Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One, #2)

by Ernest Cline

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The thrilling sequel to the beloved worldwide bestseller Ready Player One, the near-future adventure that inspired the blockbuster Steven Spielberg film.
 
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST • “The game is on again. . . . A great mix of exciting fantasy and threatening fact.”—The Wall Street Journal

AN UNEXPECTED QUEST. TWO WORLDS AT STAKE. ARE YOU READY?

Days after winning OASIS founder James Halliday’s contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything.

Hidden within Halliday’s vaults, waiting for his heir to find, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the OASIS a thousand times more wondrous—and addictive—than even Wade dreamed possible.
 
With it comes a new riddle, and a new quest—a last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize.
 
And an unexpected, impossibly powerful, and dangerous new rival awaits, one who’ll kill millions to get what he wants.
 
Wade’s life and the future of the OASIS are again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance.
 
Lovingly nostalgic and wildly original as only Ernest Cline could conceive it, Ready Player Two takes us on another imaginative, fun, action-packed adventure through his beloved virtual universe, and jolts us thrillingly into the future once again.

• ISBN10: 1524761338
• ISBN13: 9781524761332
• Publish Date: 24 November 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Ballantine Books Inc.
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781524761332

Reviews

[Jamie]

I was less impressed with the continuation of the story and believe that it should have been left as  just a singular book.

[Angie]

Proceed With Caution:

This book contains death, violence, discussions of illness, and panic attacks.

The Basics:

It's been three years since Wade won Halliday's Easter Egg hunt, and now a new game has popped up. The release of the next stage of immersive technology has unlocked a second quest for Halliday's heir. What does Wade need to find this time? And why?

My Thoughts:

I was beyond excited for Ready Player Two. I absolutely love Ready Player One and couldn't wait for more geektastic adventures! Unfortunately, it became clear very early on that this sequel was going to be a hot mess. Some books really do not need sequels, and this one felt so forced that it was almost painful.

Ready Player Two starts with an info-dump, which is not surprising since the first book is essentially one giant info-dump about the OASIS, '80s trivia, and pop culture. However, this info-dump was for the sole purpose of retroactively slipping inclusivity into the world-building. It's all about how physically disabled people are able to enjoy OASIS with their ablebodied counterparts, and how that technology is what led to this next stage, where you can just use your brain to move your avatar. Complete with all five sense! Thanks.

Ready Player Two continues to push really hard on the inclusivity angle and it just doesn't feel genuine. It's like the author realized his mistakes from the first book (good!) and wanted to make sure he didn't miss anything this time. Instead of feeling like a natural part of this awesome world, it's like he just had a checklist and was collecting points for everything he included. Other than accounting for physical disabilities, there's also now gender diversity, but each time it was brought up, I cringed because...

I'd done playback of several different flavors of straight and gay and nonbinary sex...

What is "nonbinary sex"? This is actually mentioned twice. A nonbinary person masturbating?

Thanks to the OASIS Neural Interface, your gender and your sexuality were no longer constrained by--or confined to--the physical body you happened to be born into.

I'm pretty sure gender already isn't confined to your physical body, so OASIS doesn't get credit for that. You tried, but please stop. There's so many mentions of how this new technology is making people more empathetic and understanding because they can literally walk in someone else's shoes. But...that's a nice idea and all, but...we shouldn't need to witness vulnerable moments to see people as people.

And don't think that I didn't notice how Shoto was only useful when Wade needed to know about something Japanese. Otherwise he was just clueless or silent. Similarly, when Wade knows absolutely nothing about Prince, who comes to his rescue? Aech, of course! I know Wade can't know everything about everything, but this distribution of knowledge was a choice. Fine, Wade doesn't know the history of Sega because it wasn't in the Almanac or whatever. But Prince? Arguably the biggest star of the '80s and possibly of all time? Nope. Not buying it.

