Matt Dickinson, our Guest Editor for January 2013 - This is an excellent new thriller for teenage/YA readers. I discovered it recently and devoured it in a few days.
The story is set in the future, and features a bunch of teen characters on both sides of a ‘virtual reality’ game called OASIS that has become the universe’s most popular entertainment. We see their seedy, poverty-stricken, real worlds and the glamorous ‘virtual’ world of possibility that they can access through VR suits whenever they choose. At the heart of the story is Wade Watts, a boy who might—JUST—have the skill (and knowledge of obscure 80’s cultural references) to win a competition which will make him the richest person in the universe—and the most powerful to boot! Of course there are evil forces out to stop him and this provides a most gripping climax to the tale. A perfect book for any teenager or young adult obsessed with games and game culture—or parents with fond memories of Dungeons and Dragons etc., from a misspent youth!
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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 attain 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.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Ready Player One and determined it is suitable for children aged 15-18 years old
Ready Player One features in the following genres: Gritty Reads, Recommendations, Recommended Children's eBooks, Science Fiction, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Featured Books for Young Adults
Ready Player One is available in Paperback
Ready Player One was written by Ernest Cline and published by Arrow Books Ltd
Ready Player One has 374 pages
£9.89
