I would have to say that the best book I’ve read in a very long time is Ready Player One. I don’t think I can even articulate exactly why it is the best book I have read in so long, but it is. Granted, I was a kid in the 80s and can relate to just about every pop culture reference made in the book (and there are a ton of them). I don’t think it even matters if you get all of the references, there are so many you will get plenty. The book has a great story, great characters, and really delivers an experience. I’ve read it three times so far and could easily read it again.
Cline’s second book, Armada, is also worth reading. It may not have the same degree of greatness as Ready Player One, but that’s a very high mark to measure it by. It has the same pop culture, reference style found in Ready Player One, but it is a totally unrelated story–more like Last Starfighter meets Ender’s Game versus Tron meets the Lawnmower Man (really bad comparison for RPO, but it’s pretty hard to summarize this way–maybe Goonies meets Sword Art Online or Hunger Games meets QuestWorld–it just doesn’t do it justice).
