Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Wade Watts lives in a bleak version of earth where people escape to a virtual world called the OASIS. When the OASIS’ creator, James Halliday, dies he reveals his vast fortune will go to the person who can solve the puzzle he’s embedded in his simulated world. Halliday’s announcement triggers conflicts virtual and real as Wade competes with a dynamic—and sometimes dangerous–group of avatars to solve the puzzle and win the life-changing prize. Cline’s book moves at a nail-biting pace straddling a dynamic virtual world and a deteriorating real world, where in-game relationships remind Wade how lonely the real world can be. Halliday’s riddles are rich in nostalgic throwbacks to 80s culture, movies, and music, adding to the exhilarating fun of Ready Player One.