Ready Player Two

This feels like someone started a D&D campaign, but wanted to be a player halfway through so they rushed the ending.

I finished it and I'm happy. Not a disappointing, very much recaptures the best aspects of RP1 even if a little cliche or predictable. Very enjoyable.

Confession time: I was one of the many who fell head over heels for Ready Player One. The nostalgia, the virtual world, the epic quest – it was pure geeky bliss. So, when Ready Player Two was announced, I was a mix of excitement and nervous anticipation. Could it live up to the original?Short answer: Yes, it absolutely delivers another wild ride through the OASIS! Stepping back into Wade Watts's virtual shoes felt like coming home, albeit a home that's been upgraded with even more intricate puzzles and potentially world-ending stakes.Ernest Cline clearly had a blast writing this sequel, cramming it with even more deep-cut references, challenging riddles, and thrilling action sequences. It's a book that demands you pay attention, rewarding you with those satisfying "aha!" moments when you piece together a clue or recognize a hidden gem from pop culture history.While the quest is different, the heart of the story remains the same: the power of connection, the allure of escapism, and the enduring legacy of the 80s (my brain is still trying to process all that trivia!). It's a fun, fast-paced adventure that will keep you turning pages late into the night.If you loved Ready Player One, picking up Ready Player Two is a no-brainer. It's a worthy successor that expands the universe and provides another dose of that unique blend of sci-fi, gaming, and nostalgia. Get ready to dive back in!

Amazon lists as a first edition. Will keep to read, not sure about the story line.

Sadly not as good as the first one. Don't want to say more and spoil the book.

Incredible revisiting to the world of ready player one, with our heros; wade and the hifive, we briefly get introduced to a plucky band of copycat heros the lofive and their openly non binary, vaugely queer friend group. Until it becomes a high speed high-way chase to the end. Wrought with early adulthood drama and romantic heartache and relatable failures. Looking forward to more if ever.

Where to start. Well, the nostalgia factor just isn't there. He tries and then fails. It's all just so forced. Then there's the part where it's a fictional story and he tries to shove in modern day "issues." Like global warming and deforestation and how we have too many people. Which, to a degree is fine because lots of facets of those claims are fiction, but it's shoved in your face all throughout the book. This book is WAY too preachy. We get it. Trans people are a thing. Some people are gay. Some people aren't white. He creates this world and just when you finally get back into it mentally, he kicks you in the face by preaching to you about modern day stuff. It just ruins the moment and the story and the world building. There's ways to address these issues, but why not be creative about it? He's like, oh we can live in this virtual world and do amazing things with swords and...oh by the way, you're a bad person if you don't like what I say next. He then turns this genius world designer into the bad guy. Ok, sure, not him exactly but it's just plot armor for what he really wanted to do. It just doesn't make sense in relation to the first story. Speaking of the story, he's all over the place. It's no where near as coherent as the first one. It's just one random idea pieced to the next random idea. He just ruins it. As far as I'm concerned the story ends after Ready Player One. This is trash.

If you enjoyed the first book, read Ready Player 2. The adventure takes you deeper into a second quest of darkness, despair, and gloom. It is full of twists and surprises. It makes you wonder what is going to happen next.... it things can get any worse. GREAT STUFF!! The suspense is wonderful. Cline keeps it building. You see how relationships build and how they change.... some being not what they seemed.From the human race perspective, it left a very unique message about our current existence and where our future existence might be focused. It provides a possible solution for the human exploration and survival in the stars as our planet dies from our own hands. This message is very subtle.I gave it 4 stars and not 5 because it went into very fine details about things and spent a lot of times doing so. I could not make heads or tales of it and it did nothing for me regarding the story. For example, this person changed names, changed locations, changed avatars..... I thought the time might be better spent going on describing battles in more details or describing their planning, magical objects, or a number of other things in more detail.In my opinion, it would be neat if they made it a movie; but, they did not follow the first book very close with their first movie.Bottom line: Great book - Worth reading!

I loved the first book so so much. I even loved and I mean loved Armada which seemed built for a sequel but our author goes for the more successful book that did not need a sequel.First book shows us tech can be cool and nerdy for us nerds but with a balance. Ok cool. Second book felt to me like oh tech is all bad ai is all evil..geee thanks for going the route of all the negative 80s sci-fi and current anime. Which some of those are awesome but this felt like a huge shift in gears and a slap in the face just for a poorly written cash grab.I want to quote an excellent review from the audio book that is really far better written."1 starByMarcus Hayneson 11-28-20Heartbreakingly Disappointing and InsultingAfter having listened to nearly 400 audiobooks, this is the first time I have felt it so necessary as to write a review.As the story began, I was surprised by many of the events that took place immediately following the events of the previous book, those taking place three years later, and how the gap was bridged. As more information about the O.N.I. was released however, I found myself beyond enthralled by the concepts explored and began debating the philosophy and ethics of such a device with my friends. Not since the game SOMA, had I been so absorbed by ideas that so profoundly questioned the subjectivity of defining "humanity", "reality", "pain", and evolution. Without delving too deep and spoiling those who, despite this review, elect to experience Ready Player Two for themselves, I had never been so engaged and excited about concepts regarding the future of technology, humanity, and where the lines would inevitably become blurred between the two. For eight chapters, I grew more and more in love with this novel. Then the "antagonist(s)" were introduced.Never before had I witnessed a work of art this promising wither and die so rapidly. Eight chapters of advanced, controversial, revolutionary concepts worthy of their own novel are interrupted by the revelations that, in fact, the novel is functionally Sword Art Online. You may feel this to be an exaggeration, however you would be arguing with the author as he, himself, wrote in this book that it was an exact duplication of the events of Sword Art Online on TWO SEPARATE INSTANCES. The antagonists are 1. A diluted rehash of the previous novel's primary villain. 2. An A.I. who lacks any traits that would separate him from any other noteworthy (and more creative) A.I. in literature such as V.I.K.I. from I-Robot or HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, whose motivations mirror those of antagonists from Sword Art Online, The Matrix, Psycho-Pass, Terminator, Tron and any other work of fiction containing such material. And 3. A perversion and retcon of the previous novel's James Halliday, a man defined by his oddities, Steve Job's-like passion for his creations, and most importantly HIS GOOD INTENTIONS. Halliday was expressly stated, and clarified by our every discovery about him, to be a man who cared about his creations first and his friends closely as second despite his proclivity to push others away. He was brilliant, but tragically lost. He was adored and renowned, but ultimately completely alone. It was his nature, not his invention that lead to the formation of his legendary contest. That nature was initially consistent even in this book through his creation of the O.N.I as a tool of communication and his desire that it would ultimately act as the last tool humanity would ever need to understand and save one another. This bastardization or his character is reminiscent of so many other iconic figures of fiction who have been recently desecrated in the name of subversion or some other ill-conceived notion and I'm very sad to see it happen here when James was so understandably tragic and empathetic in Ready Player One.These issues are objectively and indefatigably cartoonish and insulting. I would have expected these alterations to be thought of in a parody of the original work, not its authentic sequel. If you are able to ignore the retconning of the previous novel, convince yourself that this is a natural progression of the story despite it definitively not being so, and look past the story's disregard for its own reader's intelligence or enjoyment by supplying villains that are just as likely to be found in a skull shaped lair located in a swamp plotting against the Super Friends, then this may be the book for you. To anyone who actually loved the original novel as anything more than a mindless consumer of anything nostalgic, you are likely to be disappointed. It ultimately will come down to how much you care about having a compelling narrative and antagonist in what you read. I, however, simply can not overlook a sequel killing it's predecessor just so it can stand atop its corpse and call itself tall."

In 2011, Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One told the story of a world falling apart while its occupants opted to spend their time, money, and energy inside of a virtual world known as the OASIS. Upon the death of James Halliday, one of the creators of the OASIS, a virtual scavenger hunt is announced in which the winner would have riches beyond their wildest dreams and full control of the OASIS. Nine years later, Ready Player Two, returns readers to the adventures of the hunt’s winner, Wade Watts (known as Parzival inside of the OASIS), and the remaining members of his clan, the High Five. Another hunt, one that only the Halliday’s heirs can complete, is discovered. An unlikely antagonist holds the OASIS hostage while forcing Watts to “seek the seven shards to make the siren whole.” The “siren” is an A.I. recreation of Kira Underwood, the now deceased wife of Ogden Morrow, Halliday’s former partner. To find the seven shards, Watts needs to rely on the unique histories and knowledge banks of his friends. As he collects the shards, Watts becomes more open to understanding not only his friends but also the life experiences of Kira.Fans of 1980’s and 1990’s pop culture; spanning music, television, movies, anime, and especially video games, will appreciate the vivid descriptions and attention to detail the Cline uses in his frequent references. The world of this novel, like the previous novel, feels alive and possible. In many ways, this novel is less science fiction and more speculative fiction. Environmentally, economically, and technologically, the world of Watts and his friends seem closer to the real world than we should be comfortable with. Cline’s OASIS centered world is presented as a positive eventuality that, like all technologies, have costs that come with the benefits. While technology has the power to improve our lives, these improvements have the power to reshape the world in negative ways as well.The highlights of this novel are each of the smaller quests. Ranging from battling seven versions of Prince, to recasting and reenacting scenes from John Hughes movies, each quest works well as a self-contained adventure. Cline’s love of pop culture clearly shows in these segments. The use of the OASIS to allow users, and by extension, readers, to embrace their fandoms and build stronger relationships with their obsessions. Who wouldn’t want to walk in Middle Earth, drive the Back to the Future Delorian, or dance at the prom from Pretty in Pink? Cline’s use of speculative technology in this way is every fan’s wildest dream come true.One of the most unique pieces of speculative technology introduced in this novel is the OASIS Neural Interface (ONI). This interface bypasses the sensory organs and allows for a direct link to be made to the brain itself. While in the OASIS, users are now given a much deeper, realistic experience. Their mind believes it is actually seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, and feeling things in a virtual world. Additionally, this interface allows users to record real world experiences and share those with others via the OASIS. While humans already have the ability to use empathy to understand each other, this technology allows the user to “live,” as least briefly, in the skin of someone of another gender, race, sexual orientation, age, or physical condition. Cline, through Watts, touts these features as one of the greatest selling points of the new technology as he introduces it in the book but soon abandons these features. This type of introduction and abandonment, unfortunately, is a common theme for Cline.The very structure of the book, an amazing world building introduction which eases new readers into the universe while at the same time sprinkling enough new information for returning readers, seems disjointed and abandoned once the protagonists start their quests. Many possible plot points and conflicts are introduced in the opening chapters and are either never mentioned again or wrapped up quickly and conveniently, and thus, unrewardingly. Too often, issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economics, personal autonomy, and even ownership of the soul, all deep and important issues which should have meaningful discussion and exploration, have their topic raised but then abandoned. Most disappointing to me, is the manner in which a quest to give “life” and autonomy to the digital copy of Kira Underwood is resolved. Even after spending the bulk of the book showing examples of why females do not need men to validate them, Cline spends more time using men fighting men for control of the “siren,” than just letting Kira decide her own fate. For every step forward that Cline makes there are also steps backwards.While very entertaining, Ready Player Two has numerous concepts and ideas; such as treatment of race, gender, ethnicity, concepts of physical and digital persona, and ownership of identity, that could have been expanded without the need to remove any pop culture refere...

Ready Player Two, the sequel to the worldwide phenomenon, and my favorite novel of all time, Ready Player One, continues the story of professional geek Wade Watts after he's won Halliday's contest. There's a new contest to be won, but this time there's more at stake than just the OASIS or even his own life.Wade and his friends must put their heads together in order to win this new contest, pooling from their endless knowledge of all things nerd and pop culture in order to survive.Author Ernest Cline delivers again with what has to be one of the nerdiest plots ever. I absolutely love all the references in this story. From Doctor Who to Jay and Silent Bob to Shaun of the Dead, there's so much pop culture out there to love and enjoy, and a story like this just reminds you of that fact. There's something for everyone.There's so much I want to gush about in this book, but I remain determined to not spoil anything. What I will gush about is my favorite author having made a sequel to my favorite novel, and making it just as amazing and hardcore as it's predecessor. I couldn't have been happier when I heard the announcement of this book, and the second I got my hands on it I devoured it like it was the last book I would ever read.Wade Watts is my hero, flaws and all. He's the king of the nerds, having used his knowledge of pop culture to put himself on top. He's made mistakes, and he knows that, and he's determined to fix them. To me, he's the most relatable character I've ever read. He's an actual human being, unlike some other written heroes who always seem so "perfect" all the time. Wade is insecure, can overcompensate, and feels genuine fear and trauma about his past and the possible future ahead of him. Despite all of this, he strives on. He powers through his fears in order to become a better person, and maybe even save the world while he's at it.I cannot wait for more from Ernest Cline. Whether it be a sequel or a whole new series, I am ready and waiting for more!

Ready Player One was a real masterpiece, and one of those rare books where if you loved the themes and genre, could read it several times. It was always going to be hard to equal or better the magic of the first book, but the author did an admirable job in the circumstances. Firstly, I think the author did a good job of recreating the fun of the treasure hunt from the first book with a new one in the second. One could argue there were perhaps too many riddles this time, and it was difficult to then avoid the story having a degree of inevitability and feel at times like you were just going through the motions from one challenge to the next, knowing it would be beaten (by Wade) and that this time there wasn't any fear of challengers solving them first. This should have been mitigated a bit by going against the 'clock' but since Wade was able to solve each new challenge in a matter of hours versus literally years previously, it actually served as another detriment to the plot. Maybe Shoto or H could have somehow been given the power to go after the shards as well, and have some falling out that makes them enemies of Wade.. The scoreboard was a really good part of RP1 that was missing from the sequel because this time it wasn't competitive. Still, despite these problems, I still found many of the shard hunts fun. The only one which really annoyed me, involved Prince, and it just didn't work very well, and was a rare part of the book that became a slog to get through. I loved the first book so much, that the second didn't have to be perfect to be really enjoyable. It isn't perfect, but it does satisfy, and I would love to read more!

I admit I was excited for this book for many years since reading RP1 when it was first released and a friend told me about it. RP1 is hands down my favorite fiction book of all time. I was geeked to find out that RP2 would be released this year... so many years in the making. After reading the first reviews on Amazon, I started to get a little deflated. Then my copy showed up and I started reading...I admit that I let the first reviews of the book on Amazon and other media influence me. I was ready for a major flop. However, I would say after finishing it, that it was just a bit above "meh". RP2 needs to be read if you're a fan of RP1. It seems the last chapter entitled "Continue" is meant to create a new world in which anyone who's memory has been recorded by ONI can become an AI digital existence. It leaves it open for another story in the saga. So, for that alone, you don't want to be playing catchup later if there is another book to continue the series.I don't get the other reviewers annoyances with Cline writing about being "woke" and writing about LGBTQ+ relationships. The plot goes into detail on the new OASIS technology called "ONI" which allows users to experience the feeling neurologically of anything they want without the repercussions to their physical bodies. For example: you want to know what its like to get high on heroin? You can.. and its just a neurological experience, not a physical one, so there is no damage to your body or addiction to be had. Wade explains this in when describing the new ONI technology and talks about how users were using it to experience all sorts of things like drugs and sexual encounters with the same sex, or orgies with all sorts of sexes and even creatures. Its literally a small snippet of this book in explaining the new technology and how people use it... it never becomes an "in your face" topic throughout the book. And to be honest, if this technology existed in our world today, no doubt what Cline writes users in RP2 using it for, would be what people in this world would use it for.My biggest gripe with RP2 is that there are now seven items to pickup rather that three like in RP1 in the plot. And to be honest, I was lulled in the middle of the book because so much time was spent in worlds of John Hughes that I think I missed them picking up half of the "shards". (That tells you how the writing captivated me). At times it seemed rushed, and the middle was a lull. There was nothing anxious or exciting this time around like in RP1. The adage of "not being able to put the book down" was most folks' sentiment with RP1, including my own. In RP2, it took me a month to read it. I just wasn't into it and the writing and story lines were not helping.In the end i would guess that Cline started writing this book shortly after the success of RP1 started really taking off. (Probably when his movie deal was in the works). I would guess that he went back two or three times to re-write the story line a little bit here and there. It seems to me like RP2 is influenced more by RP1 the movie rather than being a story that tags off the original creation of what RP1 is.Again, read it if you're a fan of RP1, because there is some possibility the story will continue. But if there is a third book and its anything like RP2, this series will always be just RP1 to me and the other books will not exist as far as I'm concerned.Cline's Armada was a better story than RP2.

I really wanted to love this book. The first book was a joy. It was the culmination of 1980s pop culture, and it felt endearing and heart felt. This book honestly felt like it was made for a paycheck. Ugh. Where do I begin?1. The hero is an absolute jerk. The reader has no reason to identify with him. He is terrible to his friends. He is selfish. You have no reason to cheer him on.2. There is a bunch of political POV type stuff in the book. Had it served the story I wouldn't be critiquing it. At times it felt like the author had a list of politically correct checkboxes he had to mark off in order to hit some kind of target from the publisher. It is OK to have a political POV. It is not OK to ram it down the audiences throat because you think it is going to score you points with either the publisher, or whoever is optioning the book for a film.3. It takes forever to get started. There is a huge amount of setup. Worse, during the setup phase, you can just about see the plot and conclusion telegraphed. Sigh. There were points where I was groaning while reading, "Really? That is where you are going with this! Seriously, do I need to keep reading?"4. The joy and sense of wonder that made the first book so endearing is just missing. Not only is our hero a jerk, so is the founder of Oasis. Ugh. Nobody wants to see their heroes fall from grace. Remember what happened to Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi? (Nobody needs/wants to see that.) You can have your hero struggle, but at the end of the day he/she still needs to be a hero. Otherwise, why should the audience/reader tag along for the ride?5. It often felt like the author really didn't have an idea where to take the characters. Everything about the story felt like a contrivance. Some of the plot moments were almost too cartoony to be taken seriously.I will say this to the author: I have a lot of faith in you. I genuinely respect you as a writer. There was no need to hurry to finish writing this book. Take your time. Spend the time to let things flow organically. You still have great potential in you. I expect you will write another great book Sadly, this one was not it. I will continue to read your work. I believe in you. Don't rush the creative process. Let your characters find their voice. I really wanted to love this book. You can do this. You will make another great book. I absolutely believe that to be true.

I vividly remember reading Ready Player One and being completely enthralled by what the book had to offer. I didn't understand a majority of the 80's references, and I wasn't nearly as much of a sci-fi fanatic, but Ernest Cline's ability to paint a colorfully nostalgic world is what was so captivating about RPO. In Ready Player Two, I get to enjoy those same evocative experiences with the turn of each page. That quality is what makes this series so childishly fun to read.Ready Player Two takes off basically where Ready Player One finished, so it wastes no time catching you up. The strong, unfamiliar pop culture references were going to be a given, but that is what makes this series so unique. Every now and then, I would *insert Captain America meme* understand a reference, and it brought me back to how reading the first one felt. During both books, I kind of liked typing each referenced character and video game into Google to get a look of what it actually looks like. The fact that Cline is creating a totally imaginative world that is heavily based on real-life references is impressive in that Cline has to ensure those references are correct. Ensuring consistencies in his fantasy world AND in relating to actual stories created by someone else seems like a daunting task, but Cline nicely did so in RPO and RPT.The love story between Parzival and Art3mis has a veil of realistic truth around it, in that in this day and age, this is exactly how I would believe an online relationship to feel, begin, and be executed. It's not hard to imagine Wade and Samantha as the geeky, awkward people that are transformed into immortals when online. The way the two act around each other, and the juxtapositions that are their lives (both on and offline, and when they are and aren't together), made their relationship always feel genuine and innocent to me. Most books have the love interests revolve their attractions around sex, money, or other motives that get overplayed. This one revolves around the experience of sharing adventures together, and I've always enjoyed that.Now, there are parts to the plot that are a bit questionable. I won't go into detail about most of the plot, in order to avoid spoilers, but I will say that the entirety of the book takes place roughly in twelve hours. Considering how long it took Wade and his friends to complete the first Easter Egg quest in RPO, in seems a bit rushed and unbelievable that the "almighty Halladay" would create a second scavenger hunt that seemed nowhere near as difficult and time-consuming. The antagonists, too, seemed a little baffling. I don't feel there was too much effort put into developing new, exciting, and practical antagonists -- in fact, that was the area of RPT where I felt the least attached to. But with that said, the plot inconsistencies and lack of strong, sensible bad guys did not drive me away from liking the book.I will admit, my adoration for RPO did play a part in making me a tiny bit biased, but in the end, Ready Player Two is enough like Ready Player One for my liking. It obviously doesn't feel like Cline was planning to write a sequel to RPO, and RPT seems much more brushed and prepared for a movie than its copywrite-infringing predecessor. With that said, Cline still did a good job at, again, capturing and maintaining the flavor that made RPO so enjoyable to experience.

Let’s get this right out of the way; if you like the first one you ABSOLUTELY SHOULD BUY THIS ONE. I promise you will not be disappointed. This is a true sequel and nothing even remotely close to the dumpster-fire of a book that Armada was.Now that you’ve already clicked buy I’m going to list the pros and cons of the book without going into any spoilers.PROS:1. As soon as I found out that he was writing a sequel I could not for the life of me figure out how he could add to the first book without just repeating himself. Yet, he managed to surprise me and i was constantly being blown away. The plot he came up with was genuinely mind blowing.2. Once the story gets moving you CANNOT. PUT. THE. BOOK. DOWN. I had my eyes glued to this book for hours on end. I was so enthralled by the story that I even brought the book with me to work so I could read it during my minuscule lunch break.3. Yes, the book is very different from the first one. But I don’t think that that’s a bad thing because this was a story that you really couldn’t see coming and the way it all comes together is worth it. I HIGHLY, highly recommend you buy this book if you enjoyed the first one. Now, in case you’re curious I’ll list the cons for the book. But please don’t think of any of these as reasons you shouldn’t buy the book (because you absolutely should). This is a review after all.CONS:1. Cline spends far too long catching up the reader on what happened since the events of the first book. Because of this, the first 80 or so pages are quite slow and there is extremely little dialogue (somewhat similar to the beginning of The Hobbit in its pacing).2. Without going into detail, know that any character development you thought occurred in the first book kind of gets thrown away during this opening section. I was a bit disappointed by this, but happy that everything all came together in the end.3. Throughout the story he violates the classic rule of "show don’t tell." HOWEVER, in the way this story is told I did not find that it was much of a problem after you get through that opening section. It’s kind of necessary because of all the references.4. The third act felt a bit rushed and anybody who reads this will likely feel this way. You’ll understand when you read it, but Cline kind of backed himself into a corner with rushing the ending on this one.NOTE: Some of the first reviews published on Amazon are entirely inaccurate (and also quite offensive). This book is not “woke" or written with an agenda. I felt that anything Cline put in was already inherent in the first book. To say that this book throws in political agenda is just plain WRONG and detracts from just how good this story actually is.