#like i said before i really have to get better at 1v1 ing with all supports

[bam-monsterhospital]

if you’re playing ana and you keep getting sniped by pharah the entire match, with no help from your team despite pointing her out, i find it helps if you go into chat and try to play the mom guilt card ;u;

[puredivinity]

—chemistry; eren jaeger

❣︎ very, very self-indulgent. not sorry <3, also unedited.

❣︎ warnings: nsfw (18+), explicit language, fem!reader, eren is a little shit but we love him <3, ch*mistry

❣︎ word count: 2.4k

❣︎ eren’s masterlist

Zoom classes are the worst. Well, you’d argue that all classes are the worst, but these in particular? Terrible.

Especially when you’re just listening to a teacher drone on and on about various things, like their day, their life, and worst of all, chemistry. The damned subject that you dreaded logging on for. The subject that made you want to throw your entire laptop out of the window where it’d land on an unsuspecting pedestrian. Yeah.

Fuck that.

Professor Ackerman was explaining something about the structure of atoms, and you dozed off more and more as time went by. You couldn’t care less about atoms, where they come from, their make-up, and whatever the fuck else he had to say about the periodic table. You’d tried to take notes while he was talking, but had given up on that quite a long time ago. Your pen sat flat on the almost blank sheet of notebook paper, save for the half-assed title of the notes.

 Luckily for you, your camera was off so no one could really tell that you weren’t paying attention - or rather, had completely distanced yourself from your computer. Your chair creaked as you leaned back and pushed your headphone in your ear, closing your eyes while you relaxed to the soft tunes of the audio playing. There were several things you’d much rather be doing right now: Sleeping, eating, finishing, Unsolved Mysteries, and various other things, including your boyfriend. 

Speaking of him, he was in the room opposite you. The two rooms shared a wall, so you could always hear what he’s up to over there. You popped a headphone out of your ear and quickly muted your computer, soon picking up the sounds of Eren playing Overwatch. He never did plug in headphones to his computer - to your dismay - instead opting to have the volume on full blast while he did whatever he did. That often bled into your class time and every time you’d unmute your microphone, your classmates and professor would hear either the boring voice of his professor or when he wasn’t in class, him yelling at the TV or one of his friends.

Eren got a little enthusiastic when playing video games, and now that you were in an apartment, it caused more of an issue. He had a tendency to be quite vocal, regardless of what he’d been doing. Singing in the shower, cleaning (when you forced him), talking on the phone, playing games, everything. Any and everything you could think of, Eren would probably find a way to be loud while doing it. That, and how to cause a problem. He wasn’t a child, but the man sure knew how to cause a ruckus and look good while doing it.

I mean, you couldn’t really say much either. You had your moments where you didn’t use an inside voice, just like he did. You know, when you’d gotten a problem wrong, stubbed your toe, played a horror game and got scared - which Eren laughed at you for - or when he was hitting the spots that made your vision go blank. So you know, same boat. 

As you sat there, your mind wandered and the professor’s voice became more and more distant as time passed. You’d drifted into your own la-la-land, sinking further into your plush desk chair. The memories of the previous night worked their way to the forefront of your mind, outshining all other potential thoughts. The two of you had a competition last night, trying to see who could hold out for the longest while 1v1-ing in Overwatch, using Widow. It was a rather intense game of self-control and neither of you could really keep it to yourselves; when you flicked his nose, your hand lingered for a second too long, or your eyes lingered where they shouldn’t. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see Eren’s mischievous stare dissipate for a brief moment when he snuck a fast glance at your cleavage, because of the tank top you were wearing. Both of you opted to wear rather revealing clothes to rile up the other. Well, it was partially for this, but also because your house was a literal sauna.

But—it worked. You were ready to give up before Eren - him being the daredevil he was - but he’d broken before you, giving you the victory. Once you’d raised a triumphant fist in the air after winning, you’d noticed that Eren wasn’t doing his usual complaints about the match in its entirety, typically saying things like, “I wanna go again,” or “Babe that’s not fair, you cheated.”

Instead, you’d spun around to find him eyeing you up and down, licking his lips. A prominent bulge was visible through the thin fabric of his basketball shorts since he hadn’t worn underwear for the occasion. And neither had you. Both of you wanted to be easily accessible for the other, not wanting to waste too much time given that you were already fired up to begin with. Neither of you really had the time to waste  - you were far too impatient for that. You just wanted to fuck, and fast.

The quicker the better, he’d say.

“Congrats, babe. You win,” Eren gave you a soft round of applause once he’d finished. “I lose,” he stood up from his place on the couch, stalking toward you. Warm hands came to rest on your waist and tugged you forward, coming face to face with him. He grinned at you, admiring the astonished but intrigued look in your eye. “I think you deserve a reward for that, don’t you?”

Absolutely. 

You didn’t need to say that; the way you melted into him told everything. To him, your body language said everything words couldn’t, and he was more than fine with that. You fucked on the couch that night because you were too needy to make it up the stairs. Not that anyone complained, you know.

The recollection of the prior night made you touch your lips in remembrance and a delightful thrill to slide down your spine. Maybe that’s why you were so tired - no, you knew that was why. You slept for four hours because Eren kept you up. But hey, you had one hell of a time. You squeezed your thighs together, suddenly noticing the influx of heat down there. 

Fuck, you thought. You’re in the middle of class - one that you’re not too focused on - and you’re horny. Eren’s playing a game and you didn’t want to bother him - but alas, you couldn’t help yourself. Pausing your music, you plucked your headphones from your ear and set them on the table, double checking that your camera was off before you swiftly exited the room. As you approached Eren’s room, you could hear the clacking of a controller get louder and louder. Blue LED lighting peeked out from the crack in the open door, bleeding into the hallway. You gently pushed it open and poked your head inside, observing the scene in front of you.

Eren was indeed playing Overwatch, currently in the middle of a quick play game. He had his headset on and was wearing just shorts and a lightweight jacket he’d had since you’d known him. His phone was toward the head of his bed, forgotten since he’d been playing. You assumed he was playing with Armin or Jean, since they were usually who he’d be grouped up with. And Jean also was who he’d screech at constantly.

“Babe,” you whispered, trying to catch Eren’s attention. It rarely worked, especially when he had his headphones on, but you didn’t want to yell and tell the others you were there. Jean would probably make some joke about the two of you fucking, which was exactly your plan, but you didn’t want to let him know that, of course. He’d never let either of you live it down. Eren didn’t really give a shit.

As you’d expected, Eren didn’t hear you. 

“Babe,” you called, pushing the door open some more to reveal your figure. You rubbed your legs together, fully stepping in the room and closing the door behind you. 

Upon noticing you, Eren pulled back one side to free his ear, so he could hear what you needed. “Yeah?”

“I’m horny,” you said, snorting at how Eren dropped the controller; ready to get to work before he stopped. 

“Aren’t you in the middle of class though?”

“Yeah, but my professor is rambling on about atoms. Well, at least he was before I stopped listening.”

Eren playfully rolled his eyes and chuckled, double checking that it muted him before he patted his lap, urging you to come sit. You straddled his lap and draped your arms over his shoulders, and his hands squeezed your thighs.

“But wait,” you paused and your eyes flickered to the TV and back to Eren. “What about your friends? The game?” 

Eren had already buried his face in your neck and had planted light kisses on it before you spoke. “They can wait,” His words vibrated against the flesh, muffling them slightly. His teeth nibbled on your collarbone and you gasped; able to feel Eren smirk against you. Cold hands wormed their way up your shirt, brushing your warm skin. Fingers curled around the hem of your shirt and tugged upward, prompting you to lift your arms for easier removal. He tossed the fabric to the floor, where it lie soon to be forgotten alongside your underwear. 

Eren leaned forward to capture you in a hungry kiss, swallowing your moans as he rubbed two fingers along your folds. Your hips involuntarily rutted against the digits, trying to create more friction and gain more pleasure. A needy whine slipped from your lips and your hands moved to grip his shoulders, pleading with him to stop teasing you. 

