By Ernest Cline
I will start this review by saying, this is a very rare time when I will say- Watch The Movie First. I don't think that I've ever said that about a Movie or Book. In this case, if you listen to the book first, the movie won't be great. If you watch the movie first, and liked it, you can go back and learn a ton more about the story. You can learn the original Cannon after having enjoyed the movie. If you have the movie, you probably won't enjoy the audiobook. Honestly I felt like the movie would have been better served as a one season Netflix series.
Oh you aren't here for a commentary on the movie? Just the audiobook? Okay! Well, it's fricking amazing! Of all the audiobooks I've ever listened to, this is Top 10.
The story takes place about 30 years in the future and follows a young man named Wade. Wade has a pretty rough futuristic life, he is very poor, living out of a van at a junkyard and his aunt's home with her dick boyfriend. Wade basically collects computer parts he finds in the trash and is able to sign into the Oasis. A Virtual Reality world what was built by a eccentric and deceased Tech Guru.
There has been a contest going on inside the Oasis for like 5 years, but no one had made any progress, the virtual score board remains nameless.
The audiobook is all able hidden Easter Eggs. If you are unfamiliar with an Easter Egg, they are all over the web today, Hidden things that the creator stashes around to "leave their mark" or entertain themselves to see if anyone will ever notice.
Whoever could complete the contest would win all of the eccentric billionaires fortune. The jest of rest of the story should be pretty obvious.
One more thing about the movie, the biggest thing that was far superior in my opinion. The movie did not have the pointless anti-religion rants that the author put into the book for no reason. There are a few random tangents that is the author speaking more than the protagonist. Even if his listeners agree, I think they would also agree, they don't add Wade's story in the least.
I totally recommend this book. It lives up to the hype. I just read that a sequel is in the works :) My favorite part of the book (a thing that the movie hugely lacks) is all of the 80s throwback nostalgia. If you are a fan of the 80's you will like the book even more!
Overall Rating ★★★★★
Audiobook Length - 15 hours and 46 minutes
Appropriate for ages 16 and Up.
Genre: SyFy, Science Fiction, LitRPG, Utopian & Dystopian Fiction, High Tech, Adventure
