Book Details
| Title: |
|
Ready Player Two |
| Author: |
|
Ernest Cline |
| Times Read: |
|
1 |
| Last Read: |
|
02.16.21 |
Other Books Read By This Author (2)
- Armada
- Ready Player One
Notes History
| Date Read |
Note |
| 02.16.21 | The Sequel to Ready Player One, and another shot for Ernie Cline, who I root for but hated his last novel. Unfortunately, this is more of a strike two situation rather than any sort of redemption. I think I liked a few elements of this, but mostly I thought it was a mess and poorly written. Plus the technologist in me was immediately put off by the central conceit of the book, which I don't think I can talk about without spoiling. So spoilers ahead. Ok... So, the main thing about this book is a brain-computer interface that becomes available and affordable for everyone on the planet. It leads to the central tension of the book and also enables the big questions that get asked at the end (which have all been covered by the Westworld tv show). But the thing is... back when Ready Player One came out, I could envision the perfect implementation of a VR rig. It wasn't currently available, but it was on the horizon and most importantly plausible. The brain-computer interface however, i think is much further off. But what bothered me the most however, was that the ENTIRE OASIS was somehow retrofitted to enable all of this new sensory data that comes with the new rig. How do you program what an apple tastes like, or what fur feels like? And how is that somehow inherent in the legion of user-supplied data that makes up this virtual universe? I couldn't buy that, so that bugged me right off the bat. Once you get past that, the book is little more than a forced re-tread that's basically an excuse to show off a few more worlds. If you're a John Hughes, Prince, or Lord of the Rings fan I suppose it's a nice fantasy to geek out about an ultimate compilation of those fanbases in high fidelity, but if you're not intensely into all of them then their chapters are kind of tedious. And when real action or combat happens, I felt like Cline failed to describe them in an enjoyable way. The most exciting parts are just explained to you like an outline written in prose. Then there are the characters, which are barely there. It's mostly Wade explaining to us what's happening, and the small handful of new and returning characters serve little more purpose than to patch up plot holes. Even the main relationship between parcival and artemis breaks for no reason then comes back together for no reason. I hate to say it, but I didn't love it. I suppose my favorite part was the John Hughes world? Even though I am by no means a Hughes superfan, but I liked how it bridged the gap between the Shining segment in the RDO movie in some ways. Perhaps it's that the first book could rely on that classic story structure of the easter egg hunt and the underdog versus the corporation and all of that. I liked in RDO how it still took months to unearth each egg, but in this one there's a bizarre time limit set to where they basically have to do everything in one day which makes each location feel like a rushed chore rather than an exploration. Plus there's never any actual exploration, since one of the characters conveniently already has the exact path to success in their mind. I was never invested, which is a shame. I like the success story of Ernie Cline... he's local, I used to work with a friend of his, at one point we ran in similar film-geek circles so I'm happy for his success... and I do think I liked this more than Armada, but I still didn't love it. |
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