Ready Player Two

30 Nov 2020 - mrtn

A few years ago, I’ve stumbled upon Ready Player One - and dove in deep. It was one of the books, that pulled me in so deep, that I forgot what happened around me. The story about the young Wade Watts, a nobody that has no money, no future and no friends kinda resonated with me. He is one of the most stereotypical nerds that someone can imagine.

The ending was great and it left room for a Sequel - without a sequel being necessary. A few days ago, I read that the Ready Player Two is about to release in November 2020 and so I prepared myself. Over the last few weeks, I read it again.

Yesterday, I got my hands on the brand new audiobook version of Ready Player Two. I started listening to it and did not stop, until it was done. It was a nice ride, although it can’t compete with the Prequel (which i consider one of my favourite books).

My biggest problems with it is, that the quest for the Seven Shards feels rushed as hell, especially compared to the prequel. 3 vs 7 quests… Almost the same size of the whole story. Also, RP1 was focussed on Wade, the nerdyness of him and his friends and in RP2, he may be the driver of the story, but the others are way more important than him. And then there is the sidekicks that get introduced, stay away for 90 percent of the story and have a great impact on the story. And they are probably interesting enough for an own book… It just feels forced to me.

Yet, the book is great. The story is nice, the characters don’t do anything out of place. Also, the nerdyness is (in my opinion) turned down quite a bit. It’s way less obscure than the things you may learn for the first time in RP1. It’s basically Dungeons and Dragons, Lord of the Rings, a little bit of 80s and 90s arcade gaming. It’s great entertainment, but it’s not more.