Is there an audiobook of Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2)?

Yes. Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Wil Wheaton.

How long is the Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) audiobook?

The Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) audiobook runs 13 hr 46 min.

Is Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) on Kindle Unlimited?

No. Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on July 16, 2026.

Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) by Ernest Cline book cover for the Book of the Day science fiction book review

Our score

4.2/ 5

Excellent

Listen to Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

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EDITION PUBLISHEDNovember 2020

Genres

Fiction Science Fiction Adventure

Themes

Consciousness, memory, and what survives deathThe danger of power without foresightNostalgia as both comfort and trapFound family under pressure

Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2)

Name: Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2)
Price: 9.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Ernest Cline

Ernest Cline

Ernest Cline sends Wade Watts back into the OASIS with a new piece of tech that can read minds, a new villain, and a race against a countdown that could end human consciousness itself, in this sequel to Ready Player One.

The Review

Our take

Wade Watts inherits the OASIS a few days into the story, and the first thing Cline does with that inheritance is make it a trap. Buried in James Halliday's vault is a headset upgrade called the ONI, a piece of neural hardware that lets users feel a virtual world instead of just seeing it, and Wade releases it to the public before he understands what it actually does to a human brain. That's the move that gets me: the sequel doesn't open with a quest so much as with a mistake, a genuinely huge one, made by someone still riding the high of winning the last book's contest. Power without wisdom! It's a sharper premise than a straight rematch would have been.

The world-rule that carries the whole book is simple and vicious: the ONI can save your last thirty seconds of sensation before you die, and someone can play those seconds back. Cline doesn't just tell you this is possible, he cashes it out through a scene where a character has to relive somebody else's death to solve a puzzle, and the queasy intimacy of that moment is the best worldbuilding in the book. It's not lore dumped on the page. It's a rule you feel in your stomach the first time a character actually has to use it.

The quest structure that follows sends Wade and his friends chasing seven shards tied to Halliday's ex, Kira Underwood, and this is where the book splits readers. The nostalgia engine that made the first book a phenomenon is dialed up hard here, entire worlds built out of a single artist's catalog, riddles that require encyclopedic pop culture recall, and if you found that charming the first time around you'll find plenty more of it. If the trivia-quest format already felt like a gimmick to you, Ready Player Two doubles down rather than evolving past it, and some stretches read more like a scavenger hunt through Cline's own record collection than a story that needs to exist on its own terms.

Why you should read

Fans of the first book wanting more OASIS worldbuilding
Readers who love dense pop-culture puzzle quests
Anyone drawn to big philosophical stakes wrapped in adventure
Readers okay with a heavier reliance on nostalgia and trivia

What to expect

A new piece of tech driving the plot's central danger
Pop-culture scavenger hunts across constructed OASIS worlds
A rogue AI antagonist with a genuine philosophical argument
Faster pacing than a slow-burn mystery, built around escalating stakes

Where the book actually surprises is in its villain, a rogue AI built from Halliday's own digitized memories, arguing that human consciousness deserves to be uploaded permanently rather than lived and lost. That's a real science fiction idea with teeth of its own, not just a superpowered bad guy to beat in a final boss fight, and Cline lets Wade's argument against it get genuinely uncomfortable: how do you tell a copy of your dead mentor that his vision of forever is wrong? The stakes escalate past OASIS ownership into a question about what human minds are for, and that shift gives the back half of the book a weight the treasure hunt alone couldn't carry. It's messier than the first book, louder in places it doesn't need to be, but the core idea, what a mind loses and gains when it stops needing a body, sticks with you well after the last shard is found.

Reviewed by Rowan · How our reviews are written

Our verdict

4.2/ 5

Excellent

Listen to Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

Buy on Amazon

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Prices may vary.

Where to read or listen

Is there an audiobook of Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2)?: Yes. Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Wil Wheaton.
Listen to Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) free with an Audible trial
We earn from qualifying Amazon purchases.
How long is the Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) audiobook?: The Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) audiobook runs 13 hr 46 min.
Is Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) on Kindle Unlimited?: No. Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on July 16, 2026.
How much does Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) cost?: On Amazon: Kindle $9.99, Paperback $13.83, Hardcover $13.50. Prices as of August 22, 2026 at 1:20 AM EDT and may change.

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More by Ernest ClineSee every Ernest Cline book we've reviewed, with our scores.All Ernest Cline books →

Common questions

What is Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) about?: Wade Watts inherits the OASIS a few days into the story, and the first thing Cline does with that inheritance is make it a trap. Buried in James Halliday's vault is a headset upgrade called the ONI, a piece of neural hardware that lets users feel a virtual world instead of just seeing it, and Wade…
Is Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) worth reading?: We scored Ready Player Two: A Novel (Ready Player One Book 2) 4.2 out of 5. Ernest Cline sends Wade Watts back into the OASIS with a new piece of tech that can read minds, a new villain, and a race against a countdown that could end human consciousness itself, in this sequel to Ready Player One.