Ready Player One (Film Tie-In) - Ernest Cline - 9781784754792

THE BOOK BEHIND THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE DIRECTED BY STEVEN SPIELBERG

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

It's the year 2044, and the real world has become an ugly place. We're out of oil. We've wrecked the climate. Famine, poverty, and disease are widespread.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes this depressing reality by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia where you can be anything you want to be, where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade is obsessed by the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this alternate reality: OASIS founder James Halliday, who dies with no heir, has promised that control of the OASIS - and his massive fortune - will go to the person who can solve the riddles he has left scattered throughout his creation.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to achieve this prize, knowing only that the riddles are based in the culture of the late twentieth century. And then Wade stumbles onto the key to the first puzzle.

Suddenly, he finds himself pitted against thousands of competitors in a desperate race to claim the ultimate prize, a chase that soon takes on terrifying real-world dimensions - and that will leave both Wade and his world profoundly changed .

"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" - Justin Trudeau, Independent

"The science-fiction writer John Scalzi has aptly referred to Ready Player One as a 'nerdgasm' [and] there can be no better one-word description of this ardent fantasy artifact about fantasy culture...But Mr. Cline is able to incorporate his favorite toys and games into a perfectly accessible narrative" - ​​ Janet Maslin, New York Times

"A most excellent ride... the conceit is a smart one, and we happily root for [the heroes] on their quest... fully satisfying" - Boston Globe

"Gorgeously geeky, superbly entertaining, this really is a spectacularly successful debut" - Daily Mail

"If you grew up with an Atari or maybe had a Commodore 64 back in the day, you are going to really enjoy this one. Cline really captures the feeling of those good old days in Ready Player One" - WIRED

"The strength of Cline's first novel, other than its geeky referencing of 1980s pop culture, is the characterization of the Candide-like Wade and his redemptive quest in both VR and the real world" - Guardian

"Ernest Cline's novel deserves to be a modern classic…the most relevant novel of the 21st Century to date" - Steve Wright, SciFi Now

"The mystery and fantasy in this novel weaves itself in the most delightful way, and the details that make up Mr. Cline's world are simply astounding. Ready Player One has it all" - Huffington Post

"Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets the Matrix. This novel undoubtedly qualifies Cline as the hottest geek on the planet right now. [But] you don't have to be a geek to get it" - USA Today

< span style="background-color: #ffffff;color: #333333;font-family: Arial;font-size: 10pt;font-style: normal;font-weight: normal;line-height: 1.13;"> "Fascinating and imaginative...It's non-stop action when gamers must navigate clever puzzles and outwit determined enemies in a virtual world in order to save a real one. Readers are in for a wild ride" - Terry Brooks, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Ernest Cline is a bestselling novelist, screenwriter, father, and full-time geek. He is the author of the novels Ready Player One and Armada and co-screenwriter of the blockbuster film adaptation of Ready Player One, directed by Steven Spielberg. His books have been published in over fifty countries and have spent more than 150 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his family, a time-traveling DeLorean, and a large collection of classic video games.