Ready Player Two

A Novel

By: Ernest Cline

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Number-One New York Times Best Seller

The thrilling sequel to the beloved worldwide best seller 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 it, 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.

©2020 Ernest Cline (P)2020 Random House Audio

Bazinga

Ready Player Two picks up right where the first book ended. The events in this book start 9 days after RP1 ends. I finished Ready Player One for the 3rd time days before this release. It is full of more 80s references and adventure. You can get lost in the story and visualize everything that's happening. I couldn't put the book down and finished it the day it was released. Ernest Cline did a great job with this follow-up. Wil Weaton is phenomenal as usual.

Others commented on propaganda being shoved down our throat. I did not get this feeling. It's just a work of fiction and it did the job of getting me immersed in a fictional world. I enjoyed the sequel.

Disclaimer: My enjoyment of the narrator is based on my listening speed. I only leave 5 stars for books I've listened to multiple times. I'll update my review if I listen again. If you like this review please consider giving it a Helpful Vote below.

Amazing story once again

Even better than the 1st book! Soooo many twists and turns and at times I had to pause the book to wrap my mind about what just happened. You wont be disappointed at all. Well done!

I liked it!

I really enjoyed the book! Maybe I’m just easy to please but I didn’t think it was a cash grab or anything like that like other reviewers have said. I though the story was interesting and kept me wanting to read more as it went on. I will say that the first few chapters did seem slow but a lot of it was catch up from the last book. There was also one part of the book where one of the characters droned on about movies in the 80s not having diverse casts.. yes, we all know. I definitely don’t think that needed to go on as long as it did but other than that I loved the book and thought it had a very good ending.

I was hopeful but ultimately let down.

I truly enjoyed RPO, so I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately it appears Ernest Cline got woke. The story had potential but it’s completely over shadowed by all the virtue signaling. There is so much SJW talking points jammed into this book it’s like getting hit in the face with a hammer.

The original book had a lot of love for the 80s and pop culture in general. In this book it’s basically hate mail to anything that wasn’t woke. From identity politics, to racial inequality it’s all jammed into what could have been a decent story. The real world is a mess and there are plenty of things that could be improved. But like movies, and tv, we read/listen to books to relax and escape the real world for a short time. This book is trying to jam politics into its story and beat the ideology into you head. In my opinion this is wrong, everyone needs to quite dumping politics into everything we consume.

I cannot recommend this book. This author like so many other artists need to spend more time developing good stories, and less time trying to virtue signaling to their audience, like they are some how superior to the rest of us.

I don’t understand the other bad reviews.

This book was just as amazing as the first! I felt the need to write a review because I read so many reviews saying this book had an agenda, it was political, it had gender or racial biases, or was woke. What?! Did we read the same book!? There is one mention kinda offhand of someone being assigned a different sex at birth. This is literally the one and only thing in this book that I can think these other reviewers were referencing, and if one offhand mention of a trans person in fiction turns them off enough to write a scathing review they suck as a human. I kept waiting for whatever it was these other reviewers were so turned off by and it never happened. Please don’t take those reviews to heart. I almost didn’t buy this one just based on those reviews then thought I’ll read it and if it’s as bad as everyone is saying I can return it. It wasn’t anything like other reviewers have said. Do yourself a favor and ignore the bad reviews from transphobic a**hats.
The story was FANTASTIC! FAN.TAS.TIC! If you liked the first book, you’ll love this one. It is filled with so many pop culture references, just like the first one. The story kept moving and I couldn’t put it down. I’m so glad I gave it a shot and I hope you do too.

Does everything have to be a SJW fantasy?

Too much PC BS and another SJW fantasy. Took way too much fun out of what could have been a decent sequel.

disappointed

Its not what I expected from book two. I like the tribute to Prince but that was even over the top. I hope the second installment of the movie do not follow this book. disappointed.

I tried real hard

I tried real hard to enjoy this book but the narration with the information dump put in here were very difficult to digest. There were parts that were good and the last 4 Chapters feel like the magic of the first book but the rest is hard to get through because the story pauses constantly to completely explain the ins and outs of some retro music movie or game and it made the Chapters drag on.

Will Weaton was dry and mostly emotionless in his narration and any part of the book that was supposed to be lyrics of a song being sung, were read like a robot. I had to increase the speed to 1.3 to get past the monotony of his narration. I dont think Wheaton is necessarily at fault here but in my opinion his lack of voices (Except for Kira which was also jarring since it was the only voice he did) and his slow narration speed mean he would do better in more informational media than a fantasy/scifi world of wonder.

Cline seemed to have dragged this book out with tons of info dumping like a high schooler drags out a book report by using a ton of words to convey his ideas. All of the characters felt like they had reverted to mid Halliday contest and not like characters who grew and developed since the first story.



Tl:dr I read the first book in physical form and I was lost in the world and story until the very end where the love story stuff felt rushed and felt different from the rest of the book.

This book did not feel like it had the same energy or momentum and the end of the book felt like it rushed by because the first 25 chapters were so hard to digest that the fun storytelling felt easy and flowed so well that I listened to it multiple times because it was the most satisfying part of the whole book.

Not as good as the first one

Will Wheaton was great as always. But there was no mystery or adventure in this book. problems are presented but Wyatt always knows exactly what to do, or one of his party knows exactly what to do.

also, while the first book made you want to learn more about the 80s, this books feels like you would only enjoy it if you were already crazy about the 80s, specifically the most popular parts as opposed to the nuanced parts RPO celebrated.

it felt like this book was written because the author wanted more material that would go well in a movie and also wanted to preach his personal stance on a bunch of current political debates about gender and sexuality.

a lot of negative reviews but not all deserved

I thought it was pretty good. The ending isn't what I'd hoped for but I found it thought provoking. Since I wasn't expecting a sequel I guess I was pleasantly surprised. This is a real interesting new modern genre, the VR sci-fi dramas and while this one wasn't as great as the first I'm still glad I own it.