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.

Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline
Scott County Library paperback 372 pages
genre: SciFi, dystopian future
published 2011

I had enjoyed the movie so much that I finally got the book to read! Typically, I'm adamant about reading the book first before watching the movie . . . and in this case, my original affinity for the movie made me really notice the differences in the book! My daughter-in-law Angela loved the book for that exact reason - she read it before seeing the movie and prefers it.

In essence, the story isn't different, but the movie specifics are extremely different! From the first key to the last, (and even some basic character issues such as when Art3mis and Parzival meet face to face), the book and movie are radically different.

Okay, enough with that! You get the point. I'm not entirely sure why this story resonates so strongly with me. I don't really enjoy video games. I definitely love the 80s pop culture references. I always love the David and Goliath aspect of the underdogs winning. This was a debut novel for Cline and it makes me curious to read his next book, Armada.

I only marked two places. One was disappointing to me. Early in the book when we're becoming acquainted with Wade Watts, the protagonist, he says, "The whole God thing is actually an ancient fairy tale that people have been telling one another for thousands of years. We made it all up. Like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny." It's telling, though, that the one human being that Wade actually respects, cares about, and responds to is Mrs. Gilmore. "She was a sweet old lady in her mid-seventies, and she always seemed to get up ridiculously early. . . . Mrs. G. was super-religious and spent most of her time in the OASIS, sitting in the congregation of one of those big online megachurches, singing hymns, listening to sermons, and taking virtual tours of the Holy Land. . . . She was always praying for me too. Trying her hardest to save my soul. I never had the heart to tell her that I thought organized religion was a total crock. It was a pleasant fantasy that gave her hope and kept her going . . . "

The other spot made me smile and wonder if Wil Wheaton has read the book and how he responded. On page 201, it says, "It was also time to elect the president and VP of the OASIS User Council, but that was a no-brainer. Like most gunters, I voted to reelect Cory Doctorow and Wil Wheaton (again). There were no term limits, and those two geezers had been doing a kick-ass job of protecting user rights for over a decade." (The preceding paragraphs on the pointlessness of the U.S. government elections are pretty depressing.) "The once-great country into which I'd been born now resembled its former self in name only. It didn't matter who was in charge. Those people were rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic and everyone knew it."

This was a fascinating book and worth a re-read at some point. I'd love to talk with Angela about it sometime.

 

<I wrote the above 6.19.2021. Less than a year later, I recently re-read it and re-watched the movie . . . more on that below!>

 

I marked a few spots that are different from the ones above. When Ogden Morrow is being interviewed about Halliday's contest (page 118), he goes off on IOI.

". . . The last thing Jim would have wanted is for his creation to fall into the hands of a fascist multinational conglomerate like IOI."

"Mr. Morrow, IOI owns this network . . . "

"Of course they do!" Morrow shouted gleefully. "They own practically everything! Including you, pretty boy! I mean, did they tattoo a UPC code on your ass when they hired you to sit there and spout their corporate propaganda?"

The reporter began to stutter, glancing nervously at something off camera.

"Quick!" Morrow said. "You better cut me off before I say anything else!" He broke up into gales of laughter just as the network cut his satellite feed.

This is so close to truth that it's almost scary . . . Big companies have tremendous amounts of power. 

I also marked the spot where Wade decides to force himself to exercise so he doesn't get too heavy (picture the humans in "Wall-E"). "So I made a snap decision and enabled the voluntary OASIS fitness lockout software on my rig. I'd regretted it almost immediately." Here's the page . . . again, this seems so true to life. Some of the technologies in this book are futuristic and some are real now. I ***almost*** wish I had the ability to have technology force me to get some exercise . . .

 

Watching the movie again made me decide that I like some things about the book better and some things about the movie better. I could see me doing a VENN diagram of the differences and similarities . . . but I won't!

I now have Cline's Ready Player Two from the library. I've heard awful reviews, but still plan to read it!

<Below added 10.25.25>

I listened to the audiobook. Wil Wheaton was the narrator . . . so he's definitely "in" on the joke. It makes me think about his appearances on The Big Bang Theory. His adult career seems closely linked to his childhood role on ST: TNG. After writing that, I had to check. He was fifteen years old when he came on the show as Wesley Crusher and 21 when he left. In any case . . . 

I enjoyed the story, though the skepticism about God's existence still bothered me. I'm ready to return this audiobook and move on!