Armada

Pretty good book. Not as good as Ready Player One, but still pretty good. I tore through it pretty fast. Probably a 7 out of 10

It was ok.

First bit was actually slow and kinda boring.
Second 2/3 were actually somewhat entertaining.

It read like a 2 hour movie though. Everything felt rushed. Nothing felt super deep. Lots of convenient plot devices (like learning to hack an entire system in less than an hour).

I'd call it good mary sue fanfiction.

Maybe I just had too high of hopes after Ready Player One.

“Too much ‘young-adult' for my taste; most of the time, it felt even child-like given the simplicity of the writing and story.

The setting and nostalgia trip are right up Ernest Cline's alley, but this time, he may have overdone it without tangible results at the ending.

Also, the inclusion of angsty teenagers and insta-love (I rest my case here).

In conclusion about the book:

- It's a so-so book, perhaps hyped by the success of Ready Player One.
- My recommendation: Go read Ready Player One (again if that's the case) instead of Armada.
- Consider subscribing and listening to the ‘Raid the Arcade' playlist on Spotify (or create your own based on the cassette tape image at the end of the book).”

This was pretty disappointing after the wonderful Ready Player One. It felt much more pandery and unoriginal, with nerd references thrown in willy-nilly without any real reason for them to be there. It's basically a sadly predictable cross between The Last Starfighter and a young gamer's fanfiction fantasy that validates all the endless hours of playing games he does. It would probably be better if the main character were more likable, but his short temper makes him really hard to care about and none of the other characters manage to avoid being stereotypes and don't make themselves stand out as people I should give a damn about. It gets better in the last few chapters as the invaders' intentions are revealed, and even ends on an intriguing premise for another story, but it's far too little too late. My recommendation? Just skip this and read Ready Player One instead. It feels more fresh and interesting, and is less lazy about it's nerdy references.

Ernest Cline unapologetically borrows lines and objects from all areas of 80's and 90's pop culture; which makes his books a ton of fun to read. With “Armada”, he also unapologetically borrows plot points from 80's and 90's pop culture. That makes it a little less fun to read...BUT even though it's an obvious knock-off of “The Last Starfighter” (the main character even acknowledges this more than once), this book still makes me smile and, like “Ready Player One” before it, made me teary-eyed a bit in places.

The biggest criticism I can give this book is that the tertiary characters aren't given their due time for us to get to know them. I'd really like an Alex backstory as she's quite badass, but we know almost nothing about her (or any of the EDA recruits) from right before they get recruited. It was also a little disappointing to realize that I was more than halfway through the book before the main plot points start. That's not to say that I wasn't enjoying the backstory of Lightman up to that point, but I feel that my biggest issues with the book could have been squashed had the main story started sooner so I could learn about the characters more in-depth.

Anyways, Cline remains the best example of geek writing, and there's a ton of fun to be had in this follow-up novel. Looking forward to his next venture!

Very disappointing follow up to Ready Player One. Story was predictable, and the nerd culture references that made RP1 so much fun, felt forced and unnecessary in this novel.

I enjoyed Ready Player One, and was curious as to read what Cline wrote next, whether he could keep up the pace of nerdy retro observations.
Well, he can, but it doesn't make much sense outside of that particularly contrived world.

In Armada, it feels forced and purposeless. I wasn't interested in the characters, and I wasn't particularly sympathetic for their plight. I felt the romance was iffy and the twists were unsurprising. It's a shame, because if it was his first novel I'd probably have enjoyed it more.

Where I could overlook the problems in Ready Player One because of the enormous amount of fun it was, Armada actually make me think less of RPO.

Meh, it was alright, even laugh out loud funny at times, but it's fairly short and never achieved that epic feel that many sci-fi books manage to find. This is a forced pander for LOLs, not space opera. Enjoy it for what it is, but then by all means read some Evan Currie.

Bullshit ending. Terrible story. No character or plot development. People died and I didn't care. Plot was, “We need to do this.” to “Ok, we did this.... but there's a twist.” Find something else.

In a lot of ways I shouldn't like this (all the pop culture references, all the wish fulfillments, everything being tied up with a bow at the end), but man if this wasn't a fun ride. I think I like Ready Player One better (it felt a bit more organic if that can make sense at all given the topic), but so, so good.

I really liked the first half, but it falls apart at the end.

3.5 Stars

Book 7 of the #Booktubeathon

It is late so review to come.

