Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The basis for me reading this book was that I read somewhere a movie was being made of this book and I was intrigued by the title.  I like to read the book before seeing the movie.

I liked the story line and it’s a book that makes you want to keep reading.  I finished the last 9 chapters in the same day.

Set in 2041, the world is going through an energy crisis. Poverty and disease are running rampant.  People are living off of food vouchers and living in trailers parks where trailers are stacked vertically.

Apart from the real world, there is OASIS. An on-line virtual reality system that grants you access to another world, so to speak.  The main character Wade attends school through OASIS and basically stays connected 24-7-365.  In Oasis, you can teleport from place to place, fly spaceships and be anything you want and do anything you want with your own avatar.  There are levels granted to each avatar depending on your experience.  These levels are increased based on the quests you choose and what you gain as far as experience points and artifacts that allow you to do magical things in OASIS.   

The fun begins when the OASIS creator dies and leaves his fortune to the person who can find an "egg" that he has hidden.  This begins a cut-throat rampage to be the first person to decipher clues left behind and gain a fortune.

The story takes you through a history if video games, movies from the 80’s and gaming consoles.  It was like a blast from the past for me.  I am not a “gaming nerd”, but have played my fare share of video games and newly upgraded to “apps”.