Has anyone read this sequel book yet?

Just recently released and I got a signed copy at Barnes and Noble over the weekend, so haven't cracked it open yet. Looks like plenty of 80s pop culture references to help the story along again--

partial description from Den of Geek:

Aren't those the same 7 Princes depicted in the baffling "7" music video?

steakfinger said:

Aren't those the same 7 Princes depicted in the baffling "7" music video?

Nah. Although I think he should've had Purple Rain Prince in there, and even the "Raspberry Beret" or "Glam Slam" Prince in there.

1. Sexy MF (half-heart jumper)
2. Diamonds and Pearls (Thunder)
3. The Morning Papers
4. something with a sombero type hat
5. Sexy MF (with Troye's pearl jacket)
6. My Name is Prince (chain hat)

Just caught wind of how much Prince plays in this novel. So will check it out.

I am very CURIOUS that if a film adaptation is to be made and how that is going to go over with the Estate. It would probably be lucrative. One the one hand, this would most certainly introduce Prince to a massive audience....on the other, not sure how Prince community will feel about him being CGId

Very cool. Love Steve Speilberg, but hated Ready Player One, but this one I would love to see. The writer comes off as an even bigger fan than all of us.

Totally disagree. I just finished it, it is so so dumb. To me, it feels like the writer spent a couple of minutes on the web and Youtube watching the well-known music videos but that's about it as far as research goes. He wanted to repurpose Prince (now deceased and unable to object) for a dumb end-of-level videogame boss battle and so cherry picked a few bullshit details to zero in on, but it is all surface and so inauthentic.

There's no understanding of Prince or his fanbase IMHO. For example, Prince fans would never name a Prince themed world "The Afterworld" after the Let's Go Crazy intro. I guess that's a lyric that the mainstream might be aware of, but it's not something fans ever latched onto, and it never reappeared elsewhere in Prince's canon. We'd be more likely to name it "Paisley Park" or "Digital Garden" or "The Dawn" or even just "Uptown". Also would we ever be so literal has to have an actual red Corvette you can only drive if you're wearing a raspberry-coloured beret, bought from a five-and-dime where you have to enter through the out door? Fuck off with that shit. Purple spaceships on the roof of Paisley Park? This whole thing was like a whistle-stop tour through a Prince themed Disneyland.

So many other details are like... sort-of right, but just a bit off. He refers to the HS Anderson Madcat - sure, but Prince's guitar was known as a Hohner, no one except guitar nerds are aware of who actually manufactured the original, it says Hohner on the headstock after all. This is what happens when using Google for your research, you're getting the right facts but it's the wrong thing to focus on. Also some mistakes of course, the white cloud guitar has a gold symbol on the body apparently, and on it goes.

Let's be honest, Prince would probably have hated the Oasis. The thought of him singing "happy birthday" to Kira, one of its co-creators, is laughable. Any of the moments where Prince speaks is just totally unrecognisable. Imagine 7 Prince incarnations holding hands and dancing about while bellowing boss-battle threats at some kids... lol, so dumb.

There are lots of details, but all of it is either weirdly off-kilter or basic or such bizarre choices that it doesn't feel sincere. It feels like Ernest Cline spent a bit of time on the web putting together a profile of things to mention, but actually never gave two hoots about Prince or his music. If we ever have a virtual world to celebrate Prince's work, I'd hope we do a better job

ian said:

Totally disagree. I just finished it, it is so so dumb. To me, it feels like the writer spent a couple of minutes on the web and Youtube watching the well-known music videos but that's about it as far as research goes. He wanted to repurpose Prince (now deceased and unable to object) for a dumb end-of-level videogame boss battle and so cherry picked a few bullshit details to zero in on, but it is all surface and so inauthentic.

There's no understanding of Prince or his fanbase IMHO. For example, Prince fans would never name a Prince themed world "The Afterworld" after the Let's Go Crazy intro. I guess that's a lyric that the mainstream might be aware of, but it's not something fans ever latched onto, and it never reappeared elsewhere in Prince's canon. We'd be more likely to name it "Paisley Park" or "Digital Garden" or "The Dawn" or even just "Uptown". Also would we ever be so literal has to have an actual red Corvette you can only drive if you're wearing a raspberry-coloured beret, bought from a five-and-dime where you have to enter through the out door? Fuck off with that shit. Purple spaceships on the roof of Paisley Park? This whole thing was like a whistle-stop tour through a Prince themed Disneyland.

So many other details are like... sort-of right, but just a bit off. He refers to the HS Anderson Madcat - sure, but Prince's guitar was known as a Hohner, no one except guitar nerds are aware of who actually manufactured the original, it says Hohner on the headstock after all. This is what happens when using Google for your research, you're getting the right facts but it's the wrong thing to focus on. Also some mistakes of course, the white cloud guitar has a gold symbol on the body apparently, and on it goes.

