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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
I felt like this book moved much slower than the first one. The mass amount of pop culture references was funny, for a while. It ended well, though.
First one - GREAT. This one - Not Great. Sometimes things can just be finished and don't need a part two...
While I did enjoy reading Ready Player Two I couldn't get over two things:
1. It's basically the same plot as Ready Player One, except with a shorter timeline (a day instead of a year). There are differences - mostly the concept of technology being directly attached to brains and more details about Kira - but maybe not enough to account for an entire second book.
2. Wade has been painted as a jerk with no friends (which kind of sucks since we left him at the end of Ready Player One with both friends and a GF), but then as soon as he starts his quest he has all of his friends and his love interest back...
Aside from those two glaring issues, I thought it was a lot of fun - especially the John Hughes challenge. There's a section for everyone, or at least something for Prince fans, Hughes fans, LOTR fans, and obviously video game fans.
Things come together a bit too perfectly, to the point where it was harder to get invested because I was so certain of the outcome...so I skimmed quite a bit when he was in a challenge that didn't totally float my boat (looking at you LOTR).
1. It's basically the same plot as Ready Player One, except with a shorter timeline (a day instead of a year). There are differences - mostly the concept of technology being directly attached to brains and more details about Kira - but maybe not enough to account for an entire second book.
2. Wade has been painted as a jerk with no friends (which kind of sucks since we left him at the end of Ready Player One with both friends and a GF), but then as soon as he starts his quest he has all of his friends and his love interest back...
Aside from those two glaring issues, I thought it was a lot of fun - especially the John Hughes challenge. There's a section for everyone, or at least something for Prince fans, Hughes fans, LOTR fans, and obviously video game fans.
Things come together a bit too perfectly, to the point where it was harder to get invested because I was so certain of the outcome...so I skimmed quite a bit when he was in a challenge that didn't totally float my boat (looking at you LOTR).
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I unfortunately didn't enjoy this one like I did Ready Player One. Some of it was still good, but overall, it was a miss for me. I do appreciate how well Earnest Cline can write broken characters. Many of us have broken and healed over the course of our lives, I think he portrays the imperfections of humanity in a very real way.
Most of this book is a warmed over repeat of the first book, full of 80’s references and so-so writing. It’s brain candy - easy to read and enjoy as long as you expect the first book plus a bit of new plot.
The ending actually surprised me, which was a pleasant, uh, surprise. It ignored some large ethical/moral issues which I thought might be addressed, but all in all the book was a fine read.
The ending actually surprised me, which was a pleasant, uh, surprise. It ignored some large ethical/moral issues which I thought might be addressed, but all in all the book was a fine read.
Well that went badly. A rushed beginning, a tedious middle, and an unearned ending.
I was skeptical of the reviews lambasting this as a shameless cash grab, the first book also had a bunch of haters, but I found it to be an enjoyable escape.
Hmm, there might be some spoilers coming...
The same cannot be said for the second. Any effort at developing characters is thrown out the window, hey we already know the characters so why bother with that. The characters then all basically become Mary Sue's by ensuring that they can overcome the various challenges on the first try (after an initial assist from the basically only interesting character in the whole book - who is basically an "interesting character ex machina" as they only end up serving plot purposes.
The challenges are poorly setup and poorly described and it won't be too soon if I never read of another "needle drop" moment, how hopelessly overplayed was that?!
In my fantasy version of this book, the obvious "Player Two" for this second novel would have been Art3mis and the setup practically wrote itself as the other members of the High Five get themselves trapped in VR limbo. The story should have been about her efforts to save them along with a new rag tag crew (the Low Five would have been great to spend more time with). Alas it was not to be. We spend the whole time with Parzival who's become quite insufferable and still manages to mostly get through the story unscathed.
Not recommended.
I was skeptical of the reviews lambasting this as a shameless cash grab, the first book also had a bunch of haters, but I found it to be an enjoyable escape.
Hmm, there might be some spoilers coming...
The same cannot be said for the second. Any effort at developing characters is thrown out the window, hey we already know the characters so why bother with that. The characters then all basically become Mary Sue's by ensuring that they can overcome the various challenges on the first try (after an initial assist from the basically only interesting character in the whole book - who is basically an "interesting character ex machina" as they only end up serving plot purposes.
The challenges are poorly setup and poorly described and it won't be too soon if I never read of another "needle drop" moment, how hopelessly overplayed was that?!
In my fantasy version of this book, the obvious "Player Two" for this second novel would have been Art3mis and the setup practically wrote itself as the other members of the High Five get themselves trapped in VR limbo. The story should have been about her efforts to save them along with a new rag tag crew (the Low Five would have been great to spend more time with). Alas it was not to be. We spend the whole time with Parzival who's become quite insufferable and still manages to mostly get through the story unscathed.
Not recommended.
Two stars because Will Wheaton is a great narrator. The book however is unnecessary, repetetive and the main characters became very annoying and unlikeable.
It’s hard to top or come close to the original and this doesn’t do that. Nor I think is it meant to. It is a fun trip down nostalgia lane and a decent story on its own. If you focus on that and not try and compare it then you’ll enjoy it more.
I loved Ready Player One and recently played the audiobook for my kids who also loved it. I saw that this book didn't get good reviews, but I thought I'd give it a try to see if it was okay for my kids to listen to. Nah, we're going to skip this one. The book was finishable but not that great.
Well that was a book. That I read. Yep. That was a thing that happened.