Ready Player One, the bestselling novel which spawned a blockbuster movie directed by Steven Spielberg, is getting a sequel – and it's now available to pre-order now.
The novel is author Ernest Cline's highly anticipated sequel to his debut novel, which appeared on the New York Times bestsellers list and won several awards as well as getting the Hollywood movie treatment.
Ready Player Two will be published by Penguin Random House UK on November 24 and will initially be available in hardcover book, eBook and audiobook formats, with Waterstones currently offering a hardback signed edition for £20.
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The novel will follow on from Ready Player One, which is set in a dystopian 2045 in which people escape reality by spending time in a huge virtual reality world called the Oasis. Teenager Wade Watts, who in reality lives in a slum, spends most of his time in this world, hunting for an Easter Egg left by the deceased creator of the Oasis, James Halliday.
Whoever finds the Egg will inherit both the founder's fortune and control of the Oasis itself, but they'll need to uncover a series of 80s pop culture clues to succeed.
The book was adapted into a movie by Warner Bros, with Cline co-writing the screenplay and Spielberg directing. The film starred Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Simon Pegg and Ben Mendelsohn and scored critical acclaim and impressive box office takings of almost $600 million worldwide.
No plot details for Ready Player Two have yet been announced but actress Olivia Cooke has revealed that she is contracted to star in a potential film sequel, so her character Art3mis / Samantha could potentially make a reappearance.
Cline has spoken briefly about the sequel before, saying that he has been "very conscious of wanting to write a sequel to my novel that would please fans of the novel but also could serve as the basis for a fun movie".
He added to Den of Geek that the book "will deal with all of the same characters and kind of the situation" but that he will be exploring "other facets of pop culture that I love and not just using the same ones over again".
Details of international publication for Ready Player Two have yet to be announced but Penguin Random House UK says that the book will be published in over 58 countries and more than 37 languages.
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Reporter & Sub-Editor, Digital Spy Susannah is a freelance writer and sub-editor, specialising in the entertainment industry. She graduated in 2014, with a BA in English and American Literature and Creative Writing, and an MA in Creative Producing. She’s been writing for Digital Spy ever since, after first getting involved through work experience, and has written hundreds of stories for the site on a range of topics, from The Sims to Doctor Who. Susannah has also written for Reveal Magazine. Her special interests are soaps (her Mastermind subject would be 2000s Coronation Street), Marvel and Star Wars. She can also quote far too many lines from Friends and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
