This book got better the further I got into it. It was recommended to me by one of my geek friends. And my geeky brother read it and enjoyed it - so it came w/ some good geek cred. From glancing at other reviews, I expected the 80's references to be a little heavy handed. Which they were. Really heavy handed in the beginning. Every sentence seemed to have a shiny "80's reference" flag waving as well as a "wink" after each period. 
 But, if you keep plowing through that, you eventually do get caught up in the story. And the story and the characters really start to take precedence and the setting becomes much more backdrop - as it should be. 
 The characters really ended up being the best thing Ready Player One. The main character, Wade, is great. You forget he is a teenager. And the other four that are in the rest of the book: Art3mis, Aech and the two Japanese brothers are really fun. 
 This is an easy read and as mentioned, got better the further I got into it. If you've got geek tendencies and grew up anywhere near the 80's, you'll likely enjoy Ready Player One.