Anyway, the plot. The second easter egg hunt. I wanted to like it. I tried really hard, but this time it just felt tedious. There was an element of urgency added since Wade had less than twelve hours to complete his quest because of reasons. But there were a couple of mentions of "a few hours" passing and it was like...what?! You have like eleven, why are "a few hours" passing?! We'd spend like 50 pages on one task, then a few hours go by, and now he's rushing to finish up. Needless to say, the pacing was super off. And we already know he's going to get things done, sooo...

The love-triangle between Halliday, Kira, and Ogden Morrow makes a return in the creepiest way possible. I had already figured out what was going on as soon as Wade read the riddle for the first time, but it took him forever to come up with the idea. I figured there would be another twist to prove me wrong since was so obvious, but no. Ready Player Two is what is. Meanwhile, Wade is still obsessing over Sam/Art3mis. He's way more like Halliday than anybody could have guessed.

Ultimately, Ready Player Two was a duo of unhealthy romances bound by the danger of virtual reality. Which actually sounds really awesome, and could have been, if it weren't bogged down by heavy handed (and questionable) social commentary.

I hate to say I was disappointed. The first book didn’t need this sequel. I enjoyed parts of it but it was so similar to the first that I didn’t feel like it was anything but more of the same.

[remo]

Ernest Cline intenta repetir éxito, y lo malo es que directamente nos deja ver los palos del sombrajo, es transparente en mostrarnos cómo lo está intentando, tirando de nostalgia más aún que en la primera parte, hasta la saturación hiperglucémica. La narración pierde mucho de lo bonito que tenía la primera parte, entra en detalles muy absurdos sobre qué es y qué no es políticamente correcto (por lo visto algunos colectivos woke le echaron en cara al autor nosequé tras la primera novela) y, sobre todo, se ve que está describiendo cosas que en una pantalla de cine quedan muy bien pero que contadas son un coñazo.
Si vuelven a hacer película podría hasta verse, pero como libro queda muy por debajo de lo que quedó el primero, que en sí ya no era un pedazo de novela, sino una novela simpática. Esta ha perdido la simpatía también.

[Quirky Cat]

Love it or hate it, the sequel for Ready Player One is here. Ernest Cline surprised all of his fans when he announced that Ready Player Two was on the way, though many were excited to head back to that fictional world.

The day that Wade Watts completed James Halliday's contest, his entire world changed. Not figuratively, but literally. More than that, the changes affected any and all out there who had a love or appreciation of the Oasis.

Especially after Wade made a couple of key discoveries. Unfortunately, the changes these bring about are not loved by all, and it caused a fair share of turbulence in Wade's life. If that was the extent of his problems though, that'd be okay. Unfortunately, it's not, and once again Wade is forced to save the day by solving problems and battling it out in his beloved virtual world.

As a fan of Ready Player One, I was excited about the news of a sequel in the world. However, I tend to always be skeptical of unplanned sequels (you can blame the movie industry for that), so I went into Ready Player Two with minimal expectations. Better safe than sorry, right?

Not even five pages in, and readers are bombarded with retro references. A familiar face for many. Honestly though, that has always been an element that fans will either love or hate about his writing. Personally, I enjoyed the break from the norm.

I was both surprised and impressed at Ernest Cline's attempt to broach a serious conversation over the course of this novel. It revolved around Wade's character, at least in part, but it also went so much deeper than that as well. Discussions about technology, humanity, and the concept of the self. Though I'll admit that part of me wishes he had taken this exploration a step or two further.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with what Cline tried to do here. He could have just coasted by with this novel (he certainly has the clout and money to do so at this point), but he didn't. Or at least, it doesn't appear to be the case for me. Some real risks were taken here, from the characters and their development to discussions and questions raised.

If I'm being honest, it's those very risks that took this from an okay novel (again, in my mind) to something a bit more. I still have some ethical concerns about the conclusion itself, as well as a wish that we had seen more concrete decisions and evidence surrounding some concerns/claims. Otherwise though, it was a solid read and I'm thrilled that I took the time to do so.

Check out more reviews from Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks