Take a photo of a barcode or cover
mj_james_writes 's review for:
Ready Player Two
by Ernest Cline
I would probably rate this book more of a 3 1/2 stars than a 4.
If you enjoyed Ready Player One then you will most likely enjoy Ready Player Two. Cline is not the most prolific writer. That is even more apparent in this sequel.
What Cline does remarkably well is build a world that you can escape into. He presents the Oasis to you in a print version, and we willingly hook ourselves up and partake.
The story starts off slow. It is full of telling and has almost story line for the first section of the novel. Normally I would hate this. Yet, I did not mind it for Ready Player Two. Why? The telling was all about the Oasis and the history of what had happened between the end of book one. Again, I came for the world and that is what the book was giving me.
When the plot started it was nearly a clone of the first book, except not as good. I liked the first book, and the plot was just different enough that I was engaged - mostly. I checked out a few times. I switched back and forth from the audio and the print version (this is normal for me) and I enjoyed the slower parts in the audiobook (Wil Wheaton is an awesome narrator!) more than in print.
If you didn't love the first book then I would say pass on the second. If you did, then read ahead. We are all allowed our guilty pleasures.
Now for a mini rant. There are two parts of this book I did not enjoy.
Wade had character growth in the first book and Cline threw it all away. This annoyed me to no end. He could have kept the growth of the character and still had him grow more. He is a young adult and he wasn't some epic mature person at the end of the first book.
I am autistic/Aspergers. This book speaks to my autistic nerdy self. When Halliday was mentioned as having Asperger's in the first book I was all over that. Then in the second book this was twisted into sociopathic behavior. I won't go into it because of spoilers - but it was not cool. The same exact book could have been written without giving autism a bad name. Hey, I am fully aware of my autism quirkiness and it would have made sense in this book. There was no need to twist it in such a way. It was upsetting and unnecessary.
On a non rant note: Cline really does try to bring diversity into his books. If he succeeds is up for debate (see the ability rant above), but he does try. There is a fair bit of diversity in Ready Player Two (LGBTQ+ Rep, Trans Rep, POC Rep, Autism Rep).
If you enjoyed Ready Player One then you will most likely enjoy Ready Player Two. Cline is not the most prolific writer. That is even more apparent in this sequel.
What Cline does remarkably well is build a world that you can escape into. He presents the Oasis to you in a print version, and we willingly hook ourselves up and partake.
The story starts off slow. It is full of telling and has almost story line for the first section of the novel. Normally I would hate this. Yet, I did not mind it for Ready Player Two. Why? The telling was all about the Oasis and the history of what had happened between the end of book one. Again, I came for the world and that is what the book was giving me.
When the plot started it was nearly a clone of the first book, except not as good. I liked the first book, and the plot was just different enough that I was engaged - mostly. I checked out a few times. I switched back and forth from the audio and the print version (this is normal for me) and I enjoyed the slower parts in the audiobook (Wil Wheaton is an awesome narrator!) more than in print.
If you didn't love the first book then I would say pass on the second. If you did, then read ahead. We are all allowed our guilty pleasures.
Now for a mini rant. There are two parts of this book I did not enjoy.
Wade had character growth in the first book and Cline threw it all away. This annoyed me to no end. He could have kept the growth of the character and still had him grow more. He is a young adult and he wasn't some epic mature person at the end of the first book.
I am autistic/Aspergers. This book speaks to my autistic nerdy self. When Halliday was mentioned as having Asperger's in the first book I was all over that. Then in the second book this was twisted into sociopathic behavior. I won't go into it because of spoilers - but it was not cool. The same exact book could have been written without giving autism a bad name. Hey, I am fully aware of my autism quirkiness and it would have made sense in this book. There was no need to twist it in such a way. It was upsetting and unnecessary.
On a non rant note: Cline really does try to bring diversity into his books. If he succeeds is up for debate (see the ability rant above), but he does try. There is a fair bit of diversity in Ready Player Two (LGBTQ+ Rep, Trans Rep, POC Rep, Autism Rep).