Ready Player One (Ernest Cline, 2011)

Book club selection (via Lon; session held August 28, 2016).

Gamers in dystopian future compete for stupendous prize to be awarded to winner of virtual reality contest left behind upon death of eccentric creator of "OASIS" - which is a virtual world where unhappy folk (i.e. most people at that time) prefer to escape whenever possible.   Protagonist is pretty much a trailer park loser from busted family; he works to win the contest along with other outcast-types in competition against lavishly funded (and evil, naturally) corporate forces.  Creator of the game was obsessed with 1980s pop culture, so the book is riddled with these references (which worked just fine).

Original (or so it seemed to me - a nonreader in this genre).  I enjoyed the story line, and it definitely tugged me along.  Kind of a morality play; felt like a 30's movie in some ways.

So I liked it . . . I liked how the lines between the "real" and "simulated" worlds were blurred.  Also a situation where magic and super powers somehow make sense.

Some aspects I didn't like as much:

For one thing - and I realize they need to sell books - why is the future always a dystopian hell in these books??  In reality, everything is constantly getting better!  Yet here comes the same tired concepts of rampant pollution, overpopulation, food supply issues, blah blah.

Evil corporations - unoriginal.  Media portrayal affects voter perception, unfortunately.  Discussed at length in this book, for example.

Og - blatant deus es machina.  Similarity to "Oz" probably not a coincidence.

Downtrodden protagonist faces long odds; romance; check-the-box diversity; etc.