Ready Player Two

by Ernest Cline

Hennepin County Library hardcover 366 pages

Published: 2020

Genre: SciFi

This book had some negative reviews, but I didn't pay much attention to them. I enjoyed it as much as the first book, but also disliked it. An electronic "utopia" (The OASIS) is more sinister and sad to me than it is fascinating. Some of the technology in this book is still out of our reach, but much of it is here and now. Perhaps it's more impacting that I read this up at the lake, where we just had internet access set up . . . no more "off the grid" when we're enjoying the beauty of this place. Not to be a Luddite, but sometimes I do NOT enjoy what technology has to offer.

In this follow-up to Ready Player One, Wade and Samantha have split both as a couple and over ideological differences. James Halliday left another piece of cutting edge technology that Wade discovers (a non-invasive neural interface) and another challenge / Easter egg hunt is set in motion. This one is far more sinister than the first.

Page 62 - "Since the U.S. legal system still insisted on giving corporations even more rights than its citizens, this idiotic lawsuit dragged on for months . . ."

Wade makes this observation when IOI sues him for ownership of GSS, but it seems very apropos to current day life in America. 

Page 91 - "Thanks to the OASIS Neural Interface, your gender and your sexuality were no longer contrained by - or confined to - the physical body you happened to be born into."

Cline's advocacy of gender and sexuality as being individually determined (and flexible) continues in this book. I know he will be seen as a champion by some, but it makes me sad that people reject what God has given them. Again, I see modern-day parallels as people fight to change the gender designation on their own birth certificates. I need compassion and a better understanding.

Page 135 - "It's cool to use the computer, don't let the computer use you . . . . There is a war going on. The battlefield's in the mind. And the prize is the soul." - (Prince glyph)

 

Before I read the "Level Five" section, I loved that Cline started with this quotation from Prince. I'm not familiar with the song, but I recognized the glyph immediately. One of the things I love about Cline's books are the cultural references from the 80s and 90s that I recognize. There are lots of wonderful new references in this book! And a LOT of Prince content. These lyrics also hold a lot of truth in them. The battlefield is in people's minds. And our souls are at stake.

 

Page  264 - "Prince suddenly changes his mind, and says, 'No, no. I was wrong all along. You really should hate yourself for being gay, because God says it's a sin for you to be the person He made you to be . . . '"

When Aech says this, she's working through her own angst as a lesbian character. It's a misconception that God wants anyone to hate themselves. He wants holiness and wholeness. This is quite likely also a misconception of Prince's choice to join the Jehovah's Witnesses, but I don't really know what that entailed for him.

Page 297 - "Tolkien's work directly inspired the creation of Dungeons & Dragons. And then D&D, in turn, inspired the first generation of videogame designers, who tried to re-create the experience of playing D&D on a computer."

This was interesting to me. It makes sense, but even though I grew up with Tolkien, D&D, and videogames, this connection hadn't occurred to me.

Page 359 - "That was when I realized - those memories of my parents were going to live on forever, along with all of my other memories. Because I was going to live forever. We all were. Every person who had ever put on an ONI headset."

Even if technology could replicate all our memories, feelings, thoughts, etc., the soul of a person is beyond capturing. The desire to be remembered and the desire to have an afterlife . . . some of this cannot be addressed without talking about eternity (and to me, God's design). I've spent some time this week thinking about eternity. My dear friend Connie died last week. She was the same age I am - 55. She did not have children. I believe she trusted in Jesus. I hope to see her in Heaven someday.