Summary
In 2018, when people dreamed of the future, most of them probably got it wrong. It’s no utopia. It’s still a system of haves and have-nots. And there are even more have-nots than ever before.
In 2045, Wade Watts is one of the have-nots. He’s essentially homeless. He can crash at his aunt’s crowded trailer, but if he does, she and her crappy boyfriend always take his stuff and try to sell it for money. Thankfully Wade has carved out a little man cave for himself in a pile of abandoned cars. It’s taken some time and a lot of ingenuity, but he has it set up so he has shelter from the elements, heat when it gets cold, and most importantly, he has access to the OASIS, a virtual utopia where most people spend their time. But even in the OASIS, Wade is a have-not. The only reason he can even access it is because of equipment he gets free through school. He’s low ranked with little power and even fewer resources. But all that could change if he could find Halliday’s hidden Easter Egg in OASIS.
James Halliday created OASIS. And when he died several years ago, he launched a contest for control of his company, his vast fortune and the OASIS. For years now, no one has been able to crack the riddle and find the first of three keys needed to find the egg. And everyone knows that whoever finds it first will be tracked by every egg hunter (“gunter”) in the world, not to mention the corporate bigwigs who want to take over the OASIS for their own profit. But it would be worth it to win.
Wade is about to find himself in the middle of the melee when the race to find Halliday’s egg finally kicks into gear. But he has no idea how high the stakes really are.
Review
Both my son and husband read this when it first came out, and they insisted I had to read it as one of my challenge books for this summer. This book has been immensely popular. It’s been turned into a movie, and named one of the 100 Most-Loved Books by The Great American Read. I see the appeal. The world-building is excellent and extensive. The stakes are no joke, even for a contest in a virtual world. And the pop culture references are plentiful.
For me, this felt like an amped up, high tech version of The Westing Game at first. You have a rich guy leaving all his wealth to the person who can figure out a series of puzzles. The puzzles aren’t really intellectual pieces for the reader to solve like you might find in other books with a similar set up. Only the characters with extensive knowledge of Halliday and top level video gaming skills can solve them.
The characters are fascinating. Wade has immense skill – and luck. Pretty much every solution he comes up with works, from his hacking skills to his foresight to his gaming skills. I was surprised that there weren’t more glitches in his plans through the story. The roadblocks generally came from the actions of other characters rather than Wade’s plans falling apart. The gunters in Wade’s circle were interesting and the relationships between them were complicated. They were friendly, but ultimately competitors, which added to some interpersonal tension. Overall, this wasn’t a character-bonding book for me. I didn’t connect with any of them.
I struggled to stay engaged with this one. The world-building is incredibly detailed which means occasionally the story would veer off from the egg hunt to a tangent (or what felt like a tangent) as a means for elaborating on the world. Reading this felt like a slog for me at times – not the writing, which is good, but just the detail. I’m generally a fast reader, but I really had to take my time with this one because there were so many details. In the end, I enjoyed the book. I don’t know that I would read it again and don’t feel the need to see the movie, but I am glad I read this. It’s fun to finally be able to discuss it with my family. (Some language)