Ready Player One: A Novel

I'll just come right out and say it: "Ready Player One" is one of the best books I've read in a very long time. From the very beginning, you will be engaged on every level imaginable, from the feelings of nostalgia to a sense of wonder at the worlds Cline has created to significant empathy towards the main characters. This is simply a book that provides the total package. Cline sets up what seems like a simple plot from the beginning: after his death, the richest man in the world has created a contest in the virtual world he created where the winner gets his company and his fortune. The guy was obsessed with 80's pop culture and video games, so all of the clues have something to do with that. The story follows Wade, one of the "gunters" (contestants who spend almost every waking moment on the contest), as he tries to decipher the clues and win the big prize. Standing in his way are other gunters and the obligatory evil corporation bent on taking over the virtual world for themselves. What amazed me was that such a simple plot had so much depth to it. Cline really does a wonderful job contrasting Wade's real life with his virtual one, especially when it comes to things like school and friends. OASIS (the virtual world) really is an oasis in the desert of Wade's life, where he can escape a dystopian world and terrible home life. At first, you wonder why Wade would ever leave the virtual world, but, later in the book, Cline does a marvelous job describing the toll that the obsession with the contest has taken on Wade and how living in a fantasy land isn't all it's cracked up to be. Cline also doesn't limit the issues to Wade. Other supporting characters go through the same issues, which demonstrates just how skillful Cline is at character development. A close second to the character development is Cline's development of the mythology of the contest, which is really a character by itself. The sheer amount of 70s and 80s lore found here made me very nostalgic for the time period. References to everything from old Atari and arcade games to the movie "War Games" to "Dungeons and Dragons" play key roles in Wade's quest to solve the riddles. However, Cline is careful not to let the old school stuff take too much of the spotlight. While it definitely makes the book a more fun read than it would have been otherwise, you don't need to have a deep understanding of the pop culture references to enjoy the book. I've read a lot of books by new authors recently and I can honestly say that this is far and away the best effort by a "newb". For someone who is new to the craft, Cline shows a deft hand and skills that most authors are never able to develop. I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.

By my son, Noah, the reader & reviewer of this book... Ready Player One was a thrilling adventure filled with science fiction, geeky references, and a creative outlook on the future. This book takes place in 2045. Most of the world’s resources have run out and there is an energy crisis that has driven many people out of a job. How do people deal with living in such a terrible world? The OASIS provides an escape for millions of people. It’s an online multiplayer game that allows millions of people to connect and explore. The creator of this OASIS became a multi billionaire named James Halliday. After he died, he created a contest for everyone in the OASIS to solve a bunch of clues using facts about his life. The winner would inherit all of his money and become the CEO of Gregarious Simulation Systems. Because this was such a good prize, millions of people studied Halliday and everything he did. Among these people was Wade Watts, an 18-year-old senior in high school. In order to obtain the Easter egg, you had to find the copper key and then find the first gate. After that, find the jade key and then the second gate. And lastly, find the crystal key and the third gate. Five years pass and no one can decipher the copper key riddle. Until one day in school, Wade figures it out. He becomes famous for being the first one to get his name onto the score board. However, he runs into his cyber crush, Art3mis. They hit it off and exchange contact information. She shortly completes the gate after him. Wade immediately finds the first gate and moves on while Nolan Sorrento, president of IOI blows up his home. More happens and eventually Wade is forced to work with Art3mis, his best friend Aech, and Shoto in order to open the third gate. He has thousands of people from the OASIS help him unleash a full-on attack on the Sixers (another name for the people at IOI). After all the effort, Wade wins the contest and finally gets to meet Art3mis in person. Many characters change toward the end of the book. Art3mis neglects Wade to focus on the hunt regrets it because she enjoyed her time with Wade. James Halliday spent his entire life escaping his miserable life through video games. Before he dies, he tells Wade not to make the same mistake as him. However, Wade changed a lot throughout the entire book. He starts off as a regular teenage boy, just playing video games every waking second of his day, desperate to find the egg. He isolates himself completely from other people until he meets Art3mis. He starts focusing more of his time and energy on her rather than on the hunt. Before her, speaking to girls was out of the question. Also, his goals with what he would do with the money changed. At first, he just wanted to build a spaceship and fly far away from earth. But after meeting Art3mis, he wanted to help feed the hungry like she did. He became very selfless and even risked spending the rest of his life as an IOI indentured servant just to make sure people wouldn’t have to deal with IOI taking over the OASIS. At the very end, the author wanted to show the readers just how important it is to be in the real world. “It occurred to me then that for the first time in as long as I could remember, I had absolutely no desire to log back into the OASIS.” (pg 372) Staying logged onto the OASIS has removed so many people from reality and hurt their mental health. Sometimes, escaping in the real world, no matter how bad it is, is the right thing to do. I thoroughly enjoyed every part of the book. While there were a lot of boring long descriptions, they were necessary. I loved how the characters changed a lot throughout the book and enhanced the theme. Teaching kids to not ignore the problems in the world and not just escape onto their phones is crucial. Ernest Cline was showing us what would happen if we simply did nothing and I hope this was a wakeup call for everyone. I liked the dialog and how the characters connected. I feel like Cline really captured the true essence of a friendship. Wade was also a good character. Some his lines and sayings were funny, and this made him a likeable protagonist. Some of the plot points were good as well. I would’ve never thought to have Wade become an indentured servant to penetrate IOI from the inside. That was really creative. I also enjoyed all of the references in the book, even though I didn’t understand most of them. And the way he incorporated them in the riddles was just absolutely brilliant. This is my second time reading the book and I enjoyed it so much. I’m sure all the nerds out there (especially ones who were teens in the 80’s) really appreciated this work of art

First and foremost, your enjoyment of this book will be directly correlated to your enjoyment and nostalgia for 80's pop culture, most notably early era video games, music, and movies. I love a lot of that stuff, so simply reading about a book framed with topics I enjoy make this book a worthwhile read for me. The story does serve to weave many of these cultural references into a YA tale about a boy on a quest to solve a riddle. A reader's reaction to the title itself would probably be a decent indicator of how much you will like the rest of the book. I would ideally like to give this book a 3.5ish rating, because I enjoyed it more than just "it's ok", but the highly specific subject matter prevent it from being a "general read" Pros: When the book evokes memories of things long forgotten and expounds on them in a way you probably haven't though about for years, you do feel a satisfying sense of understanding. In many books, for myself at least, a description of an item may be ambiguous enough for me to not quite know whether the image I have in my head is accurate, but by relying on mostly things that exist, you KNOW when your mental image is spot on. Our main character has a lot of knowledge pertaining to his quest before the book even begins, but I bought his expertise. This may be a stumbling block for some, but it's clear that our protagonist (and author perhaps?) has spent almost a lifetime amassing knowledge required to complete his task, and while it does lead to some hand holding on his part for us, the audience, I never felt like it was TOO far of a jump. Cline does weave in a lot of his own fictional history alongside actual 80's pop culture in a believable manner. The trail of breadcrumbs that marks the main quest throughout the story is littered with games, books, and movies both real and factual, and the line is blurred well enough that many times I wasn't exactly sure if something mentioned actually existed, or was created solely for the story. This neatly leads into a plausible extrapolation of the future of technology and video games. Following the thread of the main riddle is entertaining and highly driving. The actual clues aren't really intended to be "solved" by the reader, rather than followed. Our protagonist is the brains of the operation here, not us. It's a fun ride along, sort of like watching a magic trick be performed. You don't have to figure out the inner workings prematurely to enjoy the show. The largely virtual setting of the story does allow for some fairly imaginative combinations of people and places, reminiscent of playing with a toy box full of dolls and action figures from all sorts of shows, cartoons etc. sort of mashed together in a sort of wish fulfilling way, not too much unlike seeing the many different Lego sets being used together in "The Lego Movie" Cons: While the references I got were satisfying, there were some parts where familiarity was implied and I felt a bit "out of the loop", particularly when referencing music from that era. the description might be "x song by y artist was playing", but with no other description of the song, I didn't know whether it was happy, sad, suspenseful, intense etc. It definitely isn't a show stopper by any means, and the context of the scenarios do help inform the tone, but sometimes requisite knowledge seemed just that--a prerequisite to understanding what was happening. Wade, our protagonist, seems to flip flop between self loathing, overly confident, childish, meticulous, immature, mastermind whenever necessary for the plot to progress. He doesn't seem so much like a dynamic character as much as possessing a convenient set of switches to flip when appropriate. Maybe a different style of writing would better suite bridging or informing these changes, but as it stands he almost seems like many different people controlling one body at different times Side characters are flat as pancakes. The permanent character list in this novel is already pretty small, but even the characters we have besides our protagonist are very one note. [MILD SPOILERS]]While some characters aren't exactly as they seem, even those differences when revealed turn out to be mostly superficial. [END SPOILERS] There are even Japanese characters that read completely like what a typical american would think a Japanese person is like, complete with adding "-san" to the ends of names and talking about honor. My last con is pretty plot specific so it might bare no relevance until you actually read the book so [MILD SPOILERS] Wade goes through a drastically life altering change that should have been the fire for the rest of his quest, but it seemed like little more than a plot device to cleanly allow him to be unchained from realistic consequences of his situation. It almost seemed like a quick and sloppy way to get rid of baggage as opposed to a full blown emotional catharsis. In fact, after it happens, it's mentioned maybe twice throughout the remainder of the book [END SPOILERS] All in all, the book does have heart, even if it is buried in an old trunk of 80's memories. There is an Earnest (no pun intended) core that you can feel throughout, and that emotional attachment and love for the source material really does frame the story. As I said before, if the era and source material seem interesting to you, then you will definitely get something out of this. If you're skeptical, the first few chapters will definitely help you decide whether it's for you or not, so previewing an excerpt is probably a good idea. If you don't really care for the material, then this book isn't going to change your mind.