While he slipped two digits inside of your hole, your hand flew down to palm him through the thin fabric of his shorts. You rocked against his fingers while he rutted against your hand. His teeth nipped at your bottom lip and took the flesh between them. “Eren,” you breathed once you’d pulled away from the intense kiss. “Fuck me.”

Eren wasted absolutely no time, tugging down his shorts enough for his hard cock to spring free. And in one swift motion, he buried himself deep inside your walls. You moaned in tandem with his movements, his cock slowly sliding in and allowing you to feel him. Every inch of him. “Fuuck,” he groaned, looking up at your pleasure-filled face. “You feel so fucking good, Princess.”

“So. Fucking. Good,” He stressed each word with a quick jerk of his hips, breathy gasps falling from his parted lips. You took a pert nipple between your index and thumb fingers and gave it gentle squeezes and pulls to add to the pleasure you were already feeling. Eren’s other hand moved from its place on your steady hips, down to your clit, and began pinching and rubbing it. “Shit,” you whined, hips jerking with every pinch. 

Eren pulled you down, so you hovered over him and shifted to get a better angle. One hand continued their work on your clit while the other gave rough slaps to your ass, which echoes throughout the room. “You look so fucking hot babe,” He said and licked his lips. His words only edged you further and further, and he could tell they worked by the way you clenched him. “‘M gonna-“ You silenced him by sealing your lips to his again.

He responded to his by grinding into you and flipping you over on your back, never breaking the kiss while the two of you got situated. His hand slid underneath your knee and pushed it up toward your chest, exposing more of you to him. A quick rush of his hips led him to a rhythm, and he held it, plunging deeper and deeper inside. His mouth muffled the cries that tried to fall from you, instead swallowing them. You rutted against him with fervor, wanting - no, needing - him to go faster.

Luckily for you, he took the hint. 

You broke away from the kiss to let out a loud cry as Eren anchored himself, driving further in your core. His balls pounded against your ass as he continued and your hand shot out to bury itself in his brown locks. You twirled a couple strands around your finger, giving them quite the pull and relishing in the moan that came from the man above. He loved getting his hair played with. 

“Eren,” you cried, feeling the knot in your stomach preparing to burst. “I’m gonna cum, baby. I’m gonna cum so fucking- Oh!” You’d been stopped midway by another harsh thrust of encouragement from Eren, which was enough to send you toppling over the edge. A lightning bolt shot through your veins from top to bottom and your toes curled, back arching off the bed as your body convulsed from the impact of your orgasm. Eren pulled out and stroked himself a few times to get him there, hot and sticky ropes splattering on your belly.

The two of you sat there for a moment and your heavy, labored breathing filled the room, shushing the sounds of the still on TV. You hadn’t noticed that you’d drifted off until the gentle swiping of a tissue on your stomach pulled you back in. Eren finished cleaning up the mess and sluggishly yanked his shorts up to toss the dirtied tissue in the bin beside the door, soon returning to your side in the bed.

“Fuck chemistry.” You mumbled and wrapped yourself in Eren’s duvet. 

“I agree,” He responded, snuggling up to you, planting a light kiss to your sweat covered forehead. Eren licked his lips afterward and scrunched his face up at the bitter taste, making you giggle quietly. 

For a moment, the room was quiet until your ears picked up snickering and laughter from Eren’s headphones. “Babe,” you nudged him. “Do you hear that?”

Eren strained his ears for a moment to listen, immediately shooting up once he realized what it was. He turned his controller back on and pressed the home button, clicking over to the ‘Party' section, only to find out that he, of course, was not muted.

“Fuck me,” Eren groaned and scrambled to turn off his PS4.

“Agreed.”

[throwingideasatthewall]

Clone Wars     Shadow      Warriors

            Seas 4

Oh    this-   just    screams      edgy        ...   Whelp

So is Jar      Jar an     adult,       now,?            (Asking because before his    characteri         zation was force of nature to child

Now he    seems to have his own    personality.

