Ready Player One

I really enjoyed this book. A lot. Now I've read a number of bad reviews of the book and I can really see where some of them are coming from. A lot of the criticism comes from 80's sci-fi, fantasy and video game references that have nothing to do with the overall story. But they do because this is the world that the protagonist lives in. The book is written in the first person so Wade, the narrator, is sharing his views of everything that happens. He is an anti-social shut-in who is obsessed with all of these 80's pop culture films, comic books, music, video games, etc., because his hero, the man who built the virtual world in which the main character spends nearly all of his time, was also the same type of person. The references and knowledge help Wade through the different stages of the contest as it was built by a man obsessed with all of these things. That's what makes them important. Anyway, off on a rant there, I guess. I loved this book. Heard Spielberg signed on to direct the film version. That should be interesting...