When I go back and watch a Spielberg film from the late 70s or early 80s, it has a certain look and feel to it - a tone that is instantly recognizable. When I watch a sitcom from the 80s, it has a singular cadence that instantly puts me at ease, and prepares me to have my problems solved in 30 minutes or less. When I play a video game from the late 70s or early 80s, it makes my fingers itch for a quarter. And, when I read one of the books I loved when I was a teenager, it brings back the pure joy I would find in losing myself in another time and another place. I spend so much time thinking about what I read now; it's becoming more and more rare for me to find that unadulterated escape in a book anymore. I found it when I read "Ready Player One" - and I loved it. This is a book for anyone who's every memorized a pattern on Pac-Man. It's a book for anyone who's ever answered a question by saying - "Blue...no, yellow!" It's a book for anyone who's ever rolled multi-sided dice in the hopes of achieving greatness. It's a book for anyone who's ever believed with all his or her heart that a small square on a small TV, holding a pixilated arrow, was really a brave knight on an epic Adventure. This book is just fun. I don't want to go in to great detail on the story itself - to do that would ruin the thrill of discovery I felt as I turned each page. It drew me in from the first chapter and whisked me along on a trip down memory lane. So much of my childhood is represented in this book; it felt like putting on a comfortable pair of old blue jeans. I realized about half way through that this is the book my 13 year-old self didn't know he was preparing my 40 year-old self to love. To stop there, though, would do the story a disservice. It's not merely a 300+ page excuse to reminisce about the stories, games, and movies of our youth. It's also a compelling story that invests you in its characters. There are themes exploring the corporatization of our culture, the true meaning of friendship, and the dangers of disconnecting yourself from the real world. The last is a timely message, and deftly balanced between a love for the virtual world and an understanding of the need for balance between the virtual and the physical. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of "Ready Player One". Whether you are a fan of 80s pop culture or not - whether you've ever even put a quarter in to a Ms. Pac-Man machine - this is a book that will entertain you. You will not be disappointed. It has action, it has adventure - but it also has heart, and ultimately a message about the importance of not losing sight of what's real. It gave me a span of 3 days where I felt like I was 13 again and nothing in the world mattered as much as answering the question - "what happens next?" It may only be August, but I feel certain I've just read my favorite book of 2011.

