Ready Player Two is fun, but lacks the magic of the original

Almost a decade after Ernest Cline published his bestseller Ready Player One, we now have a sequel. Ready Player Two has officially entered the game.

It’s been almost a decade since Ernest Cline published Ready Player One, his ambitious, nostalgic, and otherworldly LitRPG novel. We all know how popular that turned out to be. It became a New York Times bestseller and legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg adapted into a successful movie in 2018. And now, nine years later, we have a second thrilling adventure in The OASIS. That’s right: Ready Player Two has officially entered the game.

Let’s begin by clarifying that Ready Player Two is not a sequel to the 2018 movie. The movie shares the general plot of the original book, but there are also many major differences, and you’ll be lost if you attempt to read the sequel after watching the film.

Ready Player Two picks up shortly after Wade wins Halliday’s tournament at the end of the first book. While it seems like the game has ended, it’s only just beginning. Take a look at the official synopsis:

"An unexpected quest. Two worlds at stake. Are you ready?Days after 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 more wondrous — and addictive — then 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, new and dangerous rival awaits, one who will 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."

So did it live up to the hype? Was it as good as its superstar predecessor? Let’s dive into the good, the bad, and the ugly of Ready Player Two!

(There are SPOILERS for both Ready Player One and Ready Player Two below. Consider yourself warned.)

Catching Up

Most sequels have a lot of recap to bring readers up to date, but Ready Player Two has more than usual: be prepared to read through pages of recap of what has come to pass since Wade won the Easter egg and how his life — as well as that of his closest friends — has changed. It’s a bit excessive, and prevents the plot from moving forward.

We immediately learn exactly where everyone is up to. Since winning the tournament, Wade, Samantha (Artemis), Akihide (Shoto) and Helen (Aech) have all become international celebrities. Not only that, but they’re all billionaires with a whole lot of influence on how the world works, since The OASIS is almost as important as the real world. All four consider themselves philanthropists and are now directors of their own charities. For example, Wade’s charity is all about providing youngsters with fast and secure internet access, a necessity in an age where a virtual world has so much power.

As a result of his newfound fame and power, Wade lives in a tech-filled mansion with world-class security. He has his own super-intelligent digital assistant. On the surface, he appears to live the perfect life, though Cline makes it clear that he suffers from a lack of real-life social interaction.

Sadly, throughout this book, Wade is much more unlikable, which makes it hard for us to support him on his quest. He comes across as a spoiled and entitled kid. In the first book, we rooted for him in the tournament. He was the kid who grew up in the Stacks and escaped to The OASIS to get a break from his dire real-world situation. Now he’s a billionaire who distances himself from the world. At one point, he even goes on a killing spree, destroying tons of OASIS avatars. Not a very heroic way to deal with things, is it?

The New (Plot) Device

Ready Player One wasted no time introducing The OASIS, the virtual playground where everyone lives out their fantasies, goes to school, and even goes to work. It was the ultimate virtual escape.  Starting on the very first page, we learn how The OASIS has become a huge part of the lives of nearly everyone around the globe. In many ways, The OASIS was a character in and of itself.

We go into Ready Player Two already knowing exactly what The OASIS is. We’re familiar with how it works and what different people use it for. This time, Cline reveals a new side of the virtual universe, as Wade is shown the brand new product that will evolve The OASIS into an entirely new experience: the OASIS Neural Interface.

While people have typically connected to The OASIS via virtual reality headset, the OASIS Neural Interface (or ONI) allows them to do it with a web of intricate wires attached to their brain. Instead of controlling the avatar with peripherals, the user does it just by thinking, essentially becoming their OASIS avatar.

I noticed inspiration from The Matrix right away. It’s not like Cline hides the similarities; in fact, he embraces that movie several times, in case anyone missed the connection. As some readers have already pointed out, there’s also a comparison here to Neuralink, the real-world company headed by Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of SpaceX and Tesla.

Photo: 20th anniversary of The Matrix in Dolby Cinema press event.. Image by Tiffany Aleman

The ONI, of course, was the brainchild of Easter egg-obsessed OASIS creator James Halliday, who leaves a clue behind for Wade to discover his secret project merely days after the first tournament concludes. Upon finding the new headset, Wade is greeted by a hologram of Halliday. The deceased inventor leaves the decision to Wade whether to make the new gadget public or keep it private.

After consulting Samantha, Akihide and Helen, they agreed that ONI will be unleashed into the world… but Samantha is far from happy.

The ONI was my favorite element of the book. Cline obviously had the technology fully planned out. There were both positives and negatives to the ONI. On one hand, it provides an unparalleled experience if The OASIS. However, it requires the user to log out after 12 hours of constant usage to prevent brain damage. And you can’t simply remove the headset; you need to lot out first and let it to disconnect from the mind. If the ONI is quickly removed, it can force a coma. Predictably, these flaws are utilized by the new big bad.

Relationships

I particularly liked the dynamic between lovers Wade and Samantha in this book. In Ready Player One, they mainly worked together to achieve the same goal of finding the Easter egg and inheriting the assets and fortune of James Halliday. However, in the sequel, their relationship is much rockier. While Wade wishes to unleash the ONI to the world, Samantha thinks it can only bring trouble. Did people really need another excuse to escape from reality? Would the ONI have long-term effects on the brain?

