Ready Player Two – Earnest Cline (AUDIOBOOK) – 23.12.20

So, my mum died on 14th December. It was pretty sudden; she had been hale and hearty the last time I spoke to her on the phone, two days later she had a massive stroke from which she never fully regained consciousness and died after eleven days. Because of Covid rules, she wasn’t allowed visitors until just hours before she passed, by which time it was too late for myself or her other children or grandchildren to get there in time, but she was with her friend and church pastor. The reason I’m including this in my review, is just to put it into context – for me, often I hang my memories of books read on the same hook as memories of what else was going on in my life at the time, and also because I really didn’t give the book the concentration it deserves, so inevitably, my review will be coloured by this distraction on my part.

I loved Ready Player One, both the book and (to a slightly lesser degree) the movie. I used my audible monthly credit to buy the audiobook of Ready Player Two as it worked out cheaper for me than buying the kindle version. I found the book slow to get into (although perhaps this was for reasons already stated in my opening paragraph…). Like the first book, it quickly becomes a treasure hunt through the virtual world where clues must be interpreted to find artefacts and defeat fiendish plans of bad guys and save the world. Again there were lots of fun references to geekish things from my youth, like The Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, The Princess Bride, various old video games and movies, even Harry Potter. I have to admit I loved the references to Tolkien’s Middle Earth and the quest that mirrored the plot of The Silmarillion. There were character journeys and some touching romantic arcs as well as some interesting philosophical stuff about AI consciousness and immortality and that kind of thing.

I think I’ll wait until the kindle gets cheaper, and my mind gets onto a more even keel and maybe give the book another go, as I’m sure I missed lots from my half hearted listen and it should probably have been a more engrossing experience than it was for me.