#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
I just had to write something after finishing this book.
To someone who loved the first 14 episodes of Sword Art Online, virtual reality in general, video games and anime references this book was an amazing read. Of course there were some things I didn't like; mainly the romance because the book doesn't need it at all but the book deserves a 5 to me and I don't do decimal ratings.
The idea of going on a virtual treasure hunt is very exciting and a lot of gamers would love to have the opportunity to do what they did. I usually hate info dumps but I really appreciated the time and effort Ernest Cline took into the world building of this book, everything is extremely detailed and it never left me wanting to do any research on my own because I didn't understand something. 80s references are all over the book and I did research some of the things that were interesting to me, nothing that affected or influenced my enjoyment though.
To me this book had everything Artemis Fowl lacked, the solving of the puzzles especially, what was so boring in Artemis Fowl is done in a better way in this book. The puzzles are not that hard but it's still done in a really fun, smart and very interesting way. It really shows how much time was put into making it as exciting as possible.
Definitely a must read to anyone who enjoys video games and enjoyed Sword Art Online.
There is also a sequel being written and a movie in the works. Best news ever tbh
