Big Bad Books

Big Bad Books

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Big Bad Books episodes

  • Victory?: Chapter 9 (Ready Player Two)

    This is, being frank, the most boring chapter of the book so far!

    After finally giving us a glimpse of puzzle last time, Cline brings us crashing back down to Earth harder than a SpaceX rocket with a death wish. We get a pained attempt at banter, followed up a dream so symbolic that Freud himself would be left quaking.

    • Important Links

    57 min
  • Progress: Chapter 8 (Ready Player Two)
    The chapter for this episode finally delivered what we’ve all been waiting for: some genuine focus on the goddamn Shard Riddle.
    We won’t lie to you… it’s not great. However, it did give us a chance to chat about puzzles, riddles, Dan Brown, The Robes of Anorak, Agatha Christie, twitch.tv/shamecity, and - lest we forget - The Internet’s Chuck Wendig.
    1 hr 9 min
  • Morality: Chapter 7 (Ready Player Two)
    It’s not often you can say a book reaches new lows when every single page of it has already been drivel, but Cline is a pioneer!
    This episode’s chapter involves multiple, heinous breaches of morality and decency, on both Wade’s part and Ernest’s, further cementing the idea that they are, in fact, one and the same.
    1 hr 14 min
  • Abundance: Chapter 6 (Ready Player Two)

    In this episode, the glow-up from the previous chapter is summarily (and immediately) undermined by a string of references so pointless that they strain even Cline’s tenuous grasp of emotional resonance.

    The rest of the chapter consists of a couple dozen pages culminating in an ending so dramatic that it borders on being actual plot!

    • Important Links

    1 hr
  • Ersatz Evolution: Chapter 5 (Ready Player Two)
    This episode features a glimmer of hope on the bibliographic horizon.
    Old Ernie Cline appears to have dropped the references, dropped the weird techno-acronyms, and possibly embraced the idea of… character development?
    Sure it’s still interminably dull, internally inconsistent, and entirely plotless. But baby steps, right?
    1 hr 9 min
  • Aimlessness: Chapter 4 (Ready Player Two)
    It’s episode two, and we’re looking at the fourth chapter of ‘Ready Player Two’.
    You might think that, by now, we’d have a clear direction for the novel? Perhaps a core narrative? A singular focus? Well, consider this just another instance of Ernie Cline’s genre-bending originality, because we still don’t have a goddamn clue what’s actually happening!
    1 hr 1 min
  • Nice Guy: Chapters 1-3 (Ready Player Two)
    Welcome to Big Bad Books!
    Our first season is about Ernest Cline's 'Ready Player Two', and this inaugural episode looks at the first three chapters. Doesn't sound like much, does it? And yet these three chapters manage to cover several years, countless hate crimes, and a near-infinite procession of meaningless nostalgic references. Start as you mean to go on, I guess.
    1 hr 16 min
  • Big Bad Trailer!
    Welcome to Big Bad Books!
    Every other Sunday, Isaac and Declan—with the help of occasional friends and otherwise useless English degrees—take on the ever growing world of truly awful writing, one chapter at a time. We read them so you don't have to!
    Launching June 27th, available everywhere!
    2 min

About Big Bad Books

From the publisher's feed

With the help of their friends and otherwise useless English degrees, Isaac and Declan take on the ever growing world of truly awful writing, one chapter at a time. We read them so you don't have to!