Ready Player One

Ready Player OneNominated as one of America's best loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read The bestselling cult classic now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre busting, ambitious, and charming debut part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots,

Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read

The bestselling cult classic--now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg.

At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut--part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.

It's the year 2045, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune--and remarkable power--to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved--that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt--among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life--and love--in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
Published: 08/16/2011
ISBN: 9780307887436
Pages: 374
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 9.37h x 6.40w x 1.26d
Award: Nutmeg Book Award - Nominee
Award: Nevada Young Readers' Award - Nominee
Award: Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers - Nominee
Award: Alex Awards - Winner
Award: Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award - Nominee
Award: Evergreen Young Adult Book Award - Nominee
Award: Locus Awards - Nominee
Award: Young Reader's Choice Award - Nominee

Review Citations: Library Journal 03/01/2011 pg. 54
Library Journal Prepub Alert 03/01/2011 pg. 54
Publishers Weekly 04/25/2011
Kirkus Reviews 05/01/2011
Booklist 05/15/2011 pg. 28
Entertainment Weekly 08/19/2011 pg. 108
Shelf Awareness 08/16/2011
Entertainment Weekly 11/25/2011 pg. 76
Shelf Awareness 08/04/2011
Entertainment Weekly 12/23/2011 pg. 111
Booklist Ed Choice Adu Bk YA's 01/01/2012 pg. 10
People Weekly 12/16/2013 pg. 59
Entertainment Weekly 07/31/2015 pg. 64

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 149949 / Ready Player One
Reading Level: 6.7 / Interest Level: Upper Grade / Point Value: 23