Let's be honest, Prince would probably have hated the Oasis. The thought of him singing "happy birthday" to Kira, one of its co-creators, is laughable. Any of the moments where Prince speaks is just totally unrecognisable. Imagine 7 Prince incarnations holding hands and dancing about while bellowing boss-battle threats at some kids... lol, so dumb.

There are lots of details, but all of it is either weirdly off-kilter or basic or such bizarre choices that it doesn't feel sincere. It feels like Ernest Cline spent a bit of time on the web putting together a profile of things to mention, but actually never gave two hoots about Prince or his music. If we ever have a virtual world to celebrate Prince's work, I'd hope we do a better job

its not a prince video game. or adventure fantasy novel. its not made by the estate. its not even that prince comic from the early 90s. he can kind of do it as he wants really. who cares if prince fans would have named it any of those names, he made it what he wanted. like fan fiction.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

ian said:

Totally disagree. I just finished it, it is so so dumb. To me, it feels like the writer spent a couple of minutes on the web and Youtube watching the well-known music videos but that's about it as far as research goes. He wanted to repurpose Prince (now deceased and unable to object) for a dumb end-of-level videogame boss battle and so cherry picked a few bullshit details to zero in on, but it is all surface and so inauthentic.

There's no understanding of Prince or his fanbase IMHO. For example, Prince fans would never name a Prince themed world "The Afterworld" after the Let's Go Crazy intro. I guess that's a lyric that the mainstream might be aware of, but it's not something fans ever latched onto, and it never reappeared elsewhere in Prince's canon. We'd be more likely to name it "Paisley Park" or "Digital Garden" or "The Dawn" or even just "Uptown". Also would we ever be so literal has to have an actual red Corvette you can only drive if you're wearing a raspberry-coloured beret, bought from a five-and-dime where you have to enter through the out door? Fuck off with that shit. Purple spaceships on the roof of Paisley Park? This whole thing was like a whistle-stop tour through a Prince themed Disneyland.

So many other details are like... sort-of right, but just a bit off. He refers to the HS Anderson Madcat - sure, but Prince's guitar was known as a Hohner, no one except guitar nerds are aware of who actually manufactured the original, it says Hohner on the headstock after all. This is what happens when using Google for your research, you're getting the right facts but it's the wrong thing to focus on. Also some mistakes of course, the white cloud guitar has a gold symbol on the body apparently, and on it goes.

Let's be honest, Prince would probably have hated the Oasis. The thought of him singing "happy birthday" to Kira, one of its co-creators, is laughable. Any of the moments where Prince speaks is just totally unrecognisable. Imagine 7 Prince incarnations holding hands and dancing about while bellowing boss-battle threats at some kids... lol, so dumb.

There are lots of details, but all of it is either weirdly off-kilter or basic or such bizarre choices that it doesn't feel sincere. It feels like Ernest Cline spent a bit of time on the web putting together a profile of things to mention, but actually never gave two hoots about Prince or his music. If we ever have a virtual world to celebrate Prince's work, I'd hope we do a better job

its not a prince video game. or adventure fantasy novel. its not made by the estate. its not even that prince comic from the early 90s. he can kind of do it as he wants really. who cares if prince fans would have named it any of those names, he made it what he wanted. like fan fiction.

Of course. It's crap though.

jaawwnn said:

Ready Player One is definitely in the top 5 worst written books i have ever read so good to know nothing has changed in book two. I thought the film was alright for what it was though.

<SPOILERS for Ready Player Two>

Clearly I'm in the minority, but I LOVED the Prince chapters in Ready Player Two! I thought they were very fun, clearly well-researched, and referenced pretty obscure parts of Prince's career. Remembering that the story is told from the perspective of kids/young adults who lived 50 years in the future, it was great seeing H geek out over Prince, and chastise her friends for not knowing enough about Prince.

I also loved that it was steeped in the lore of the 3 Chains O' Gold VHS movie - pretty obscure for the typical reader.

It's funny - I was thinking I wasn't enjoying RP2 as much as Ready Player One, because the quests go way deeper in depth on a single subject (John Hughes movies, Tolkien's novels), but then the Prince chapter came up and I though "I could read 12 more of these!".

It's a bubble-gum book, but I found it lots of fun and a nice tribute to Prince.

BTW, the likelihood that this will be made into a movie is pretty low, considering the tepid reception of Spielberg's movie (which I found to be not as good as the book). Even if they do, they might change the quests due to rights issues. They did that in the first movie... So I doubt we'll ever see Prince on the bigscreen....

ian said: