When I was young I often wondered if the world was an elaborate hoax just for me. For example, the news hadn't really happened, it was simply scripted for me. No one else was watching the news right then, they were busy preparing for my next move, to make the world as I perceived it real and convincing. Scott Meyer's book Off To Be The Wizard is like that, mixed with The Matrix.
Martin is a 19-year old computer programmer who discovers a hidden file deep in the bowels of an old telecom drive he hacked into.He quickly realizes that this File is actually the code for all life as he knows it, and he learns to manipulate it. Following a brush with federal agents he flees with his smart phone, on which he's downloaded the File, to medieval England where he means to dazzle the populace into believing he's the greatest wizard in the world.
Meyer is a fresh, inventive writer along the lines of Ernest Cline (Ready Player One, one of my favorite light reads last year). His story line is intriguing, fast and fun, seemingly targeted to the young adult male crowd. If you ever imagined what it would be like to take today's technology into the past, this book is a delightful escapist fantasy, a modern Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
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