Ready Player One

A blast of geek fun especially if you a) where a teenager in the 80's or are an ardent student of the decade b) video games in all their iterations c) teen adventure etc. But you don't have to be immersed in these obsessions to enjoy the book. Eric Cline does an excellent job of putting the reader in the mind set of our hero Wade a.k.a. Parzival in an almost cinematic way, in fact a movie is being made by Steven Speilberg.

I've seen this described as a cross between Willy Wonka and The Matrix and that is fair but it's also the sum of all pop culture from the original “Twilight Zone” onward from hokey Saturday morning cartoons to “Blade Runner” covering pop music from Rush to Duran Duran. The world building is spot on and again it is fun. However all the flash is just the packaging for a conventional story like the ones it ogles i.e. “War Games” where a geeky but scrappy teenager overcomes overwhelming odds to succeed but also learns the power of true friendship and love. This is a good thing. Because that's what each new generation does: tell tried and true stories in new ways which are relevant to how we live now.

So take a jump and enjoy. Light fun is still fun.