Ernest Cline, if you read this, write another book. It must have been an off day.

You know that something is up, and that something is exactly what you expect. I kept waiting for the main character to have a revelation, or do something unexpected, or something unpredictable. But everything happened exactly how you thought it would. Cline even throws in a double writer's cliche to wrap everything in a nice little bow. Disappointing, BUT I do want him to keep writing. And not just because of RP1. I want him to keep writing, because I enjoy the universe he creates for his characters. I just don't want his characters to do what has already been written in other books. Sorry.

Okay, so. This one wasn't quite as good as Ready Player One, but I still couldn't put it down. Everything Ernest Cline writes is book crack to me. And when you add audio narration by Wil Wheaton, and you just get the most perfect combination ever.

Somewhere between a movie script and a book. Moving too fast, not describing enough on presenting/creating the characters. Enjoyable to read still but I feel a bit disappointed after Ready Player One.

This wasn't nearly as good as Ready Player One and I had to force myself to finish it. The whole thing is kind of build up for the ending which seems like it's just setting the stage for a sequel.

The scope of this book is both larger and smaller than [b:Ready Player One 9969571 Ready Player One Ernest Cline https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406383612s/9969571.jpg 14863741].I hope his next book is published much sooner than later.

I thought I knew how this was going to end the whole time... and then I was wrong. Never saw that coming... still not sure how I feel.

Very similar to Ender's Game, but more nerdy and less moralistic. Fun read, and I look forward to the sequels.

I had fun reading this book, but it ultimately wasn't as satisfying for me as Ready Player One.

A lot of the geeky references that I thought worked in RPO felt far more forced here and just the main thrust of the story was less inventive.

Executive Summary: Predictable Fun. It's not nearly as good as [b:Ready Player One 9969571 Ready Player One Ernest Cline https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406383612s/9969571.jpg 14863741], but that's hardly surprising. 3.5 stars.Audio book: When I found out Wil Wheaton was narrating this, it was a done deal. He's the perfect narrator for certain books, and this is definitely one of those.Full ReviewI love [b:Ready Player One 9969571 Ready Player One Ernest Cline https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406383612s/9969571.jpg 14863741]. It's one of my all time favorite books. It's not the best written, or the even the best story. It just hits all the right buttons for me. In fact, I reread it not to long ago and loved it just as much.I was looking forward to checking out what Mr. Cline had in store for us next. Could it be as good as his first book? Of course not, or at least I'd have been shocked if it were. However it seems like many people who loved that book were not only disappointed in this book, but downright upset.That wasn't the case for me. There a ton of similarities to Ready Player One and several stories, most notably the Last Starfighter and Ender's Game. Mr. Cline acknowledges that right away and makes it part of the narrative.Our protagonist Zach Lightman is a high school gamer who's obsessed with the games/music/movies of the past. Gee where have I read that before? This book isn't breaking any new ground. In fact it's treading on very familiar ground.I thought it started a bit slow, but once I got into it I was having a blast. That should be obvious when you see I listened to the whole thing in just two days. It's only 12 hours, but I normally average 3 hours/day. I kept finding things to do so I could keep listening.Ordinarily that kind of thing would mean a 5 star book for me, but while this book is fun, it's just not as good as others. It hits many of the same buttons as Ready Player One, just not as hard I guess. That doesn't make me mad or disappointed though.I'll probably give it another listen down the road though. The door for a sequel seems to have been left open, so maybe I'll listen to it again at that point.Not need to rush out and grab this one, but if you get it on sale, or need a light quick read, it's worth a look in my opinion.

I'm months behind in writing my book reviews, and while I feel like I should finish my older reviews first, I couldn't help but jump in to the current discussion surrounding Ernest Cline's latest novel, Armada.

Before I start my review, I feel the need to state that I am a huge Ready Player One fan. I simply adore that book. It is like a love sonnet to 80s pop culture, and it is honestly one of the best books I have read in recent years. I also got to meet Ernest Cline (briefly) while I was at San Diego Comic-Con this year. He seems like a really cool guy, genuinely enthusiastic about everything nerdy, and very grateful for his fans and all of the excitement over his first novel and upcoming film. I was honestly really excited about the release of Armada. Of course, the fancy Comic-Con swag didn't hurt much either.

I had pre-ordered a copy of this book almost as soon as it was available, and I've been waiting in anticipation for months. When it came it had quite possibly the coolest inside of a book jacket I've ever seen, which definitely only made me more excited for the story that was contained inside.

The back of the book of the book also had a cool feature - an old Maxwell mix-tape of the main character's father's collection of gaming songs entitled “Raid the Arcade.” As someone who had used the Castle Anorak blog's soundtrack list to create a Ready Player One Playlist, clearly I would have to continue my love for all things Ernest Cline by creating an Armada Playlist as a follow-up.

This was the sort of book I knew I was going to love before I even started reading it. Video games, 80s pop culture, Ernest Cline, what could go wrong? I even created a ridiculous hashtag on my social media: #ForgetGoSetAWatchmanImReadingArmada - attempting to gently prod my more literary friends who where almost overcome with excitement about Harper Lee's novel that had been released on the same day. Suffice it to say, I was beyond excited to read this book. Which is why, I'm sad to say, I'm finding it almost physically painful to write this review.

Armada is an alien invasion story about Zack Lightman, a teenage boy who spends too much time playing video games. However, it turns out his youth is not wasted, as his high ranking in the game world means he is actually a highly trained drone pilot ready to defend the earth from alien invaders! Beyond that premise, the story essentially consists of Zack learning about his family, and comparing everything to events from 1980s pop culture.

I really wanted to be absorbed in this story, fearing for the lives of the main characters, worrying at their peril from the alien invaders, but I never really had that emotional connection. Possibly because I was never really able to believe that these characters were teenagers in 2015. This story's main failing is that it is set in the present-day, but the characters feel hopelessly stuck in the past. While in school the students are tormenting each other with spitballs. Spitballs! I'm sorry, but in today's world when you have an uninterested math teacher you don't pelt spitballs across the room. You hide your cell phone on your lap and psychologically torment your neighbor through texts, tweets, and facebook. I'm not trying to downplay the seriousness of physical bullying, which is still a problem in schools, but, honestly, today's kids tend to be more sophisticated and less obvious than that. In a world without internet it would make sense, but, as computers and modern technology are a large part of this story, its lack of presence in the classroom feels a bit... odd.

Secondly, it was a bit difficult to believe how much 80s and 90s pop culture the main kids had absorbed. Zack's obsession with his father's possessions explain his knowledge, which was fine, but his friends were a bit too old-school to be believable. Honestly, their conversations would have confused many of my high school friends, and we were in high school when the original Lord of the Rings trilogy was being released. Clearly, my ability to grasp a majority of these references means I'm the Zack of my high school group. I'm not sure how I should feel about this.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, I never really believed that the alien invasion felt real. I remember being three quarters of the way through the book and thinking, “This can't actually be happening. Like, it just doesn't make sense.” Unfortunately, the main character points out many of the logical inconsistencies of the book, but even in his attempt to “figure it out,” it just makes the events seem even more ridiculous. Everything just felt so... derivative. I hate saying it, but there wasn't ever really a moment when I accepted this scenario as realistic. The ever critical suspension of disbelief never really happened for me, and, unfortunately, without that the premise of this book really falls flat.

It could have possibly been remedied by an interesting protagonist overcoming difficult obstacles, but even then I can't find much merit in this book. Despite the difficulties Zack had in childhood, he sort of gets everything handed to him on a platter during the invasion. He gets the royal treatment as a top-ranked player from the Armada video game. He sits next to the love of his life who, surprisingly, is pretty interested in a relationship despite knowing Zack for only a few minutes. (Yes, yes, the impending doom of the Earth could be a nice incentive to hurry things up a bit, but still.) He even finds a wise sage with all the knowledge and wisdom and advice he could possibly want (not saying who, because, spoilers). Sure, he has a bit of emotional trauma to deal with, but, on the scale of all-out alien invasion, well it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Even the ending felt a bit like a pat on the head. I sort of assume than an epic war-like event involving an alien invasion would make things feel different for the characters, but, while the story sort of sums up the aftermath of the invasion, if felt as though nothing had really changed.

So, what merits does this book have? Well, to be honest, I still think Ernest Cline is great at writing banter between characters well versed in geek culture. I honestly wish I could be a part of these conversations. They are the sort of ultimate argumentative geek out that people in convention lines are too polite to engage in and your real life friends aren't well-versed enough to keep up with. I appreciate Cline's ever present sense of humor, and his creation of screen-names is really a treat. You can feel his enthusiasm bleed through the page, which is really what kept me reading this book, more than anything else. The quality of the writing itself is pretty good, it is just the story itself which is lacking.

I don't really want to compare this book to Ready Player One, because, honestly, they aren't really the same sort of story. However, it is a bit of an interesting exercise to try and figure out why the first novel was so successful, and why this one isn't. Ultimately, I think it comes down to believability. Ready Player One is set in the quasi-not-too-far-ish future, which, theoretically, means that the kids in that novel should be even less interested in 80s and 90s pop culture than the kids in Aramada are. However, the RPO kids have a strong motivating factor that the Armada kids don't - a desire to get out of the utter shit-hole they've been living in. Let's be honest - if the only distraction you had was the internet and an Easter-egg hunt based on 80s trivia with the potential for lots of money as a prize, then you'd be watching the heck out of Family Ties too. The idea that humanity will have wrecked the environment to end up in such a state isn't too hard to imagine either. And from there the rest of RPO is an exciting adventure mixed with a fun romp through 80s nostalgia, which easily pulls the reader through the story. With Armada, the idea of kids playing video games isn't weird. The idea of an alien invasion isn't weird (or, at least, not new). The idea of using kids and their computer game skills to fight an alien invasion also isn't new. And yet I never felt invested in this world. I never loved these characters. I never cared if things got better for them. And I think it really comes down to the fact that I never really believed that these kids were the characters they were written as. The older generation we meet later in the book felt almost indistinguishable from the younger, and I think that was a major problem - everyone felt kind of the same.

So, ultimately, I can't say I really recommend Armada. There are better things in the kid vs. alien genre out there. And, honestly, if you are considering this book stop and go read Ready Player One instead, because it really is fantastic. If I think about what I really get from this book it boils down to about three things: (1) my Comic-Con swag is still pretty cool, (2) “Raid the Arcade” is a pretty kick-ass playlist, and (3) Go Set A Watchman hasn't been getting good reviews either, so at least my hashtag doesn't make me look like too much of an idiot.

Fun, fast paced and very similar to Ready Player One in some ways, Armada is a cross between The Last Starfighter, Independence Day and, well Ready Player One. Not as great as Cline's first, but a solid follow up.

Fun, fast paced and very similar to Ready Player One in some ways, Armada is a cross between The Last Starfighter, Independence Day and, well Ready Player One. Not as great as Cline's first, but a solid follow up.

Originally posted on bluchickenninja.com.

I can't quite decide if this book is mocking all those aliens invade type science-fiction movies or if it took them and tried to make this new weird thing. Basically Ernest Cline is either a genius or a maniac and I can't quite decide which one it is. So heres the thing, I enjoyed this book but I also had some massive problems with it. Problems which I don't want to talk about because I will give away many many spoilers. But despite that I did actually really like this.

Its an Ernest Cline book so you go into it knowing that there are going to be references to Star Trek and Star Wars and a bunch of other things. But I like that it also has these really subtle pop culture references. I like that he mentions the Kobayashi Maru without any other references to Star Trek, I like that he gave a little explanation of what it is for people who haven't watched Star Trek while people who have watched Star Trek will fully understand what he is talking about. I like all the references to internet memes, even Leeroy Jenkins. I am a nerd and I like that there is a book with all of these things, where it acknowledges and celebrates the nerds of the world.

However I did feel that all the pop culture references got a little over the top in some parts, especially when Cline was trying to make certain points of the book very serious and it just didn't work because of the references to Galaxy Quest.

I love that the main character actually feels like a real kid. He would rather play video games than go to school, he doesn't want to think about the future, he has no idea what he wants to do after he graduates and when he finds out that aliens are real he reacts in a realistic way. And by that I mean he shouts and screams and has a panic attack.

But it did kind of feel that Ernest Cline had copied Ready Player One. In both books we have a main character who becomes obsessed with this one person, they learn everything they can about them and go as far as to watch the movies and read the books and play the games they liked. In both we also have these huge computer games that basically everyone all over the world play. It felt like Ernest Cline had found this winning plot in Ready Player One and instead of creating something new for Armada just rehashed that same plot again with a few changes

I will admit that Armada has some problems however its very good for what it is, which is basically an adventure book for nerds, if you want to read something without thinking too much about the plot this is great. It's really not meant to be taken very seriously. Basically if you are a nerd, or enjoy science-fiction and gaming, you will probably enjoy this.