First, the positive. This book has interesting characters, a compelling plot, and some occasional poignant insights about the world we live in, and why people often trade it for an entirely fictitious world of make-believe. It is well written, and most importantly kept me turning pages, often past bedtime, which everyone knows is the mark of a good book. Now the negative. Warning: HERE BE SPOILERS. The level of nostalgia in this book can become tedious. The main character (Wade) spends a lot of time recalling ALL the movies he watched from the 80's, ALL the music to which he listened, ALL the games he played, etc. At one point I literally felt like I was reading a list from IMDB. True to geek form, though, the protagonist is obsessed with his hobbies, so while it was annoying to read, it was true to character. There are a few plot holes that I found contrived. For example, the cover of the manual from Zork was a clue to finding one of Halliday's keys, but Wade misses it and laments that he just never really payed attention to the manual. After pages and pages of demonstrating a near encyclopedic knowledge of the minutia of far LESS important games/movies/songs/whatever than Zork. After reciting the ENTIRETY of the movie War Games by heart. And we are expected to believe he just glossed over the cover to the manual Zork. Right. The OASIS has become as important (more so, even) to the world's economy as normal commerce and industry, to the point where mega-corporations build virtual office towers and mega-plexes in the game world and populate them with avatars all controlled by human counterparts in the real world. Which sounds great, except in a virtual world where people can fly and have space ships and zap lightning from their fingers, why on earth would anyone build elevators, or ground cars, or other tools that exist because of limitations in the real world that do not necessarily exist in a virtual one? Businesses that depend on time-to-market, or JIT delivery of goods and services would optimize this all away to have a much faster workflow. Yet in the game, these things are still present. At one point Wade hurries to his spaceship hanger in his asteroid fortress because he is running out of time to find one of the keys. And he has to wait for and ride an elevator from his command center to his hanger. Why not fly, or beam, or take a rocket-powered train? Maybe it is a necessary rule of the game, or maybe it was just the aesthetic that compelled him to install a virtual elevator, but Cline doesn't explain it and it bugged me more than it should. We accept this mechanic in our games NOW because they are just that: games. But in Cline's world the OASIS has become, for all intents and purposes, reality for most people, and it would have been optimized as such. My last gripe is about the romance. I thought it was somewhat well executed until the end. Wade pines over Samantha in the OASIS, falling hard for her online persona. Samantha insists that Wade could never love her in real life, but doesn't tell him why. Wade insists that nothing could be so horrible that he wouldn't love her. When he finally sees a photo of her in real-life, he discovers that she has a birth defect that mars part of her face, and when he finally meets her, he insists that she is beautiful anyway. Contrast this with Wade's reaction when he learned that his best friend Aech (whom he assumed was a white, straight male based on his online persona) ended up being an overweight black lesbian named Helen. Wade was shocked, the situation was appropriately awkward, he felt a bit deceived, but then realized that those differences just didn't matter. This is a much more plausible, human response to rocked expectations. Wade's reaction to Samatha is more the stuff of Twilight where the stereotypical self-conscious, confidence-ridden female is reaffirmed by the strong male protagonist who has unconditional love for her, regardless of her looks, faults, whatever. This is further cemented by the fact that Samantha's avatar is described as "all curves" (and her real body is, according to Wade, a good representation), while Wade himself had taken up a daily exercise routine and ended up with "a flat stomach and muscles". I think Cline could have made the romantic connection stronger by picking a less stereotypical path, acknowledging reality for what it is, and having the characters struggle to accept that whatever physical issues they had in the real world. All said, though, I give this book a 5-star rating because I enjoyed it, and that's what matters. It is a worthy read for anyone who loves geek and gamer history, or who enjoys cyberpunk or similar genres.

Is it the lure of nostalgia or simply the epic feel of Ready Player One that makes it so deliciously entertaining? It is perhaps, a bit of both. Ernest Cline playfully reminisces while offering up a heady eighties banquet in his futuristic piece about a quest to end all quests that jet-propels the minds and hearts of readers from the very first page. I can still remember the very first time I saw Star Wars and Tron, the first time I delved into books that epically moved me...Watership Down, The Hobbit, Neuromancer, Holy Fire, Heart of Darkness, even Harry Potter...diving into Ready Player One, with my haptic gloves, visor, and OASIS immersion rig was no different-an absolutely electrifying and unforgettable experience. Cline manages to convey a bit of prescience in his portrayal of the world that Wade Watts lives in...a virtual world that is more comforting than a bleak future, where millions grow up in the OASIS, through its schools, its libraries, and its simulated cities and towns-all digitally recreated-its seamless worlds-within-worlds offering up a never-ending adventure. Sound familiar? Clines' futuristic grail quest takes off when the creator of the OASIS and owner of Gregarious Simulation Systems James Halliday dies, thrusting the entire planet into a frenzy (much in the same way Steve Jobs' demise did). Within the OASIS, Halliday has programmed clues to unraveling a treasure-his treasure-roughly two hundred and forty billion dollars' worth and a controlling