Which is fine   if you want to change some details for the sake of a    better story,      (Or to simply      explore         a new       angle,).    Aesthetic

     Just.            need to make sure I’m holding them to the right standard,

    Okay,

   That-         was    relatively     adult,

  Mm

   Um.

   I

 Aight        .           .       Well-

   Wait 

    Did they just call Jar Jar     away from      Cou-ncil-

    .         I mean they are clearly    trying       which          is   some thing       I do       give credit   for-

   Though                The             Tone              Is            Robot-                 Ic-

       (Though that might be int-         entional since it seems to be hinting that this lady is practicing some kind of         mind tricks on him

   (Aka, he’s doing it         under           tox, because we don’t do suspension of choice in     dra-         mat         ic       Me-     -dia,

 S’up

 What?

  I-

  -

   H-elp

Screw my own   accou-   -ntability     -      See that was the correct   -amount of   emotion-

.        Okay        -         Right-

  Sus-       (pic)

    No one noticed the obvious people right there?

  Like not even      Mr. sus         there?

[or are they just so    kind that it’s like   oh yeah we were just talking hate speech     but go right ahead?

Logic?

 There

  Yeah    some shit is definitely going on,

   For sake of argument*     sake, i’m just going to assume that his reaction to      toxic    behavior

*Account     ability-

 Any way

  I-

  I’m still      going to try,

  Despite  you clearly saying you want understood

   Because assumed authority        - and assuming you know better than a person about themselves

     Is totally ok-

     - In this         society

-[Cries        in       sad    “accountability,”     -of-      war,        ]

  Whelp,

  In-    flue-     n      -c      e

 Still an  adult-

  Okay-

 Imagine    it was just a normal necklace     and he pulled that shit-

[Ok for the sake of argument I’m going to assume the necklace is symbolism for toxic influence,

  Being around it         enabling]

  It-         -       His voice voice dropped like         - 6 octaves

     Also I swear if they try to   excuse him      for his actions-

     No

    Mind over matter     -Okay, so they’re not excusing him for his   -actions,

   Me-          an         -       OK so it’s not naturally evil it    just comes down to the users      so that dude was still totally responsible,

  Didn’t    change    - much

    -     Ha-Ha

  Actual     gas     -lighting”

    Also     persuade,            -             Okay,     good not excusing him       from his actions,      -      Thing

The   gaslighting goes deep      -      Also isn’t the Darkside supposed to be      negative over involvement?      -       Aight-         -       -           A-lone

  Oh yeah that’s a great idea let’s just let the  dude that just got gaslighted and completely fell forward go back into the person who did it,

 👍

     Genius     

    (This Jedi Council is fucking                  brilliant)

     Gas-       Light-         Ing

(Note;      Confronting the gas lighter is never the way       to do it       (Inter-             Gen-)          (Excluding accountability of the abuser     (Gen-break           Venting Pro-      Ced- u        re)

 [as you’re usually too angry     to let them get a word in edgewise        And remain;           in control)

  With inter- gen productivity,         They are possibly given       five warnings before         Being          Kick        ed-]

   For the sake of argu-       ment as well       as simplicity-

    We’re stick       -ing with        bas-         ic-

    If someone’s acting toxic        with you, you         reflect and you don’t have to         hang out with anyone         you don’t want to,

    Logic

   This dude      is very clearly making it obvious that    he’s willing to listen to this person,

 And, enabling

“Cl-”

See he’s gaslighting him again      because   he thinks he can get away with it,

With no   accoun-       tability-

 (Or the small bit      this society      believes      in     which is    jail,”

Wr-

Oh!

 Is he a     Gungan      Jedi?

  Also,

  You Don’t  

    SAY!

(The repeated Gaslighter      who has shown multiple times to be     toxic,       Was toxic,    (And prepared to use any means to      subvert the         will? 

Prize  for the  most   in  competent      Je      di

 Like,        Serious-         (Really had to put those two    accoun  t-      ability- cells      to good -    use-”

(For   matting       issue-)

  The writer just saving us the effort of him coming downstairs -all feckin- weird, and the   obvious    “should’ve seen that coming,     “

   ?             ha-ha

    What?

