Ready Player Two – Ernest Cline

Where do I start? When I first read Ready Player One five years ago I was a fan. It was that book that drew me back into reading. The story was captivating and the premise of a virtual egg hunt with a lot at stake was thrilling. Since I like video games it made me appreciate the many pop culture references even more.

Unfortunately Ready Player Two is pretty much the same plot all over again and the main character Wade Watts is joined by the same group of people to help him in his quest to save the world…again. Even though he’s supposed to have grown up in the nine years that have passed since the first book Wade’s behaviour is that of a spoiled and insecure billionaire man-child.

As luck would have it he’s the chosen one which means only he is able to complete the main stages of each quests. This leaves very little room for the rest of the characters to shine and develop their stories.

In this sequel the pop culture references were gratuitously sprinkled all over and didn’t feel very relevant to the story. It seemed like the author just wanted to brag about his vast knowledge of the 80’s which gets old quickly.

Unless you’re a huge fan and want to check out what the hype was all about I would avoid this one.

★★☆☆☆