Written 15 years ago for geeks and for my generation, this quick read was a lot of fun. Narrative is interspersed with essays from a fictional Catalog of Obsolete Entertainment, both moving the story forward. The conclusion is very unusual. Recommended!

Unlike [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One|Ernest Cline|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1489368740s/9969571.jpg|14863741], the references are well explained. MAME, the Atari 2600 and Intellivision make an appearance here, along with several arcade games in the Catalog. The titular game is fictional, but well described and also mysterious enough to draw the reader in. What we know (and later learn) of this video game mirrors the novel structure.

In addition to his work on the TV Game of Thrones, Daniel Weiss has a Masters of Philosophy and wrote his dissertation on [b:Finnegans Wake|11013|Finnegans Wake|James Joyce|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1336408055s/11013.jpg|322098]. I am not familiar enough with this work to say whether Lucky Wander Boy has elements of that, but I wouldn't be surprised. One must also wonder how closely the main character mirrors the life of the author.

I'll close by echoing the simple review from the San Francisco Chronicle - "Startlingly good."