Year 4, week 22: Ready Player Two

This week's book:
Ready Player Two
By Ernest Cline

Notes from the Hubby: I enjoyed the first book, even though the heavy handed pop culture references and main character's excessive nihilism were a bit grating at times. Sadly, this book appears to have cranked both of these up to 11, which of course is a reference to Nigel's amp from This is Spinal Tap (sorry, couldn't resist).

I wanted to like the second book. It had some interesting concepts, like a new scavenger hunt, and new technology that changed the OASIS from a VR simulation to a fully immersive brain link akin to The Matrix (and yes, the book makes that reference, too). But each step in this new scavenger hunt was way too drawn out, like the author wanted to show off pop culture trivia more than he wanted to tell a story. I mean, I like John Hughes movies as much as the next 80’s kid, but holy crap that part of the book went on forever.

I also didn’t care much for the ending or the character development in this sequel. I can’t dive too deep into these issues without spoiling the plot, but I was disappointed.

 

This is the sequel of Ready Player One, which came out a few years ago. It was made into a movie as well. The hubs and I read it when the original came out and really liked it, both the film and the book. It's the story of how the whole world lives in this simulated reality, where you can do or be whoever you want. There is this big scavenger hunt and it's filled with all these pop culture references, which make it so much fun! When I found out that the author wrote a second book, I added it to my next Book of the Month box. I gifted my hubby the book for Christmas and we dove right into it that night. 

I'm going to be honest, I just didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book. The first book was such a cool idea, but I thought the plot had pretty much been told which made me feel like the second book just fell flat for me. 

I would probably still recommend the book if you have read the first book, I was just disappointed in this one.