Ready Player One

This is an amazingly enjoyable book set in the near future in 2044 where the world is running out of energy and civilization is crumbling. Most people can no longer afford accommodation and food and live in crumbling shanty towns of RVs and vans stacked on top of each other, scavenging for food and clothing. Most of the population cope by escaping into OASIS, an egalitarian online Universe created by the brilliant programmer James Halliday, where you can become whoever you want and live out your wildest fantasies.

Wade Watts, an orphan from one of the shanty towns is attending his last year of school at a free on-line OASIS high school as an avatar. He is an expert in the late 70s/80s culture that is James Halliday's favourite era and an expert not only on films, TV and music from that time but also all the original computer and pinball games. When James Halliday dies and announces that he is leaving his vast fortune to the gamer who can solve three riddles and win the challenges attached, Wade or, rather his avatar Parzival, becomes a serious contender.

I have never been a gamer and am definitely not a geek (a bit nerdy maybe) but I was a student at the start of the 80s and this culture was all around me, so the movies and music references and even the games are familiar to me and I really enjoyed the immersion in this world as Parzival and his competitors Aetch, Art3mis, Sato and Dano try to be the first to solve the puzzles and beat the evil corporation that wants to win by whatever means, so that they can take over control of OASIS and make it more exclusive.