Oh yeah       no the creepy magical stuff wasn’t enough of a      fecking clue in-

  Appar-

   Whelp-

  He   snapped out of that quick-

  Like didn’t even need a      reverse- mind trick

   Good for      him-

   And - actual-     nar-    rative-        -

   Whelp,

   Wreck-ing      -house

       Okay, but how do you think this is going to look to the general public like two Jedi,( very good at persuasion -    mind tricks’ -just showed up, now they’re leader and said Jedi are wreck-ing one of their minster’s houses-  

     One who could’ve     feign-           ed lack of support for the        war

     Like if this is a     set up-  

 the chips-      are about to fall,

 Da-

Okay, seriously how obviously evil,    was this person?

Like we have a weird creepy room,     The robots apparently hanging from the    chandelier    (eck)         And      the knife

   Like if this person      ever-       went-   through a checkpoint

   Also,        Oh-

    That-

   (That     really        does not      look good,)

    Bo-ss

   Yeah,       she clearly has    medical experience,

 (Also yeah    that’s really going to make it    better-”

 Oh yeah the    senator was      seen trying to clean up the      evidence-

    Well the Jedi ran out     full sword’s- a blazing

    (Instead of you know the       Senator chasing after him,         While the peacekeeper stayed behind and tried to        tend to the person,]

   Great     -        -       Or    Not-

Well- tensions    just got raised,

  Of,

 Ai.     Ght, 

 Whelp,

(Okay, no way he’s totally not dead      but sure-)

 A-i-

  -

 Whe-

   That-       sucks-          -         Un-     Con-cious

    That-   doesn’t tell me anything else-

   Like;        Critical      condition?

   D-usk

   Li-terally       no one else?

    (Like don’t get me wrong I’ve been a pretty big Jar-jar fan ever since the change-)

   But really, the Senator, the person that spends the most time away from your - planet

   That’s the person,     they trust the most?

  Ai-

  Hm-

Oh yeah just put on the deadly leaders hat-

   The rese-mblance-

   Not really?

   I mean all humans technically    look the same-

  But-

 Pretty sure Jar jar is a lot      scrawn-         thin        -er

    Also if they’re not going to listen to him as him       they’re not going to listen to him      as he pretends to be their (dead) leader

Also, please don’t go with the      liar revealed plot,

    Yeah no, they have completely different kind of light.   tones,

     The face structure-

    Co-mpletely         different-

     -

   Nope

 -Dead

 Di-ssent

  Agree

   I-

   OK yeah I’m just gonna go over the fact, that as previously state,  I am not a huge fan of the liar revealed plot-

    -or lying

  (No because it’s- unrealistic-    - or there’s anything wrong with it

  -people do lie

     -maybe because of how overdone and             poorly done it’s been,

             -With the liar getting off Scott free without any                  weight

               But I really don’t like this               plot-

-And    the   skip    button    maybe   used     ad-     nausuem-   -

       [Well- shit       [for reference; I was using the skip button ad nausuem when I randomly stopped at the part      with    Greivous

        Things just got a whole lot worse]

         [Tumblr             Refresh]       -

   Any        Way,

   Aww,     That’s kind of nice the    friendship and reliance       the dude has on      Other-        Half            -         Yes        ‘Boss       Leoni’        when someone gets         tox         you leave-        - In a      - relation          ship-  

      Also yeah he’s definitely not       ‘Boss         Leoni’            -            He would’ve stayed and tried to take the    tox

 (Aka Jar-jar is less ena-     bling, les-        tox-     And     Doesn’t       Take        It        For          Much        More.            Than            He            Has               To,

        (He’s   les   -s

      Dyfun.  -c)

      Okay

       Good            Job     -     Also - yeah   how’d you manage that         -         That-

Didn’t get   car   ried up the chain of   com-     mand-        -            Then again Gri-   evous has shown to be a pretty   shit boss.     -      So I can’t blame these guys    for being like yeah compl-      ete stranger     I will totally      take a nap       -right    ,now-         -      You        kinda      have      sticks-        -    [The rain is   really    nice,]

[is this the first time we’ve seen them use active     particle effects      for the camera?

