This was a fun read. Cline takes us into a near-future world where climate change, resource depletion, and the widening gap between rich and poor have all shaped a pretty lousy world. Fortunately, there's The Oasis (think internet plus virtual reality), where people can get away from the troubles of the "real" world--it's not only more fun, with every fantasy world ever invented available to visit, but the schools are better too. 
 The action is driven by the death of one of of the founders of The Oasis, the reclusive James Halliday, who leaves his fortune--and control of The Oasis--to whoever can win an elaborate game he has set up. The game amounts to a treasure hunt through a series of tasks that revolve around 1980s video games and culture, seminal influences on Halliday himself. The only problem is that no one has been able to find the clues that will lead them to the game itself. 
 Our protagonist is Wade Watts, a poor boy who devotes himself to the hunt for Halliday's "Easter Egg." In fact, Wade is the first to win through the first challenge of the hunt (though of course that only leads to greater problems). Wade finds himself competing not only against friends but also against the evil corporate entity Innovative Online Industries (IOI) and their evil leader Nolan Sorrento. IOI is everything you could want from an evil corporation, bent on commercializing The Oasis and willing to do anything--including murder--to win. 
 Cline takes us on a fun adventure, which was probably even more enjoyable for me as a child of the '80s. I won't claim to have "gotten" all the references (I was pretty young in the '80s, after all), but it definitely struck several nostalgic chords for me.