On day of release, Ernest Cline's sequel novel Ready Player Two is already getting mocked for not living up to the original's exciting promise. The original, Ready Player One, was Cline's first novel and became a smash hit with fans who loved it's 1980s pop culture references, which were wrapped inside a compelling race-against-time thriller story. It was turned into a movie, written by Cline and Zak Penn, and directed by legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg, and was given middling critical reviews.
The film, while vastly different from the book, was a moderate success thanks to its multiple movie references and exciting plot. One particularly memorable scene recreated the interior of the Overlook Hotel from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, while Spielberg also threw in a number of references to his own 1980s and 1990s classics, including Jurassic Park. Thanks to the film's success, Cline was tapped to write a much-anticipated follow-up novel, titled Ready Player Two, which was released on Tuesday, November 24. Unfortunately for fans of the original, though, it doesn't seem to be a worthy successor to the original, with new excerpts already seeing the light of day on Twitter.
Twitter user Jacob Mercy is one of those reviewing the book on Twitter as they read it, and the excerpts they've posted paint a picture of a very amateurish approach. The obvious and endless references come in for some severe criticism, as well as the fact the book seems to feature a plot almost exactly the same as the original. Wade once again goes on an Easter Egg hunt set by James Halliday. The tweet thread, which you can see below, has got a lot of attention, with other readers chiming in with their thoughts on the sequel.
The excerpts posted on the thread certainly do make it look as if Cline merely went through the motions with the book, a disappointing revelation for people who have been so eagerly anticipating the sequel, hoping it would be a worthy follow-up to the original, able to capture the nostalgic spirit of Ready Player One while properly expanding on the universe created by Cline. Sadly, this doesn't seem to be the case, and makes one wonder if the book is poorly received, whether a sequel movie, which original star Tye Sheridan has said he's keen to return for, will even get green lit.
It's a sad state of affairs, as, even though many fans balked at Spielberg's simplified movie adaptation of the first novel, there was a great deal of anticipation surrounding a potential sequel. Of course, a few bad reviews on Twitter don't guarantee the book will be seen as a failure, but based on the extracts which have been released, it's fair to say Ready Player Two doesn't hold a candle to its predecessor. If the sequel is made into a movie, hopefully it will attract talent who can improve its story during the adaptation process.
Source: Jacob Mercy/Twitter