  Either way       it’s really        nice            -

Oh,

They’re    

electric     sticks,

That makes   sense

[- bet     ter      for      Figh     t-      In-       g-

Stop one     1v1     -ing-        It

    I

  W-h

   Again this is what happens when you 1v1 it    and    don’t assume accountability-     - -   

 [Don’t fight a metal cyborg with metal sticks when you’re not prepared to take it, full way,)

   I-

  [I feel like this is supposed to be some    big build up but they only shared like one scene where dude was completely silent,]

  Like,

   Sacr-ifice

    Die to take someone out with you

[Great

  Now

   Ouch]

   Are   they actually going to kill off      grievous because this isn’t look-ing    too    - good      -         Shit-

 Dude-      is still not dead-       -       How?        -          Whelp-           -          Oh,    hey      where the fuck    did you come      from,

 I-           Ack.      Br-u-      Tal

W-el

 -       Un         -         M           -              Plan-

“ damn it        he messed up the       script-,           -Pal   - patine

     Cap-

    Prison   break-

   Also yeah     that’s probably like        a vacation    for him-

 Given     how toxic these assholes     are           -            Ex- change           -           Damn             Ship      per-

      Also screw the 150 or how many other                 sena   -tors        -       Only     Amidala           -      matters          -          A-       ight-     -      Also, dude knows where everyone’s      lair,      Is,

 Like he pissed off Grievous with    -his

 Now he’s just chilling in this      dude’s    sipping earl gray       Or-      Some        Shit-

  Him

  Okay

 Getting a little    ahead of yourself     episode-       -       O k

    I

   Hearing this,  Skywalker doesn’t immediately run back      shout        -ing      nope-        - -       Because, to my knowledge the speaking at      room volume,

  Not    whispering        and the distance        isn’t enough to      -explain it             -            Ai          -   -           Wel-             -      There goes one        min-ion-             -             Droids are apparently    expensive enough to      chastise    Grievous          over-

  But sen-tient - beings are        a dime’     a ‘dozen-

    (Also    gaslighter’s.     don’t give a shit about        you     dear,       God,

  The Painful     dramatic-        irony-

 *tra-      gic-      Wh-      -Oa

 Ai     -     Ri-

  An

  Wh-     -elp,

   You know if it wasn’t for the exposure     earl-        ier   

I would assume they would think that the Jedi was just killing all their Im-por-        tant- elected officials

     Why?

     Wh-at

    He’s right.    -         But dude- that’s pretty      ham fisted-

   I mean-

  How many episodes          (and       possibly        seasons-)      do we have to            go-            - -     Anakin-       is a dick    to lanterns-       -        Also the random theme of the     bots-      coming out of nowhere-    continues-       -     St     -op-          -        Wh-       elp-

    .

    ?         (He          live?)

      I-

      ?

  Good           Play-

     Ah-

    To-

       Oh, yeah,       He’s alive we’re not going to bring that up in any      mention-able way?

      Ike

    Wh     e     l-      p

     Oh           -     That was   -nice-

   You deceived everyone and lied to all          our people,  you’ll make a great      leader,

   Or a great council/    committee leader considering that they do have an open position          ,            Best

I like that they had one bad ass fall and had it replace-d by Dooku being particularly bad-ass       -          In his      place-

In the trade off near the end really speaks to the     frag-ility of war

   I thought-

   It was pretty al-right    Though it really did seem like     - they were trying to build up to something but the structure unfortunately        just didn’t support it,

   Which is unfortunate because they do seem like      bits- that could’ve been nice

   Like Jar-jar being a constant       peacekeeper-

   The underwater        nations-

     Wars be-           tween          - Those               Dude’s

   And that    general guy      -        Who seems to be like he was supposed to be this     - really big deal

 [probably intended to do something      massive in the previous       arcs,]

    But, here,    all he did was that one scene,

    [Would’ve worked better if he was like this Re-       Public Gen-       Er          Al-

