I finished reading Ready Player Two in 2021. I loved the first book and the second had a very similar plot. I needed something like this. I do not want to share too many spoilers but if you liked Ready Player One, then you will like the sequel. It is a bit darker at times as it explores ideas around experiencing someone else’s reality by just stepping into their feed. You can go really deep and dark there. I like that there are many levels you can read this book on and that our main character is flawed and not always as in touch with reality as he thinks he is.
One of my favorite quotes was:
“My friend Kira always said that life is like an extremely difficult, horribly unbalanced videogame. When you’re born, you’re given a randomly generated character, with a randomly determined name, race, face, and social class. Your body is your avatar, and you spawn in a random geographic location, at a random moment in human history, surrounded by a random group of people, and then you have to try to survive for as long as you can. Sometimes the game might seem easy. Even fun. Other times it might be so difficult you want to give up and quit. But unfortunately, in this game you only get one life. When your body grows too hungry or thirsty or ill or injured or old, your health meter runs out and then it’s Game Over. Some people play the game for a hundred years without ever figuring out that it’s a game, or that there is a way to win it. To win the videogame of life you just have to try to make the experience of being forced to play it as pleasant as possible, for yourself, and for all of the other players you encounter in your travels. Kira says that if everyone played the game to win, it’d be a lot more fun for everyone. —Anorak’s Almanac, chapter 77, verses 11–20”
― Ernest Cline, Ready Player Two
It is so true. I love the idea that winning is making life as pleasant as possible for yourself and those around you. I try to live that myself.
This book has some great themes and a wonderful message. What happens when you get all you dreamed of ever having and still mess it up? Does power corrupt? Can you know how other people really feel? If you think you are doing good, are you really, if you do not talk to the people you are trying to help? Can you fundamentally disagree with someone, but still see things from their point of view? Cline really looked at friendship as you age and how it changes, or you think it does. But real friends will be there when the chips are down.
The sequel still has the nostalgia to the 80s. I loved reliving things from my childhood, especially the Tolkien references, and the Brat Pack movie references. I could go on but would spoil the fun for people who have not yet read it. Read it as an action adventure, or as a commentary on what is our reality, but read it.
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