interest of the most powerful company on the planet. All are at stake and up for grabs. One only needs to have an excellent knowledge of the eighties, the background of Halliday's life memorized, and an unbeatable strategy to unravel the scavenger hunt-like clues hidden within the OASIS. Cline plays up his inexhaustible eighties references, as Wade Watts does his pasty-white-best to unravel the clues to three keys left by his idol Halliday-whether it is acting out the scenes in War Games, playing Joust, Dungeons of Daggorath, or playing a perfect game of Pac Man (which is still on my bucket list) on top of competitively racing against thousands of gunters bent on finding the keys for themselves. At their heels an evil multinational company lurks in the wings willing to do anything, include kill, to get at all three keys. Cline manages to craft a formidable opponent out of the Sixers, those cretinous suits from innovative Online Industries (IOI) bent on sussing out the keys for their own motely gain and the inevitable control and monetization of the OASIS. With the emergence of the Sixers, Wade must pit his smarts and knowledge against them, and band together his friends and fellow gunters worldwide. With Wade's selfless perseverance to save the spirit of the OASIS from the Sixers, Ready Player One becomes ceases to be a quest and morphs into a worldwide mission. Instead of the billions at stake, the very life blood of the OASIS is threatened and the unified front that Wade and his teammates drum up conjures up visions of every epic fictional battle fought: the war of Middle Earth, the Battle of Endor, Luke Skywalker launching his torpedo into the Death Star's reactor...to Cline's Battle of Chthonia and Castle Anorak all thrust the reader from apathy to become a part of something greater. Cline has managed to imaginatively deliver the most essential ingredients to a great story or movie in a shiny, new, wrapper: charity, hope and faith. Ready Player One is striking, unstoppable and epically good. There are so many good and genuine aspects to Cline's novel that I don't even know where to start. Cline's peek at the future is believable at times with a hint of wry humor (i.e. the Portland Avenue Stacks where Wade lives...is freakishly comical...and yet just a bit sad) Who could imagine poverty-stricken families scraping out a meager existence in RVs stacked high in the sky? Visually it's like the Jetson's in HELL or the great garbage avalanche of 2505 in Idiocracy (2006). As is his reference to a C-section (cutting an OASIS user out of their apartment and haptic chair) nearly made me roll on the floor laughing and Wades' stint as an IOI indentured Tech Support employee was insanely good, (almost as good as his maniacal plot to somehow crack the hold of the Orb of Osuvox over Castle Anorak). After reading Ready Player One FIVE times, I have to say without a doubt it's been the best book I've read all year. Hopefully, Ernest Cline will channel Yoda's last words "...there is another Skyw-..." and deliver an equally geek-worthy sequel. Bravo! Parzival Lives! A Fiendishly Bookish Review

I had so much fun reading this book - the 80's pop culture references, the inclusion of snippets around the origin of gaming... and a little exploration of social injustice. It turned out to be way more adventurous and inciteful than I was expecting. ‘Ready Player One’ was also more violent than I was expecting. Which was a good thing for the story. It really put some high stakes on the line. I was totally wrapped up in this futuristic universe. One thing with all the pop culture references - not everyone is going to get them all, or understand the lengthy list of computer models and old model gaming consoles. So, while I appreciated the nostalgia of the references, at times I felt out of the loop, not geeky enough to fully understand the narrative. It made me sad, like my nerd status had been revoked. These moments that pulled me from immersion of ‘Ready Player One’ did not detract from my enjoyment of the story however, just moments of brow furrowing and googling for information. So if you don't have an extensive knowledge of 80's culture and gaming, you may find the endless list of name dropping tedious. I marvelled at the growth and development of our protagonist Wade/Percival. His dedication, loyalty, and commitment grew organically through the length of the novel. Even though those traits were there to begin with, you see them move centre stage and become his driving force. It's what had me relating and investing in his story. So too was his romance with Art3mis. We all want the geek to get the girl... even though it felt a little disconnected with the story, not entirely needed, I loved the inclusion and how it helped to humanise Wade and give him a connection to the outside world. The Oasis virtual reality had just about swallowed him up and she was the next adventure after he was to find a way through his online quest. The pacing was great - I think most of the book was a page turner for me. Some moments where Cline started prattling off specifics, or info-dumped a bit of history, or backstory, killed the momentum, but on the whole it's the most engaged I've been in a while. I didn’t have a lot of free time to read, but when I did it was very easy to slip back in to. There was no confusion about who was who, or where the story was going. It was pure entertainment. I enjoyed the subtext of ‘avatar perception vs real life’ - a comment on the possibilities of where we could be headed and how thing like 'catfishing' is happening more regularly. The plot is fairly simple – it reads like a quest for a video game - and it’s intentional, so in that sense it’s fairly predictable. Though I found a lot of sub-plots and roadblocks delightfully surprising and entertaining. I’m looking forward to the film interpretation masted by Steven Spielberg, with Tye Sheridan playing Wade, slated for a March 30, 2018 release. *squee* Highly recommend. Cline paints a colourfully graphic world, addressing issues we are facing now as we grow with technology, and with all the pop culture references, it’s like nerd porn.