    To the      shark guy-

     And Akbar,

     Was just like the resident         enforcer-

     Or something to do with the       prince

    I think it would’ve really worked better with the concept of        ‘being taken’        under,               As well that possibly being a good contrast between     Jar Jar         binks          And        Char-        If Jar- jar got promoted-        With Char being eager at first but then realizing he just         can’t-          And Jar- Jar being reluctant at first but realizing he      can-

   [Note; assumed authority is bad,         Just- some people are better at using it for venting         than others)

   Nope boomers vs throw-         it-back, boom-

       I-

     And it really did feel like this episode       -should’ve been the split one 

   Nearing the end- it started to feel like the 1st-       part of a second ep-

    Which is fine

    Just cut-        of-

   Episode all around being al-right, with just several parts that didn’t make quite sense including the emphasis on the general for that one scene,

[pootlespud]

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline (Book Review)

Monday 30th November 2020 Book Review - Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline First time reading. Rating: ** So I finished Ready Player Two! I'm sad to say that it didn't live up to the expectations I had for it especially after I thoroughly enjoyed reading Armada earlier this year. I did see some negative comments about RP2 before I started reading it so I'm not sure if that just put me in a mindset of negativity or if I would have felt this way even if I hadn't seen negative comments. The first part of this review will be spoiler free and the later part will include spoilers but I'll include a warning where the spoilers start. I also know this is a long one so there's a tldr on the last page if you'd rather read it!

