Ballantine Ready Player Two

Let’s get this right out of the way; if you like the first one you ABSOLUTELY SHOULD BUY THIS ONE. I promise you will not be disappointed. This is a true sequel and nothing even remotely close to the dumpster-fire of a book that Armada was. Now that you’ve already clicked buy I’m going to list the pros and cons of the book without going into any spoilers. PROS: 1. As soon as I found out that he was writing a sequel I could not for the life of me figure out how he could add to the first book without just repeating himself. Yet, he managed to surprise me and i was constantly being blown away. The plot he came up with was genuinely mind blowing. 2. Once the story gets moving you CANNOT. PUT. THE. BOOK. DOWN. I had my eyes glued to this book for hours on end. I was so enthralled by the story that I even brought the book with me to work so I could read it during my minuscule lunch break. 3. Yes, the book is very different from the first one. But I don’t think that that’s a bad thing because this was a story that you really couldn’t see coming and the way it all comes together is worth it. I HIGHLY, highly recommend you buy this book if you enjoyed the first one. Now, in case you’re curious I’ll list the cons for the book. But please don’t think of any of these as reasons you shouldn’t buy the book (because you absolutely should). This is a review after all. CONS: 1. Cline spends far too long catching up the reader on what happened since the events of the first book. Because of this, the first 80 or so pages are quite slow and there is extremely little dialogue (somewhat similar to the beginning of The Hobbit in its pacing). 2. Without going into detail, know that any character development you thought occurred in the first book kind of gets thrown away during this opening section. I was a bit disappointed by this, but happy that everything all came together in the end. 3. Throughout the story he violates the classic rule of "show don’t tell." HOWEVER, in the way this story is told I did not find that it was much of a problem after you get through that opening section. It’s kind of necessary because of all the references. 4. The third act felt a bit rushed and anybody who reads this will likely feel this way. You’ll understand when you read it, but Cline kind of backed himself into a corner with rushing the ending on this one. NOTE: Some of the first reviews published on Amazon are entirely inaccurate (and also quite offensive). This book is not “woke" or written with an agenda. I felt that anything Cline put in was already inherent in the first book. To say that this book throws in political agenda is just plain WRONG and detracts from just how good this story actually is.

Having been captivated by *Ready Player One*, I was eager to dive into *Ready Player Two*, and it did not disappoint. Ernest Cline masterfully continues the journey of Wade Watts, introducing new challenges that delve deeper into the virtual universe of the OASIS. The sequel picks up shortly after the events of the first book, immersing readers in a fresh quest filled with intricate puzzles and high-stakes adventures. Cline's signature blend of pop culture references and imaginative storytelling creates a nostalgic yet innovative experience. One of the standout aspects is the exploration of advanced technology and its ethical implications, adding depth to the narrative. The character development is commendable, with familiar faces evolving and new characters adding richness to the story. While some critics have pointed out areas for improvement, such as the pacing in the early chapters citeturn0search0, I found the buildup essential for setting the stage for the exhilarating journey that follows. In summary, *Ready Player Two* is a worthy successor that expands the universe in exciting ways. It's a compelling read that balances action, emotion, and thought-provoking themes. Highly recommended for fans of the original and newcomers alike!

Remarks on Ready Player One: I think the greatest part about Ready Player One is the detailed description of Wade's mind, his thoughts, and how he struggles especially in social interactions. He excels in knowing nerd trivia but is in almost everything else an average or below average guy which makes him quite relatable. I loved the first book and the movie and read/watched them several times. Ready Player Two: In Ready Player Two, Ernest Cline does again a wonderful job at showing how Wade feels and struggles with his life after the contest. Especially in the first quarter of the book, besides that, almost nothing happens that progresses the story and you'll get primarily Wade struggling with his thoughts and relationships and something he's found out about the Oasis/Halladay. Similar, to Ready Player One, Wade and his crew have to participate at some point in some kind of contest again and solve several quests. The quests are nice, but compared to Ready Player One not that interesting, which I think is the reason, why many people gave the book a bad rating. I still enjoyed it, but I had not the feeling that I was solving the puzzles together with the characters like in Ready Player One, but rather that they solved it and I was only watching. The ending is kind of interesting and I was honestly surprised by it. In summary, I can recommend reading Ready Player Two if you liked the first book and even if some reviews here say it's a bad book because that's just not true.

Hem devam kitap, hem güzel bir baskı, hem de ciltli 👌

I actually had no idea that Ernest Cline had written a sequel to his now-classic sci-fi Valentine to the 80s, D&D and geeks in general. To me, it just seem to appear out of the blue, which I guess goes to show how deep I'd crawled under my own rock but also the idea of a sequel seemed impossible, unwanted and risky. Our hero, Wade Watts, had successfully reached the end of the quest, won the ultimate prize, become a legend, an instant billionaire and seemingly found his soulmate, Artemis (aka Samantha). What more could Wade achieve after inheriting everything from the mad genius geek icon James Halliday, including the cloak granting his avatar, Parzival, God-like control of the Oasis? Why would any reader who'd enjoyed this ultimate geek's fantasy want to mess with this happy ending? And why risk writing a sequel to such a popular hit when so many other sequels have failed to match the original's brilliance? Let's be frank - sequels have been and always will be around for one reason only: money. Very few sequels have transcended their commercial origins to be artistically appreciated. For the most part, sequels are repetitious, familiar and rarely unpredictable. If done reasonably well enough, sequels can be fun opportunities to revisit a particular world or universe and to enjoy the further adventures of beloved characters. But lazily conceived and written sequels are horrible and reek and leave a bitter aftertaste. These are just some of the things that I'm sure went through Ernest Cline's mind when he began to formulate "Ready Player Two". Now, "Ready Player One" wasn't exactly perfect. It can be easy to forget that as enjoyable as it was, "Ready Player One" sometimes felt a bit superficial. Sure, there was plenty of excitement and thrills but sometimes you could get a bit bored with Wade's super gamer skills and his seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of movies, music, games, books etc. At least Cline successfully put his main character's prodigious talents and skills to the test but in my experience as a reader I've always preferred my heroes to develop these super skills and talents. It took me a bit of time to accept Wade/Parzival as being innately talented. I'm happy to say that once I dived into "Ready Player Two" not only did Cline hit all the right buttons in terms of recreating the universe of the original novel - the sequel literally begins where the original left off - but he has expanded on this (and the virtual world of the Oasis) brilliantly and imaginatively. Far from being lazy, Cline has definitely done his research and made wise choices in the inevitable references to 80s pop culture as well as to sci-fi, the fantasy world of Tolkein and D&D as well as video gaming. The other pleasing aspect is that Cline has successfully found a way to keep Wade's story and that of his friends exciting and thrilling by acknowledging some unpleasant and dark aspects and weaknesses, particularly in Wade's case. Not only that, the legendary figures of Halliday, Og and Kira provide a fascinating and dark plot line which necessarily exposes the more unpleasant and uncomfortable truths that were glossed over in the original novel. And to my mind the integrity of the novel and its universe is not damaged by the obvious references to all that's been happening in the world since the original novel came out. What has been criticised as being the "woke" aspects of "Ready Player Two" are actually sensitive and provide some of the novel's heart. That it has already disappointed many readers is perhaps inevitable. Not for me. I read this in two days. It's not Shakespeare but it is immensely entertaining, sometimes a bit too overwhelming on the pop culture references but nevertheless I learnt some interesting tidbits of info. Another pleasing aspect of the book is that it avoids trying to incorporate aspects of "Ready Player One" the film. "Ready Player Two" is a sequel to the "Ready Player One" novel. It's two thumbs up for me.