That and the star trek episode of black mirror with the creepy AI wife-copying
If there's anything shitheads love, it's being reminded of things they enjoy so they can throw money at it
The book is like a big apology for the things people didn't like about the first one. There's a major character who's trans, Wade is still a huge asshole (but it's on purpose this time), the walls of text referencing things are all gone, and there's even legitimate attempts at themes and symbolism. Still not a good book, but it's the difference between someone who sucks but gets popular without even trying and someone who seems to be trying their best but isn't very good.
I picked up the first one at a thrift store for $2. This was when it was still pretty new and had a decent amount of buzz around it and it had been recommended to me by some coworkers. It was easily one of the wort books I have ever read. Not only was the story terrible but Cline is an absolutely terrible writer. I have no idea why anyone thought that was a good book.
Days after winning OASIS founder James Halliday’s contest, Wade Watts is informed about a new technology that Halliday created and never released to the general public. Called "ONI", this technology allows users to not only experience OASIS with all five senses, but also record their experiences in real life. Wade quickly becomes addicted to the thrills offered by ONI and reveals its existence to the other members of the High Five. Both Shoto and Aech agree to release the product, while Art3mis believes that it would only exacerbate the world's issues by making it easier to escape into the OASIS. She also believes that it is dangerous as using it for longer than 12 hours without a 12 hour rest period can result in severe brain damage The argument over this leads to her and Wade breaking up, particularly after she discovers that he is recording their fight. Sales of ONI skyrocket and Wade greatly withdraws from the world around him, including his remaining friends. He also begins to alienate his fans, due to misuse of his admin abilities and antisocial behaviors. After sales of ONI grow over a certain amount, Wade is notified of a new quest to retrieve the Seven Shards and reconstruct the Siren's Soul. He is unable to find the first shard himself and ends up paying another user, Lo, for help. After retrieving the first Shard, Wade sees a portion of memories, realizing that they belong to Kira, Og's wife with whom Halliday was obsessed. Wade also learns that Halliday created an AI of himself, in the form of his OASIS avatar Anorak. Anorak reveals that he has imprisoned Wade and every OASIS user who is logged in with the ONI hardware - the vast majority of OASIS users - and that any attempts to log out will destroy their brain
the symposis doesnt even make sense and also that is a big sao ripoff if you going to copy the concept change something atlesast for godness sake
:capybara-fancy:
Oh yay, I was just wishing the other day to have the opportunity to read exhaustive lists of pop culture things. This is coming just in time!