'Ready Player Two': Ernest Cline Reveals The Synopsis Of His Sequel Novel [NYCC]

Nine years after author Ernest Cline's nostalgia-drenched, pop culture-obsessed sci-fi novel Ready Player One novel debuted, a sequel is about to arrive. Plot details about the aptly-named Ready Player Two have been kept under lock and key so far, but Cline appeared on a virtual New York Comic Con panel today and finally pulled back the curtain to give readers a sense of what to expect. Check out the full panel, or just read the highlights, below.

Wil Wheaton, who read the audiobook for the first book and will do the same for the sequel, kicked off his conversation with Cline by asking him about his experiences writing the first book, traveling around the world on the press tour, working with Steven Spielberg on the movie adaptation, his DeLorean (which is emblazoned with a Ghostbusters logo), his experiences in virtual reality, and more. Frankly, 99% of the conversation was pure hagiography and navel-gazing.

But finally, at the very end of the panel, Cline was able to share the official description of Ready Player Two, which will be printed on the back of the book:

An unexpected quest. Two worlds at stake. Are you ready?

Days after OASIS founder James Halliday's contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything. Hidden within Halliday's vaults, waiting for his heir to find lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the OASIS a thousand times more wondrous – and addictive – than even Wade dreamed possible.

With it comes a new riddle and a new quest: a last easter egg from Halliday hinting at a mysterious prize. And an unexpected impossible powerful and dangerous new rival awaits – one who will kill millions to get what he wants. Wade's life and the future of the OASIS are again at stake, but this time, the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance. Lovingly nostalgic and wildly original as only Ernest Cline could conceive it, Ready Player Two takes us on another imaginative, fun, action-packed adventure through his beloved virtual universe and jolts us thrillingly into the future once again.

Here's the description of the panel itself:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Ernest Cline returns to Comic Con and kicks off his Ready Player Two virtual book tour appearing for a conversation with Wil Wheaton about Ready Player One—the near-future adventure that inspired Steven Spielberg's blockbuster —and its highly anticipated sequel, Ready Player Two.

The book is available for pre-order now, and hits shelves on November 24, 2020.