Ready Player Two: achieved an 'okay not great' trophy

 


OKAY.. Ready Player Two, sequel by Ernest Cline... Unfortunately, suggestion by many friends did not hold true, it did disappoint. It was as expected, a well crafted geek fest that picked up where the other left off, ended satisfactory, and was a little too full of geeky detail, BUT ultimately achieved an 'okay not great' trophy.. I look forward to a movie version ;)

Great book? Meh. Enjoyed it? Sure... Suggest to others? Yup (see notes below).. standalone? Nope.. If you haven’t read the first book, dont skip to this one.

Deeper notes..

Annoyances.. While Ready Player One was chock full of pop culture detail that was very accessible to most people, Player Two went a bit further into the back catalog of geekiness and presented stuff I just was not able to handle. Was a bit of a miss when Cline reaches down deep and pulls out games no one I know has ever heard of, songs by bands that (while the band/song is good) are not memorable to most, and deeeeep Tolkien references beyond my caring. I just couldnt get behind it.

Likewise, a second quest for a prize left me lackluster and unimpressed.

Redeeming qualities.. I loved that this book calls to the carpet:
Geek boys who feel entitled to the girl as a prize, the game industry not giving credit to women,
the utter lack of diversity in 80’s classic films,
ownership of personal data,
risks of AI,
the shortsightedness of immersion into alternate realities,
the (heavy handed) mazingness of Prince and Morris Day/The Time

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