Ready Player One
First edition cover | |
| Author | Ernest Cline |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Wil Wheaton |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Video games, Virtual Reality |
| Genre | LitRPG, science fiction, pop culture fiction, dystopian |
| Publisher | Crown Publishing Group |
Publication date | August 16, 2011 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback), e-book, audiobook |
| Pages | 374 |
| ISBN | 978-1524763282 |
| Followed by | Ready Player Two |
Ready Player One is a 2011 science fiction novel, and the debut novel of American author Ernest Cline. The story, set in a dystopia in 2045, follows protagonist Wade Watts on his search for an Easter egg in a worldwide virtual reality game, the discovery of which would lead him to inherit the game creator's fortune and the game itself. Cline sold the rights to publish the novel in June 2010, in a bidding war to the Crown Publishing Group (a division of Random House). The book was published on August 16, 2011. An audiobook narrated by Wil Wheaton was released the same day.Ch. 20 In 2012, the book received an Alex Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association division of the American Library Association and won the 2011 Prometheus Award.
A film adaptation, screenwritten by Cline and Zak Penn and directed by Steven Spielberg, was released on March 29, 2018. A sequel novel, Ready Player Two, was released on November 24, 2020, to a widely negative critical reception.