"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."
I thoroughly enjoyed "Ready Player One," to the extent that I named it may top choice in the 2016 Scooties Awards. However, its sequel -- the rather on-the-nose-ly-named "Ready Player Two" -- lacked most of the engrossing elements of the first book.
While not particularly complex or sophisticated, this follow-up predictably extends the original story. Ernest Cline delivers exactly what you would expect here, though the fun quotient has been dialed down a bit.
"We were witnessing the dawn of the posthuman era. The Singularity by way of simulacra and simulation."
Littered with pop culture references, "Ready Player Two" is another fun jaunt, not asking much in terms of expended mental energy and paying off the entertainment aspect. The John Hughes quest provides a hilarious escape, and Prince fans will find Cline speaking directly to their soul at certain moments.
There are certainly no surprises to be found here, but maybe there's something to be said for that when it comes to reading during a global pandemic. Cline is exactly as advertised -- and that is often just enough and all we need.
"Through sheer force of will and brainpower, he'd once again turned science fiction into science fact, without much regard for the long-term consequences."
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