Because I had a very busy week a wasn't able to finish Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline as fast as I thought I would. So I finished the novel literally 5 minutes ago, but I really wanted to post my review today since I have my other blogposts already planned out. Normally, I give myself some time to think the story over and I wish I did now because wow, this book really left me thinking.
If you've read Ready Player One (or at least seen the film) you'll now the concept of the Oasis. A videogame you can enter via VR glasses with an entire digital universe ready for you to explore. Very futuristic and something I (before I read this book) wish existed. But man, this sequel just takes things somewhere else. It rose questions, at least for me, about the concept of artificial intelligence and if it's something we shouldn't glamourise. But that ending just messed up my mind...
Okay so to explain my thoughts I might spoil some things for you. Be aware of this if you want to keep reading or come back once you've read the novel!
In the first part of the book, we are introduced to ONI. Instead of entering the Oasis via VR, the Oasis can be experienced via your brain. By this, you are able to use your senses and it seems that the entire world comes to life. A weird but fascinating concept, however, Art3mis (or Samantha) is afraid for the dangers to this. While the ONI makes the Oasis even more real, the actual reality/the actual world is falling apart. But people can keep away from this by spending their time in the Oasis. Which is a problem on its own, of course. Besides, leaving your body unattended for 12 hours a day, is also looking for trouble. But as we speed through the first years of the ONI, these problems are 'solved'.
We see how Wade (Parzival) gets addicted to the Oasis, even more than he was before. We see how the entire world gets addicted to this game. And when enough players use the ONI in the Oasis, a new quest gets 'unlocked'. A quest for the Siren's Soul. It takes a while before Wade finds the first shard of the soul and after that everything changes. Unexpectedly it is a modified copy of James Holliday's conscious that f*cks everything over. In the first novel, we saw how a simulation of James Halliday or Anorak gave Wade the control over the Oasis. Yet, in this novel, it is explained that Anorak was able to stay alive even though he should be deleted. He then hacks the Oasis, making it impossible to log out of the ONI system, which is dangerous for their brains. He thus forces Wade to find the other 6 shards and give him the Siren's Soul, which supposedly is the conscious of Karen Underwood or Kira, the deceased wife of Halliday's best friend Ogden Morrow.
This entire concept is already so weird and I found it hard to grasp. Just as I find technology or the entire universe hard to grasp concepts. It goes beyond the limits of human brains. Or so it seems to me.
In the end, everything is resolved. But the book finishes with Parzival concluding the story. Not Wade, Parzival. Because copies of the brains of Wade and Samantha and others are sent off into space. To keep artificial intelligence away from reality. Yet by doing so, these consciousness get 'life', a different life from the people that stayed behind on earth. Which is just so weird to me. I cannot explain how I feel about that. I'm definitely open for discussion if anyone else wants to talk about this.. :D
Okay, so what did I think of the story? I actually don't know. I find it bizarre that Cline was able to create this, these concepts, these worlds. But it is also terrifying to me. For anyone that is interested in science fiction and games, this book is a perfect fit. It is geeky and I loved many of the references to the 80s, especially Lord of the Rings. But I'm not a big fan of the Oasis, not as I was before. Cline goes beyond the mere concept of escapism in my opinion.
The writing of the novel was well done, although I liked Wade's character less than I did before. I also found certain phrases to be repeated a bit too often. And the part on Prince just was too long for my liking. But those are just minor things. I liked the overall story and the insights it gave me on technology. It is weird. I hope you liked my review. I see you soon!
Love,
Julia
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