Ready Player One / Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline ~ Double Book Review
Hello friends,
I thought I’d do something a little different for this article and review two books in one. Since they’re part of a duology, I thought it would be nice to share my thoughts of both them together, how they compare to each other and whether or not, I think Ready Player One really needed a sequel. I’ll be keeping this as spoiler free as possible, especially when it comes to Ready Player Two as I don’t want to spoil the first book for anyone wanting to read it.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline:
I’ve mentioned this book a couple times now but basically it’s set in the year 2044 onwards. Earth and the human race is a complete mess and because of this most people choose to spend their time inside a virtual reality space called the OASIS. When James Halliday, one of the creators of the OASIS dies, a quest is triggered in which the person who wins becomes his heir and then is given control of his company and the OASIS itself. The story is told from the perspective of Wade Watts as he tries to solve the puzzles, find the keys and open the gates to win the grand prize.
This book is just a fun, very nostalgic read as it’s full of 80’s references along with mentions of many different video games, films and sci-fi franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars ~ there’s even working Stargates within the OASIS, something that made me incredibly happy being a big big fan of that show since it started all the way back in 1994 {boy I’m showing my age now!} Being British, I didn’t understand every single reference being made as a number of them were very America centric. However, that didn’t really matter too much in the long run as I still understood everything that was going on and what Wade needed to do to complete certain quests.
While I liked Wade as a main character, I did feel there might have been room for a multiple POV within this book as I loved his group of friends within the OASIS. This might be purely a “me thing” as I read a lot of books with multiple POVs but I would have especially liked to have read from Art3mis’ perspective as she came across as such a strong character and the one who seemed to be even more knowledgable than Wade when it came to certain trivia about James Halliday, which was key in completing the quests.
Overall, the book’s pacing felt good and while I guessed what was coming a couple times before it happened, it wasn’t because it was really obvious, that’s more me trying to figure things out while reading than just simply reading ~ I need to stop doing that! Also I will just say I felt the ending felt a little predictable but again there was a little element of surprise within it that it didn’t seem so overly obvious as to what was going to happen.
I liked that this book also brought up issues about being in virtual reality and the feeling of wanting to escape everything bad going on in the world. While a little escape is good, at the end of the day, it doesn’t solve anything and the things you’re trying to escape from will still be there and they’ll still need fixing. This element reminded of A Beautifully Foolish Endeavour by Hank Green and people struggling with the loss of a shared dream state and the impact that had on the world. I know RPO came first, but I didn’t read it first. Apart from that, RPO felt quite unique as a story and a book and I think that was entirely down to it being centred around 80’s popular culture.
So I think if you like playing video games, like reading books about video games, or are looking for some 80’s nostalgia, then this might be the book for you. I finished it and wondered why I’d put off reading it for so long!
ID: Flat lay picture of the two books, Ready Player One and Ready Player Two along with a Nintendo Pro Controller, a Nintendo Switch Lite, a Super Mario Lucky Block and a plant as decoration.
Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
This book starts off within a matter of days after the first book finishes and again we are reading from Wade’s perspective as he catches us up on everything that has happened; how the state of the world is and how things have progressed within the OASIS. The issue of escaping into virtual reality, and its dangers is still as present as it was in the first book. Social media and it’s effect is also brought up. I feel both these are important topics to highlight, especially now more than when RPO was written 4 years ago. As with any good book there’s an element of peril introduced and it’s up to Wade and his friends to save the day.
There’s a few new characters introduced to the story which I felt rounded out the vast world of the OASIS even more and I’m not just saying that because one of them has the same nickname as me ~ Lo. This is the second book I’ve read in the past three months that some form of my name has been featured and yes I did have a little freak out to my friend/book club co-host who I’m buddy reading this with!
As with RPO, I again had the feeling of wanting a multiple POV, again I’d have loved to have read from Art3mis’ POV or even from Lo’s POV. There’s sections in the story where Lo and her group of friends disappear into other parts of the OASIS and I’d have loved to read about her “side quests” to help Wade and the other main group of characters from the first book. There’s also a few references to things that happened in the first book which because I’d just read it before this, felt a little repetitive. But I completely understand why they are there and if RPO wasn’t as fresh in my mind as it was, I would have found them nice little reminders.
Again certain elements of the OASIS reminded me of technology featured in A Beautifully Foolish Endeavour by Hank Green {which came before this book}, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it was interesting to see the two authors show their perspective on the type of technology being discussed and used. There were also pop culture references made that were basically the plot of the book and because I am very familiar with what they were talking about, I felt it spoiled the book a bit and made it feel like it was trying to be those things instead of its own story at times. However, if you had no idea what the characters were referring to, I think you would enjoy this book and not guess near the start what certain characters had in mind before anyone else did.
Overall, RPT felt it was trying to show too many different elements to the OASIS but at the same time, certain aspects of it were completed dragged out and this slowed the story down too much in my opinion. This also made me feel RPT had lost that unique feeling that RPO has, especially all these things overshadowed the plot at times. During these times, it almost felt like the characters had forgotten the bigger picture of the plot and that time was of the essence. I especially felt this when certain quests went on far too long and I’m not talking about a few pages, I’m talking 3 full chapters!
So while I did find some aspects of this book enjoyable and interesting to read and seeing how the characters had changed and developed for better or worse from the end of RPO through to the events of RPT, I definitely feel that if I hadn’t have been reading this for the book club I co-host, I would have skim read a number of chapters until the storyline moved on and the pace picked up again.
Did Ready Player One really need a sequel?
Personally, I don’t think so and it’s not often I feel that way, Im like Hazel Grace from The Fault in Our Stars, I kind of believe in life after the novel has ended, always wanting to read more. However, I felt RPO finished with no real loose ends to tie up that I was happy to leave the characters there in that final moment. Please don’t get me wrong, as I’ve said, overall I enjoyed RPT, but I didn’t feel I was left really wanting more or really needing to know what happened after the first book as the end didn’t feel like a cliffhanger.
Have you read both these books? If you have I’d love to know your thoughts on them both and whether you feel Ready Player One needed a sequel or not.
Stay Safe. Read a Book.
L x
