesting, but not terribly so.
The book’s plot points often also RELY on these references. It will explain them sometimes, but not in ways that make the content interesting, more in a manner of a Wikipedia article rattling off odd trivia facts. It made these plot devices seem almost slotted in, that should have large impact, but occasionally (not all the time) feel like they could be replaced with any other by of trivia and the plot could have moved forward.

Lastly, our narrator, Wil Wheaton, sometimes felt a bit lackluster on the feminine voices. In fact in general, the real discerning differences in characters lay mostly in the way the writer portrayed them. Good on the writer, but I like audio books that add to a story by having a narrator that really gives characters, well, character, through his act of reading. Not that Wil didn’t give character, it just felt like it could have been delivered better.

Anyway, still an amazing book, and a lot of fun to read. Excellent succinct story. Pick it up!

Fantastic Fun Ride

Awesome. Couldn't stop listening. A really fun journey through a fantastic futuristic world not to far removed from our own. It was especially fun to step back into the 80s a time that was special to many of us. A true blast to read.

Nostalgia and Action

This book was very entertaining. The constant references to old pop culture were fun.

What really stands out about the book was the reader. It took a couple of chapters to get into, having just listened to one of my favorite narrators of all time, but he did a good job. Expressions and voices were well thought out and planned. I look forward to hearing more books narrated by Wil Wheaton.