Cline does a good job of presenting both sides of this morally tricky decision. Ultimately, as mentioned, Wade decides to make the invention public. This makes Samantha break up with him, and she refuses to use the ONI.

Unfortunately, as the book goes on and the two are forced to work together, things start to get really cheesy. It gets pretty irritating reading Wade describe every part of Samantha’s body in comprehensive detail over and over. Normally I don’t mind a cheesy storyline — it was fine in Ready Player One — but this book took it to the next level of irritating.

As for Aech and Shoto, they both play smaller roles. They’re still there, but neither of them go through many changes. Cline definitely underused them.

The New Quest

A new OASIS adventure has to have some kind of treasure hunt, and Ready Player Two comes through. People are once again hunting for one of Halliday’s Easter eggs, but this time, nobody actually knows what the prize is.

The first riddle appears moments after the ONI is introduced. Instead of having to find three keys, the players must locate the Seven Shards to the Siren’s Soul.

This is where things begin to get confusing. You see, as the ONI is connected to the brain, it has the ability to create a complete copy of a human mind and convert it into a digital avatar that is more or less immortal. It’s a completely independent virtual version of a living person.  Essentially, this means the soul can live on within The OASIS for eternity as an avatar even when the real-life human is dead.

How does this link into the Seven Shards to the Siren’s Soul quest? Well, Kira Morrow was the love of Halliday’s life, but she was married to Ogden Morrow, so Halliday used the ONI to create a copy of her brain (without her consent) and hid it in The OASIS in the hope she could be found and resurrected in the future.

It turns out that Halliday uploaded a version of himself to The OASIS prior to his death. Therefore he lives on in the form of his former avatar, Anorak — the same Anorak who presents Wade with his prize at the end of Ready Player One.

Unfortunately for our team, Halliday tampered too much with his avatar’s old memories of Kira and corrupted the virtual copy. As a result, Arorak is evil and uses the ONI to trap everyone inside The OASIS by disabling their log-out buttons. He holds the lives of millions ransom until either the High Five or Ogden Morrow retrieve the seven shards and bring the love of his life, Kira Underwood, back to life.

That brings us to the quests. The shards are hidden in various places, each suggested by a cryptic riddle. I won’t go into too much detail about what it’s like to retrieve the shards. However, I will tell you that Wade and his friends travel everywhere from Middle-earth to multiple incarnations of Shermer, Illinois, the fictional town where John Hughes set many of his movies. They even travel to a world dedicated to legendary pop star Prince, and fight multiple versions of him to retrieve one of the shards.

Pop culture references

Unlike Ready Player One, Cline makes little attempt to make the pop culture references accessible to newcomers. Not a fan of Prince? Not familiar with Middle-earth? Then you’ll find yourself bored with large sections of the book. This wasn’t as bad in Ready Player One simply because I thought the quests were much more engaging. In that case, the pop culture references provided the backdrop; here they’re the centerpiece.

Speaking of references, they’re not just confined to the ’80s this time. We have Home Alone and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies, just to name two that venture out of the decade. In that way, Ready Player Two feels a little like Spielberg’s adaptation of the first book; he went further afield when looking for references, too.

The Final Act

Easily the most enjoyable part of this book was the final act, mainly because it had actual action rather than nostalgia-specific puzzles. It had emotion, drama, and provided a definitive end to the saga. Without spoiling too much, there are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader engaged. I really, really, enjoyed it.

Verdict

So was Ready Player Two a worthy sequel? Let’s break it down:

Pros:

• The Oasis Neural Interface was a brilliant addition. It was a well-thought-out, imaginative gadget that added something to the narrative.
• The last act — particularly the very end — is the best part of the novel. It was satisfying, emotional and final. I cannot see a third book being written after this.
• OASIS founders Ogden Morrow, James Halliday, and Kira Underwood were all explored more.

Cons:

• Wade Watts feels like a background character in his own story.
• Seven quests were way too much. Some felt fleshed out, others were rushed.
• Too many pop culture references felt forced and cringy.

Merely days after release, Ready Player Two has been mocked pretty hard by fans and critics alike. For the most part, I have to agree with what fans are saying. With Ready Player One, Cline had a wholly original concept which he executed perfectly. It was a well-paced, easy-to-follow story that tugged at readers’ nostalgia.

Sadly, the sequel doesn’t have the same magic. On top of the 1980s references feeling more forced, the book is keener on developing the lore of The OASIS than its main character. Wade is stuck making the same mistakes he made in the first book.

The seven quests Wade and his friends are tasked with completing feel rushed. By the time the fifth quest came around, I was beginning to lose interest. If this book is to be adapted into a movie, the writers have their work cut out for them.

While there are some glaring flaws, I still enjoyed the ride for what it was. I think the ONI created fantastic depth to The OASIS and the ending was surprisingly fun. Creating virtual copies of the brain to essentially make us immortal is an awesome idea!

If you dig a bit deeper, there are a lot of fascinating ideas about humans and the future of artificial intelligence. The rapid development of AI has been a concern for years, and Ready Player Two is eager to join that conversation.

If Cline decides to end his series here, I will remain thankful for him. But it’s missing the magic spark of the first book, which I loved and raved about for years.

I think you would find more pleasure in re-reading Ready Player One than you would reading Ready Player Two.

Grade: D

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