jmrich's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
bliar's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
sorkka's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
mirage88's review against another edition
2.0
This is the book equivalent to a bad action movie you see just for the special effects, but where the characters are all flat and you aren't particularly rooting for anyone. Just replace the special effects for occasional nostalgia hits, but that are of much lower quality than from Ready Player One and are also much less frequent. Essentially this magnifies all the small problems from the first book that I had no problem overlooking while also minimizing the joy.
Part of the issue I had was the jagged pacing. The book starts with a massive info dump, and at one point an ethical decision to release technology I was sure would have to be made over the course of 50 or so pages was instead made in a single sentence making me believe I missed entire chapters. The characterization is also just... bad. Each character's behavior flips entirely based on plot needs and with no buildup or reason.
I could forgive some of that if the quest portion of the book was anywhere near as good as Ready Player One was, but many of those sections fall flat as well and feel more like a trivia dump than a quest with a real story. I skimmed much of them to be honest. many of the quest story-lines drag on as you follow a character through an uninteresting mission that feels more like a to-do list than the mystery/puzzles you were trying to figure out alongside the characters from the first book.
There are some points that are still a lot of fun and capture the feel of the original, but they are few and far between. If you're a massive 80s nerd like the author then this will probably still be a lot of fun to read, but as someone who enjoys pop culture and will get most references this book got far too obscure for me to really care most of the time, which wasn't the case for the first book. There are also some cool sci-fi concepts in general here, the issue is that they aren't explored in any depth at all, which makes them more frustrating than anything as characters discuss only the most surface level of the ideas and then never go any deeper.
I wouldn't particularly recommend anyone read this. Better to stick with Ready Player One as it concludes nicely and doesn't need a sequel.
Part of the issue I had was the jagged pacing. The book starts with a massive info dump, and at one point an ethical decision to release technology I was sure would have to be made over the course of 50 or so pages was instead made in a single sentence making me believe I missed entire chapters. The characterization is also just... bad. Each character's behavior flips entirely based on plot needs and with no buildup or reason.
I could forgive some of that if the quest portion of the book was anywhere near as good as Ready Player One was, but many of those sections fall flat as well and feel more like a trivia dump than a quest with a real story. I skimmed much of them to be honest. many of the quest story-lines drag on as you follow a character through an uninteresting mission that feels more like a to-do list than the mystery/puzzles you were trying to figure out alongside the characters from the first book.
There are some points that are still a lot of fun and capture the feel of the original, but they are few and far between. If you're a massive 80s nerd like the author then this will probably still be a lot of fun to read, but as someone who enjoys pop culture and will get most references this book got far too obscure for me to really care most of the time, which wasn't the case for the first book. There are also some cool sci-fi concepts in general here, the issue is that they aren't explored in any depth at all, which makes them more frustrating than anything as characters discuss only the most surface level of the ideas and then never go any deeper.
I wouldn't particularly recommend anyone read this. Better to stick with Ready Player One as it concludes nicely and doesn't need a sequel.
benfast's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
robhughes's review against another edition
2.0
I think this one is purely for the fans of the first. Pop culture references come thick and fast, but unfortunately the plot is a little more reluctant; the first 100 pages are an exposition dump and then something finally happens and the author still finds time for a little more exposition. What really destroys the pace though is the constant explaining of every little thing, I don't care about the mechanics behind a haptec 3269-x bootsuit just tell me a story!
This is a book that feels rushed, the pacing is all over the place, the characterisation is paper thin, and the world of the Oasis that felt so large and compelling in the first book now seems small and exclusive; the reserve of the super-rich where they can exploit and neglect everyone else, and if anyone else is let in it's only to watch and admire the actions of these important rich people.
I'm not really disappointed, I kind of expected this to be a stretch, and I did like the catalyst behind the events that follow page 100. However, I didn't expect this book to hollow out any residual feelings of affection I had for the characters from the first book, and that result didn't feel fair.
Maybe this book marks the end of this period of meta-nostalgia? I hope so. It would be nice for some new pop culture... of course we'll still have to wait for the release the film-sequel before that can happen; gotta milk that cash cow.
This is a book that feels rushed, the pacing is all over the place, the characterisation is paper thin, and the world of the Oasis that felt so large and compelling in the first book now seems small and exclusive; the reserve of the super-rich where they can exploit and neglect everyone else, and if anyone else is let in it's only to watch and admire the actions of these important rich people.
I'm not really disappointed, I kind of expected this to be a stretch, and I did like the catalyst behind the events that follow page 100. However, I didn't expect this book to hollow out any residual feelings of affection I had for the characters from the first book, and that result didn't feel fair.
Maybe this book marks the end of this period of meta-nostalgia? I hope so. It would be nice for some new pop culture... of course we'll still have to wait for the release the film-sequel before that can happen; gotta milk that cash cow.
laurenalexsc's review against another edition
2.0
So definitely not as good as Ready Player One. It took a while for the actual adventure to begin and in that time there was a ton of emphasis on 80s references and video game speak that I just didn't care for or bother to understand. The quest itself seemed highly geared towards the High Five and just a little bit unrealistic...i.e. oh of course a member of the team is a specialist in each part of the clue.
If there's a follow up book about Lo and her crew, I'll read it.
If there's a follow up book about Lo and her crew, I'll read it.
proudlocks's review against another edition
3.0
If you like the first one then by all means give this one a bash if your curious. Was a lot slower and definitely not as good as the first one.
nina___790's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. I had low expectations and I wasn't pleasantly surprised. I got exactly what I expected. The whole quest was sort of dumb and often they would ramble on about random irrelevant things for several pages. Wade was still totally obsessed with Samantha and I found it exactly like Halliday being obsessed with Kira, and Halliday was a sexist, rude person. Luckily, Wade realised that Halliday wasn't so great, but everything was Halliday's fault again, which was extremely annoying. The whole ending was terrible, dumb, it was just so stupid. However, I liked the fight scenes, that was one of the only good things about the book.