Books: Ready Player One (Ernest Cline)

I ripped through Ready Player One quickly on my Nook.  It's a fast read, but the premise is also fascinating.  Set about 50 years from now in a dystopian USA, Wade Wells escapes from his grim reality by plugging into the OASIS, which is basically the ultimate virtual reality experience.  Users can go to custom-created worlds and their avatars don't have to resemble them whatsoever. 

The creator of OASIS, James Halliday, created an Easter Egg hunt in the Oasis.  Trouble is, he made it so difficult that no one is able to get anywhere for long stretches of time.  Wade's mission is to be the first to complete the hunt, since the winner gets a cash prize beyond their wildest dreams.  An evil corporation is complicating things, however, by trying to game the system by hiring Halliday nerds and find the egg, which Wade fears will mean the end of OASIS as he and the world know it.

Ready Player One is set to be adapted as a film in 2017 by Steven Spielberg, and I'll be really curious as to how much of the book is kept.  While it's a quick read, I can imagine the film bogging down a bit in the details of the quest.  I did love the format, though.  I was never all that talented at role playing video games and lacked the patience to play them, but Cline's very visual style captured my imagination throughout.  As good science fiction will do, the book also provokes thought about the future while entertaining.