Reviews with content warning for Death - Ready Player Two

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

16 reviews

oddpilot97's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The first book was one of my favorites of all time, so I was excited to read this sequel. Are you spent 4 months on the waiting list for my library.

Let’s get this out of the way: the main character is kind of a turd. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I didn’t enjoy hearing his POV.

When the book started setting up the

ONI headset and talked about the potential implications of it. I thought for sure the rest of the book was going to be about grappling with the moral dilemma of whether or not to withhold this from the public, my jaw literally dropped when in the next moment, In a single paragraph, they dropped the bomb that they went ahead and said YOLO— put it on the market

I also hated how the main character ruined his relationship with Samantha so quickly after it was built up so much in Ready Player 1.

Will Wheaton’s narration is extremely enjoyable and extra fun when references to the Next Generation Star Trek happened in the book.

The pop-culture references were fun. I especially enjoyed the references to Gallifrey from Doctor Who. However, they did seem a bit more heavy-handed in this book then in the first. The scene about

Prince

felt very long and I found myself a bit bored (although I will say some of those references were a bit before my time, and so may be more enjoyable to someone who lived through the eras. That scene but with Taylor Swift’s eras would have been incredible for me.)

The ending was odd for me. They hyped up the concept of an eternal digital life, as if it were a solution to many problems, and addressed only the positives— nothing about the potential negatives. I guess they haven’t read “Tuck, Everlasting.” To me, the concept of an eternal, digital life seems scary. After all, were humans really meant to live forever? They also made a point throughout the book of talking about how the ONI Technology could make life so much better for folks with disabilities. I couldn’t help but find myself wondering if this extended beyond physical disabilities with someone with severe mental health concerns live forever, suffering from their illness?

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paigehf's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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a_novi's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. I think giving wade an asshole phase once he got rich always made sense. It’s only realistic, bezos and musk style. But the challenges and experiences help him learn that his love for his friends and partner is far more important than his addiction to the internet and the oasis. The theme of mystery video game is carried over from the first book and I enjoyed the darker view we get into a disturbed Halliday’s mind. It is a good lesson for wade not to repeat the same mistakes that Halliday did. The plot twist of Anorack gaining AI consciousness was exciting and I loved the suspense of trying to defeat him! I hope they don’t butcher the movie like they did with RP1 but my hopes are low.

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micaelamariem's review

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adventurous informative tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Unfortunately, this sequel did not live up to the greatness that was Ready Player One. While I enjoyed learning new things and the plot is a great idea for a D&D campaign, I didn’t think the book was well written. I thought it focused too much on referencing outside pop culture sources, even more so than the first book, which left me occasionally feeling a little lost. There was also a heavy focus on worldbuilding still without much look at character development. The ending frustrated me because it felt like the characters still didn’t learn anything. And in general, I just found the story to be boring. I wanted to see more characterization!

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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Like the first book, the info dump of 80s pop culture is annoying, but when take that all away, the plot is okay and I did like the Tolkien and prince worlds, cool premise

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elizabethtrue's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I want an ONI.

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kelly_e's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Title: Ready Player Two
Author: Ernest Cline
Series: Ready Player One #2
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 2.75
Pub Date: November 24, 2020

T H R E E • W O R D S

Imaginative • Adventurous • Disappointing

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Days after winning OASIS founder James Halliday's contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything.

Hidden within Halliday's vaults, waiting for his heir to find, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the OASIS a thousand times more wondrous--and addictive--than even Wade dreamed possible.

With it comes a new riddle, and a new quest--a last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize.

And an unexpected, impossibly powerful, and dangerous new rival awaits, one who'll kill millions to get what he wants.

Wade's life and the future of the OASIS are again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I absolutely (and surprisingly) loved Ready Player One, so I was excited when I found out there would be a sequel. Unfortunately, this one didn't have the same impact as the first one did.

Some of the ideas and quests were interesting, yet as the story progressed I found it harder and harder to stay invested in what was happening, which was the opposite in book one. Oddly, as the stakes got higher, I found myself caring less. It's quite possible that there's just too much content that I didn't know about or relate to. Wade's character arc shows a lot of development from start to finish, something we didn't get in book one. The focus on a group of friends working together to solve the quests was appreciated.

Ready Player One is one of those books that would have been better off left as a stand-alone. I can understand some readers are really going to be drawn into it if they have an interest in all of the pop culture references. Again, I'd highly recommend the audio narrated by Wil Wheaton as he does a fantastic job.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• 80/90s babies
• science fiction fans

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Human beings were never meant to participate in a worldwide social network comprised of billions of people. We were designed by evolution to be hunter-gatherers, with the mental capacity to interact and socialize with the other members of our tribe—a tribe made up of a few hundred other people at most. Interacting with thousands or even millions of other people on a daily basis was way too much for our ape-descended melons to handle. That was why social media had been gradually driving the entire population of the world insane since it emerged back around the turn of the century."

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