'Ready Player Two' Came Out Yesterday, And Critics Say Its A Stinker


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Published 4 years ago

Published 4 years ago

Ready Player Two, Ernest Cline's sequel to his successful, albeit very dorky 2011 novel Ready Player One, released yesterday, and in the opinion of critics on Twitter, it's an affront to literature and the very concept of the English language.

Ready Player One was a sensation upon its release nearly ten years ago and netted a fairly successful film adaptation by Steven Spielberg, but it was not without its critics, who felt Cline's tale was less a novel than a laundry list of pop culture references from the 80s and 90s with a Marty Stu protagonist, making it something of a Gamemaster Anthony fanfiction. From the sequel's excerpts currently going around Twitter, it seems Cline dove even further into that concept this time around.

For starters, the novel opens with an extended riff on how the protagonist wants to be exactly like Marty McFly in Back to the Future.


There is also a passage that features even more pop culture references to things like The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and Tommy Tutone's "867-5309" within 30 words of each other.


Others pointed out a passage wherein Cline's protagonist discovers his love interest is trans but is cool with it because he'd essentially looked at a lot of pornography.


Lastly, there's this passage that namedrops Sonic.exe, suggesting that Cline may be an avid Know Your Meme reader.


This led to a lot of parodies that barely register as parody, dialing the viral prose up just a notch to dunk on Ready Player Two.


No word yet on if Spielberg will attempt to adapt this novel into a film as well, but if he does, it appears he'll have a lofty task ahead of him.


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