[Spoiler free section but contains spoilers for Ready Player One] Ready Player Two picks up where Ready Player One left off, Wade has won Hallidays contest and inherited the OASIS and the rest of Hallidays property. As part of his inheritance, Wade comes across new technology developed by Halliday but never released to the world that leads Wade and the rest of the High 5 on a new Easter Egg hunt with a brand new villain turning up to make things complicated. My biggest issues were in the first 100 pages with the writing, pacing and characters and then when the plot finally got going my issue was with the main villain and their treatment. I also just find it awkward reading Cline's attempts at women, POC and LGBT+ representation. While I do appreciate the effort and inclusion, it's not done very well and clearly Cline hasn't got the right people around him to point this out. As well as issues with his writing of these types of characters I also have issues with the content. Unnecessary sex references, repeating small points multiple times, over-complication of minor details, treating the reader like an idiot, and more effort put into the nostalgic references rather than progressing the plot. A lot of these also combine into the issues I had early in the book with the pacing, sometimes moments were being unnecessarily drawn out and other times there were moments which I wish had more attention given to them. As the book progressed I found this issue lessened as the plot moved forward but it's still something that was an issue for me again towards the end. Most of the characters I actually didn't have a huge issue with apart from some characters being more side-lined and not getting quite as much time as I would have liked but that would be a minor issue. My bigger issue, especially at the beginning of the book, was with Wade, our main character. He's obnoxious and brags about everything he now has. He has an anger issue which makes him even more unlikeable and he totally violates the privacy of people using the OASIS system! As the plot progresses and he has less opportunities to be like this I found I could tolerate him more but there were still lines that I found myself scoffing at throughout the book. I want to also talk about the villain and why I had issues there as well but because it would contain spoilers I'll talk about what I did like first of all, explain the reasons for my rating and then get into the spoilers. So! Although I've been pretty negative so far there was some parts I actually did like which stopped me from dnf-ing the book. Although RP2 has some pretty bad writing and pacing issues I did actually enjoy the plot. I thought when it eventually got going it was actually pretty fun and I enjoyed a lot of the references even though Cline does treat his readers a bit like we're idiots when he's explaining them. I also still love Samantha/Art3mis and a lot of the other characters in the book so that managed to keep me going. Samantha has always been the more level headed and responsible one but she's still utterly badass and I wouldn't mind her being a role model for young girls reading these books. I was sort of conflicted between 2 and 3 stars for my rating because while in the end I can say I reasonably enjoyed the book I also had so many issues and those first 100 pages really annoyed me. Ultimately I settled on 2 stars because I know that I'm never going to reread this book but I also didn't dislike it enough to only give it 1 star. Now I'm going to get into the spoiler section and talk about my main issues with the villain and some of the spoiler-ey stuff that I actually did like so this is your spoiler warning for this section! [SPOILERS for Ready Player Two] So the villain is Halliday. Not really, technically the villain is a corrupted copy of Halliday's memories housed inside his OASIS avatar Anorak. I think by making this distinction Cline was trying to show a difference between Halliday and Anorak and that they're two different "people" which possibly would have been fine if Cline hadn't also totally dragged on the "real" Halliday in the process. He goes to great lengths to let us know that the real Halliday actually wasn't a good guy at all and was actually a sociopath. I have a few issues with this. The first and more minor issue is that, from what I remember, Halliday is portrayed as a good guy in RP1 and somebody a lot of the characters, especially Wade, admire. I didn't reread or rewatch RP1 before reading RP2 (especially as the movie is so different) so maybe I'm misremembering but it just felt like such a shock. I am well aware that Halliday wasn't perfect, especially when it comes to Kira and Og but that doesn't mean he needs to be villainised! I think the first book/movie perfectly showed how flawed he was without making him a villain and it's just so upsetting to me that Cline went in this direction for RP2. I also have an issue with Halliday as the villain because I think it could be so damaging for people who looked at Halliday and saw this socially awkward introvert who is also a genius and were inspired by that or could see parts of themselves in Halliday's character but now they're being told that, actually, because he pined after his friend's wife he's a sociopath! I think it could be so damaging to people who looked up to him. As I said, Halliday in the first book is flawed but so is everybody and he could still have been a brilliant role model for kids if Cline hadn't taken RP2 in this direction. For my final complaint regarding Halliday I felt like his relationship with Og and Kira was ruined in this book. Yes, in the first book his relationship with them was strained but I feel like they still loved each other. Even though Og had nothing to do with the company anymore Halliday still included Og in his will. I think Og still had affection for him and I never felt like they were friends through any sense of duty from Og. But here that relationship was totally butchered and Halliday felt like somebody Og and Kira tolerated because they felt sorry for him. And look where it got them, he totally violated Kira's privacy multiple times! Because of course Halliday couldn't just harmlessly pine over her, he had to go and do something absolutely mental. It just feels so out of character because even though he's a bit socially awkward he's a really smart man and should know better than to do this! It also at times felt like Halliday was the butt of their jokes which is just horrible! And not at all how I remembered any of these characters. As I said, maybe I'm mis-remembering but even so it was still a cause of discomfort and greatly affected my enjoyment of the book. But that's not all folks! Anorak isn't the only villain! Sorento is back! I just don't like the character at all so instantly I was annoyed because I dislike him so much but then he really wasn't involved that much at all which makes me wonder why Cline even brought him back to begin with?! He had one moment towards the end where he played a role in the death of Og and the "battle"/"escape" (how ever you want to word it) that ensued but I feel like this could have been done in a different way without having to bring Sorento back just for this. For spoiler-ey stuff that I did like. I liked Kira being more of a central character and getting to find out more about her. I think she's a really cool character and it was nice to go on her adventure this time around. I liked all the quests for the shards, especially the John Hughes one as a big John Hughes fan myself! I also liked the final battle between Og and Anorak. It's something that I think Cline does really well and also showed that he can do big, epic endings without it having to be a big battle sequence with lots of characters. 1v1 worked just as well and was just as enjoyable to read if not even more so. And that's the end of the spoiler section! Here's the tldr because I know this has been a long one! TLDR (Spoiler free) I had a lot of issues with Ready Player Two, specifically with the writing, pacing and handling of some of the key characters. I gave it 2 stars because I already know I'm not going to reread it so I wouldn't give it a 3 but I didn't dislike it enough to give it a 1. There were some elements that I did enjoy that managed to keep me going. Thanks so much for reading! Let me know if you've read RP2 and your thoughts or if you're planning on reading it (if so I hope you enjoy it more than I did!) Rating: ** Blog | Twitter | Goodreads (Read it first on my blog.)