An Introduction to Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One

A former UC Davis student, Niraj Vora studied chemical engineering while attending the university. After leaving UC Davis, he completed Hack Reactor training and obtained employment as a full-stack software engineer. An avid reader, Niraj Vora lists Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One among his favorite books.

Set in the year 2044, Ready Player One is a dystopian science fiction novel narrated by protagonist Wade Watts, a schoolboy who spends all of his free time in a virtual universe known as the Oasis. Upon the death of Oasis creator James Halliday, a contest is launched to find secret clues, or Easter eggs, hidden within the Oasis universe.

According to Halliday’s wishes, the winner of the contest, known as Anorak’s Invitation, will receive his substantial real-life fortune. With so much money up for grabs, millions of players compete to solve Halliday’s puzzles, and many of them are even willing to commit murder to beat Wade and the other “egg hunters” for the top prize.

Released in 2011, Ready Player One quickly found both commercial and critical success. The novel received the 2012 Alex Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association and the 2012 Prometheus Award from the Libertarian Futurist Society. A film adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg is currently in the works and will be released in 2018.

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline’s Online Puzzle-Focused Future Novel

With an educational background at UC Davis, Niraj Vora undertook research in the chemical engineering sphere and focused on green energy innovations. An avid reader throughout his years at UC Davis, Niraj Vora particularly enjoys future-focused books such as The Martian and Ernest Cline’s bestselling 2011 novel, Ready Player One.

Set in 2044, Ready Player One places the protagonist, Wade Watts, within a dystopian future in which being immersed within OASIS, a virtual utopia, is his only escape. Watts devotes his days to exploring ’80s pop culture-based clues that the late billionaire inventor James Halliday has set in place as a way of providing wealth and power to whoever solves the puzzle. 

Wade Watts bands together with a number of like-minded avatars within Oasis, and their group, High Five, achieves significant progress toward the ultimate goal of cracking Halliday’s puzzle. Unfortunately, others vying for this objective within the massively multiplayer online game prove willing to get ahead by any means, including killing.