Nerdgasm
Ready Player One is fun. It's pure nerd/pop culture, primarily of the 1980's. Very nostalgic and funny for those of my generation. In many ways the meat and potatoes of the book is fairly simple. No huge surprises. Characters are pretty standard. Lots of exposition and the writing is good but nothing incredible. However the book did a spectacular job on its #1 responsibility. It's extremely entertaining.
I had so much fun going over all the cult movies, games, music, TV shows, and everything else that I've obsessed about since I was a kid. The number of subtle nods and references is astounding. Many times, Cline will tell you what the reference is for. But most of the time he doesn't. You either get it or you don't and if you don't no biggie, if you do, you get to grin. But don't worry, another hidden reference is coming in about two sentences. I laughed with the jokes, I got to try my hand at some of the riddles, I rooted for the heroes. I had a blast reading this.
The version I read was the audio version read by Wil Wheaton. Not only was Wheaton an appropriate narrator because he's a rockstar in the community the book is written for (The book even referenced him at one point), but Wheaton is a spectacular narrator. His timing, inflections, and voices were wonderful.
