In an homage to pop culture of the 1980’s, a lonely teen in a dystopian near-future embarks on a high stakes virtual reality quest.
The year is 2045, and following a global energy crisis, most people have flocked to city outskirts for the relative safety they offer from poverty and lawlessness. Wade Watts is a teenager that lives in a shantytown of trailers stacked one on top of another just outside Oklahoma City. He spends most of his time in the virtual reality world of OASIS, now the center of all society, culture, and commerce. When James Halliday, the wealthy and eccentric creator of OASIS dies, he leaves behind a contest for control of OASIS--and unfathomable wealth and power. The contest is to find an Easter egg hidden somewhere in the OASIS universe. Halliday was obsessed with 80's pop culture, and would-be egg hunters--known as "gunters"--study the films, other cultural artifacts, and especially video games of that decade in hopes of having a leg up on the competition.
Wade--or rather, his avatar, Parzival–is on the hunt for the Easter egg, along with thousands of others, including the powerful corporation IOI, who will stop at nothing to gain control of the egg and commercialize OASIS. In order to find the egg, gunters must first find three keys that open three gates. Each key and gate requires the gunter to complete a riddle or game steeped in 80's pop culture references. When Wade is the first to find one of the keys, his avatar instantly becomes world-famous--and in danger.
The story unfolds like a classic D&D game, one quest following the next, without the interactive thrill of rolling the dice.
I had no idea that this takes place near Oklahoma City! I am just a couple of hours from there, and if I liked the Sci-Fi genre more I probably would have already read this book. Would you say you liked the story? And are you considering completing the series?
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