I actually liked this book more than Ready Player One, for a couple of reasons. First, I'm an avid gamer, so I caught all the references as they flew by, and second, my dad (who was in law enforcement) was killed in a plane crash when I was very young, and the funeral was closed casket. I spent much of my childhood fantasizing that he wasn't really killed, but was part of a government project so secret it needed to look like he was killed. So, I connected big time with the protagonist throughout the whole story.