Rife with music, robots, video games, conspiracies and treasure hunting, Ready Player One is an entertaining read that rides a contagious wave of 80’s nostalgia! In the grand tradition of life-consuming novels, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline wrecked my world in the best way possible for a few precious hours over a couple of afternoons and late nights. Imagine a young kid, lonely and poor, who becomes caught up in the search for a fantastic treasure, catapulting him to fame, and he suddenly finds himself at odds with ruthless foes who are bent on securing the treasure for themselves! That story is fun, even before you add the crazy virtual reality or 80's pop-culture. Then toss in a touch of boy-meets-girl, competing best friends, espionage, murder and then...BOOM! Awesome! Ready Player One recalls some of the best feelings of the early Harry Potter novels and certainly a fair amount of Ender's Game, but the big sell here is the 80's nostalgia, plan and simple. The book is loaded, almost to the point of capsizing, with references to popular music, film, TV and games from the 1980's. But it's a dance that Cline steps well and it's hard not to get caught up in the fun. The setting for the book is largely the OASIS, a massive virtual world that serves as a game, social network, amusement park, school, commercial venue, etc. The OASIS clearly has it's basis in modern virtual simulations like Second Life or maybe even Minecraft. The use of real money to purchase items, real estate, and services in a digital realm (ala Second Life) are taken to a much higher level of immersion and technological ability in the fictitious OASIS. The OASIS really is the backbone of the story, allowing the introduction of elements of every genre of gaming and movies to become part of the landscape. Characters are able to use vehicles and weapons familiar to readers from things like the Time Machine from Back to the Future or KITT from Knight Rider, and even obscure novelties like Leopardon (a giant-robot flown by Spider-Man in the Japanese TV series). References to 80's music and video games also abound. Confession: I actually created a "Ready Player One" playlist, which I had on rotation as I read and would add songs as they came up in the narrative. I highly recommend this audio augmentation. Didn't really add to the story, but it was super fun. In the near future, Wade, our young hero, lives in the overcrowded slums called "the stacks" where mobile homes are placed one on top of the other creating trailer park sky-scrapers. His home-life is terrible and his only respite from misery is his time at school in the OASIS. When the creator of the OASIS, James Halliday, dies he sends a virtual will to every OASIS user detailing a game/treasure hunt to find an Easter egg hidden within the simulation, the Willy-Wonka-esque prize of his immense fortune, becoming an omnipotent super-user and ultimately controlling ownership of the OASIS. The creator's love for the 1980's permeates his contest and the "gunters" (as the virtual egg hunters are known) pour over Halliday’s notes and clues while immersing themselves in 80's trivia and pop-culture. The gunters are working to find the treasure before the evil corporation IOI who want to take ownership of the OASIS and completely commercialize it. To that end IOI has employed an army of users (called "sixers" because of their numerical usernames) to search for Halliday’s Egg and virtually equipped them with the latest technology, attempting to skew the odds in their favor. The only hope for an open and fair OASIS is the rag-tag band made up of Wade and his new, virtual friends. The adventure is fun, the action rolls along at a fast clip and the characters work well together. If you are a child of the 80's, then you can't get through a page or two without a favorite movie or video game being mentioned...like little nuggets of fun sprinkled throughout the book. This novel scrolls down the check-list of things I enjoy in a book and hits *almost* every one of them. Overall, I loved it and didn't want it to end. I got that sweet, familiar dread as I watched the number of unread pages continue to shrink. When it was over I had that post-novel life-gap…you know, that feeling where you don't quite know what to do or read because nothing feels as fun as what you just read...almost like the book just broke-up with you and now you need a rebound. It was that. A lot. Even with a few misses from unrealized subplots and obstacle development, the book is stellar. I was entertained, moved, and had a blast reading a great adventure story. It's funny but I pictured Will Wheaton as the main character in my head the whole time...turns out he narrated the audio book. If you are a nerd or a geek or you just like the 80's then you are in for a treat. If you aren't any of those things, you will still enjoy this tale. And maybe when you are done, go dig around online and find some of the really great music and movies mentioned.