Ready Player Two
This year in honor of Science Fiction Day, we will be covering Ready Player Two, the sequel to Ernest Cline's hit book.
Following the events of Ready Player One, our heroes the High Five now rule Gregarious Games and The Oasis. True to his word, winner Parcival split his prize among his closest friends, who, through their ownership of the world's largest online game, essentially rule the de facto world. Drunk off the near unlimited power he now possesses in-game, Parcival discovers clues to a new scavenger hunt, centered on a piece of technology he discovered called ONI. The original creator of The Oasis innovated but never released the ONI, a version of the advanced visor players use to interact with The Oasis, but which provides neural feedback as well, unsafe to use after extended periods.
Parcival sees the ONI headsets as a new way to improve the game, becoming even more rich and powerful, but his fellow shareholder and girlfriend Samantha objects. Parcival presses on, releasing the headset to the masses, along with a new threat: Anorak, the mysterious avatar of James Holliday who oversaw the previous scavenger hunt for control of The Oasis, is now sentient and delirious with power. He steals Parcival's control of The Oasis and threatens the world's population by not letting anyone log out of the game unless Parcival completes the new scavenger hunt. And thus, a new race is out to figure out Holliday's actual last mystery and save the world in the process.
Fans of the original book and its movie adaptation have a lot in store, as Ready Player Two also features an assortment of pop culture references. Here, fans are treated to more video game lingo and chances to explore new worlds, including James R. R. Tolkien's Middle Earth and a whole planet dedicated to rock legend Prince. Reviews of the book were mixed this time around, but most reviewers concurred that fans of the original book will generally also like the sequel.
Of course, since the first book got its own movie adaptation, fans have wondered if the sequel will also grace the cinema in the future. Rest assured, Warner Bros. is in works to adapt the book to film, with Steven Spielburg back as producer. So far the film is without a release date, though hopefully we don't have to wait too much longer.
Looking for something else? As always, the St. Tammany Parish Library is happy to offer access to our online catalog, opens a new window for more information on this and other topics.
Happy gunting!
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