Ernest Cline: Ready Player Two

I have read that some people do not think that you need to read Ready Player One before this book, but I would disagree with that assessment. I do not think a reader would fully understand the addictiveness of the OASIS and the format that Cline uses with his plot without reading that book first. So if you are interested in Ready Player Two, I would suggest reading the first book in the series beforehand.

Days after Wade win's Halliday's quest, Wade makes an amazing discovery in a vault in Halliday's home. It is a device that will make the OASIS even more addictive than it is now, as it gives users a new way to experience the OASIS. However, if Wade chooses to share the invention with the world there are some consequences that will affect not only the OASIS but real life as well. As Sam, is trying to save the world and prevent it's destruction, Wade's decisions will put everything in jeopardy, but they can prevent tragedy but they need to complete one more Halliday Quest.

Do you ever think that authors write a followup book for no reason, especially when things are wrapped up nicely in the end.For most of this book I was questioning whether a second book in this series was necessary. There were not really any plot lines that were still open from Ready Player One that there needed to be another book in this series. So I wonder why Cline decided to have a follow up nine years after the first book ended (was it for the money? or maybe to get the book back in the mainstream after the movie came out a few years ago?). Even more puzzling is that the book picks up just days after the first book end, so we don't really get any growth from the characters in the first bit they are still the same teenagers they were when the first book ends.

Honestly, the first third of this book is SSSSSLLLLLOOOOOWWWWW, like are we just reading this so that Cline can drop some obscure 70s, 80s and 90s pop culture references for us and nothing really happens, at all. Other than Wade discovering a new way to interface with the OASIS, people in the high 5 fight and this goes on for the first third of the book, on and on and on. If you can make it through the first third of the book the speed does pick up, but does it get better?

The best part of this book was finding out who the villain was going to be, what new threat the high 5 was going to have to deal with and I will say it was a surprise and one I did not see coming. But other than that, I did not find the quest as interesting and the tasks that they had to do each time, felt a little bit too drawn out to keep the reader interested, especially (in my opinion) the Prince one.

I kind of got sick of only having Wade's point of view as often times it was depressing to read how little he thinks of himself and finds his only value in the amount of Halliday knowledge he had. I like that this quest had him rely more on those within the high 5 and outside of it as well but I wish there would have been some chapters from other character's point of view to make it more of a well rounded story especially when they are the ones who have the knowledge to pass the quests, not Wade.

If you liked Ready Player One, I think that you will be disappointed with this book like I was. If you like all the obscure references that the first book had, you will probably enjoy this book a lot more than I did. It just felt to me like Cline was grasping at straws a lot of the time.

Cheers!!! 

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