Will this sequel suck? Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

Most sequels suck for a variety of reasons. Some sequels are too much like the original book and seem pointless. On the other hand, some sequels deviate too far from the original and piss off the fans. Some sequels are rushed because the author wants to publish it while the original is still in the public’s mind, and the sequel comes out poorly written. Some sequels ruin beloved characters established in the first book.

At any rate, it’s tough to write a good sequel.

Now famous author Ernest Cline is writing a sequel to his best selling novel Ready Player One. So far, the title seems to be… Ready Player Two.

The gimmick in Ready Player One was the bombardment of references to 1980s pop culture. I enjoyed the first chapter of Ready Player One because it focused on Robotron, my favorite video game of the early 1980s.

Even though I like Robotron, I didn’t finish reading Ready Player One. And I didn’t see the movie either. I heard the movie didn’t mention Robotron at all.

Despite my distrust of sequels, the writer in me is interested in an author’s perspective in writing one. Below is an excerpt where Ernest Cline discusses writing a sequel to Ready Player One::

*****

The sequel picks up a little over a week after the first book ends. Then there’s a gap of time, but it all kind of flows out of the first story. It’s that trick of a sequel where you don’t want to tell the same exact story again, but you want to give fans similar elements that made the first story a success. I think I successfully did that in a very different story that takes place over a different time span than the first book, but it has all the same characters, and some new characters and I also built on the characters’ backstories, and it also builds on the technology and the world.

Read more at ‘Ready Player Two’ author Ernest Cline on returning to the Oasis .

*****

Now that I think about it, I’m not sure the title Ready Player Two reflects what the sequel will be like. The term ready player two usually means the guy competing with whoever is ready player one. A book titled Ready Player Two would logically be about Ready Player One’s competition. Instead, Ready Player Two seems to have the same protagonist as Ready Player One.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m overthinking it.

What do you think? What makes a good sequel? What makes a bad sequel? Does the title Ready Player Two make sense if the it has the same protagonist as Ready Player One playing a different game?