Ready Player One

April 25, 2011
This adrenaline shot of uncut geekdom, a quest through a virtual world, is loaded with enough 1980s nostalgia to please even the most devoted John Hughes fans. In a bleak but easily imagined 2044, Wade Watts, an impoverished high school student who calls a vertically stacked trailer park home, lives primarily online, alongside billions of others, via a massive online game, OASIS, where players race to unravel the puzzles OASIS creator James Halliday built into the game before his death, with the winner taking control of the virtual world's parent company, as well as staggering wealth. When Wade stumbles on a clue, he's plunged into high-stakes conflict with a corporation dedicated to unraveling Halliday's riddles, which draw from Dungeons and Dragons, old Atari video games, the cinematic computer hacker ode War Games, and that wellspring of geek humor, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (Of course.) The science fiction, video game, technology, and geeky musical references pile up quickly, sometimes a bit much so, but sweet, self-deprecating Wade, whose universe is an odd mix of the real past and the virtual present, is the perfect lovable/unlikely hero.

As narrator of this offbeat, futuristic adventure, Wil Wheaton must evoke a teen's na•veté and cynicism about real life and incorporate this veteran gaming geek's expertise of '80s culture. With nods to Willy Wonka, William Gibson, and Neal Stephenson, a cross-genre plot involves gaming jousts as the hero attempts to win top score on his quest to inherit a dead billionaire's control of an interactive universe of cyber-worlds. Wheaton is up to the task, presenting an engaging treasure hunt while also dramatizing the hero's enthusiasm at playing classic games like Pac-Man. Also a twist on PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, this novel has something for everyone. J.L. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine