“Ready Player Two” by Ernest Cline
Published: November 24, 2020 Ballantine Books
Genres: Novel, LitRPG, Science Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Dystopian Fiction, Pop culture fiction
“Ready Player Two” is the sequel to Ernest Cline’s highly successful first novel “Ready Player One” and if you’re expecting it to be just like the first, you won’t be disappointed. If you liked “Ready Player One” you’re going to like “Ready Player Two.” I felt like “Ready Player Two” was really just more of the same.
Wade Watts inherited the wealth, business and home of his idol and Oasis creator James Halliday at the end of “Ready Player One.” “Ready Player Two” starts off with Wade and his friends that helped him find the Easter Egg, running the Oasis and we learn that they absorbed IOI between stories. IOI was the bad guy of the previous story so now that they’ve become part of Wade’s company, who will fill the bad guy shoes? Well, Halliday’s Oasis avatar, Anorak of course. But Anorak isn’t an avatar he’s an AI!
Wade discovers a secret message from Halliday that introduces him to new tech to make the Oasis even more immersive and therefore more addicting. Halliday explains in his message that the tech, ONI (Oasis Neural Interface) is ready for use, with safety measures built in, but he was afraid the world wasn’t ready for it which is why he didn’t release it. Now that Wade and his friends are in charge of the company it is up to them to decide to release it.
Once the ONI is released and Wade and his friends become even richer and the world becomes even more addicted to the Oasis Anorak appears and takes the world hostage! In order for everyone logged into the Oasis to survive, Wade and his friends need to embark on another quest.
This book is riddled with 80s references just like the last. The quests are interesting and will keep you entertained, but getting there is a bit much for me. We hear too much about Wade’s ONI sexual encounters and voyeuristic tendencies and he really becomes an unlikable character. At least in the first book we like his quirky, nerdiness and we root for him. Perhaps the point of him being unlikable in the second book is to show how money and power will change a person and push us to identify with Samantha who doesn’t approve of any of Wade’s decisions or behavior.
There are a couple of big fight scenes in the first book that you’re not going to get in this one. The love story or stories are lack luster and feel almost forced. The tech idea is good and feels like a natural next step in the story so I did enjoy that part of “Ready Player Two.”
In December 2020 it was confirmed that a film adaptation for “Ready Player Two” is in the works. If you kinda sorta liked the first book I’d say wait for the movie adaptation of this one. If you really liked the first book or first movie then go ahead and grab the book or listen to the audio book narrated by Wil Wheaton.
