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I'll be honest, I had no idea Ready Player Two had even existed until just a few days ago. When I did, I thought it was fake, a joke perhaps. But surprisingly, it wasn't. I was initially skeptical. RPO was one of my favorite novels to date, and on my top 10 list for favorite movies as well. Thus, it was difficult to believe that the sequel would be able to top such a well-written book. And not surprisingly, it didn't. However, that is not to say that RPT was not a good book. As a matter of fact, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and finished it in roughly two days. **Spoilers** The thing about RPT is that ultimately the book separated from the path that RPO had taken. RPO took a more realistic perspective, one in which issues in our society made its way into the novel. I personally had no problem with it. In fact, I tended to agree with most of Cline's opinions that he had cleverly initiated into his book. There were several similarities however. The vast amount of 80's pop culture references carried onto to RPOs predecessor, and I have to say, I enjoy most of them. The big reason why I find it difficult to rate this title 5 stars is simply because of its older brother, RPO. I knew it from the start, and when I closed the book, I was right. It was going to be difficult to try and write a novel that was on the same level of Ready Player One. However, it came close, and I think a 4 star is ultimately what it deserves. The novel was spread out in a way that I considered even. Some parts seemed abrupt (some a little too so), while others were filled with detail and elongated (once again, some a little too long). But it evened out in the end, and an equilibrium was established. That's the biggest thing I enjoy about Ernest Cline. He manages to establish a balance that he disrupts mildly throughout the novel, and the way he does so is so... elegant. In response to the several, extremely negative reviews I've been seeing, I find it somewhat interesting. The biggest complaint seems to be about the way Cline addresses issues such as gender, and attempts to sugarcoat Wade's acts and what ultimately defines Halliday as a sociopath. These reader think that Cline attempts to shove his views on the LGBT community down their throat, when really, it's quite the opposite. Not only are there a minimal amount of character who define themselves as LGBT, but I can confidently say that Cline does not try to shove their gender down the reader's throat, or try to gain the reader's praise. In fact he only mentions a character's gender when they are introduced, which I believe is completely necessary to form a relationship with the character. In parts which Ernest wrote about Wade feeling relatively confused about his gender, I found that more humorous than an insult to the LGBT community. Another thing people seem to be complaining about is the plot of technology taking over humanity. They complain that it is unoriginal, or boring because they've seen similar plots everywhere. In my opinion, Cline managed to make this seemingly "unoriginal" plot into something that I was fixated on. He made it... interesting. And that, in itself was exciting, because it's obviously very difficult to write a non-boring story about robots attempting to take over society. All in all, a great read, and one that I will definitely be enjoying again in the near future. :)