Kitty and the Silver Bullet by Carrie Vaughn
Rating: 3 Stars
Genre: Paranormal
Format: mass market paperback
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Rating: 5 Stars
Genre: fiction (near-future science fiction)
Format: mass market paperback
Wade Watts is a young man who has lived most of his life jacked into a virtual reality called the OASIS. He goes to school there, hangs out with friends, and obsessively studies the puzzles hidden within the game. These puzzles and clues promise astronomical wealth and power to any who can figure them out—and are based on their creator’s fixation with the long lost 1980s of a past America. When Wade figures out the first clue, the race is on, and his corporate competition is not above mass murder to stop him.
I truly enjoyed this book, but perhaps that because I grew up in the 80s and found the thousands of references fascinating and smile-provoking. This book is nerd utopia—an honor to nerds, gaming, and the beginning of our new more connected world. This story reminded me of a grown up “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, with kooky characters, a lovable hero, and a strange world unfolding around the reader. A world that is both familiar and strange. When you finish this book you will be glad for the ride, but you might also have a disquieting moment wondering how much of our own future was revealed here.
Review by C.C. Moore