Hardcover, 355 pages
English language
Published Jan. 6, 2015 by Crown Publishers.
Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he's spent his life consuming. Dreaming that one day some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure.
But hey, there's nothing wrong with a little escapism, right? After all, Zack tells himself, he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that here in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don't get chosen to save the universe.
And then he sees the flying saucer.
Even stranger, the alien ship he's staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada--in which gamers just happen to be protecting Earth from alien invaders.
No, Zack hasn't lost his mind. …
Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he's spent his life consuming. Dreaming that one day some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure.
But hey, there's nothing wrong with a little escapism, right? After all, Zack tells himself, he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that here in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don't get chosen to save the universe.
And then he sees the flying saucer.
Even stranger, the alien ship he's staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada--in which gamers just happen to be protecting Earth from alien invaders.
No, Zack hasn't lost his mind. As impossible as it seems, what he's seeing is all too real. And his skills--as well as those of millions of gamers across the world--are going to be needed to save Earth from what's about to befall it.
It's Zack's chance, at last, to play the hero. But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can't help thinking back to all those science-fiction stories he grew up with, and wondering: Doesn't something about this scenario seem a little...familiar?
At once gleefully embracing and brilliantly subverting science-fiction conventions as only Ernest Cline could, Armada is a rollicking, surprising thriller, a classic coming-of-age adventure, and an alien invasion tale like nothing you've ever read before--one whose every page is infused with the pop-culture savvy that has helped make Ready Player One a phenomenon.
This description comes from the 2015 Crown Publishers edition.
Possibly the most terrible sophomore effort I've ever been subjected to. And I did enjoy Ready Player One and even Ready Player Two, although not as much.
While there were a few moments where inconsistent, "How does time/physics work?," Ejected me from suspension of disbelief, it was a fun read.
🍬
I enjoyed Cline's earlier book READY PLAYER ONE and this is very much in the same vein. Suffers some of the same problems: characters equipped with magical technology, resulting in absurd leaps of deus ex machina—but it's a fun and charming read with some interesting ideas. If you're considering this one, I'd read RP1 first; it hits a lot of the same emotional notes while straining reality somewhat less.
Tried it, loved Ready Player One. This one however, is horrible. Absolutely horrible. I'm quite nerdy, but this reads as a 15-y/o boy raving about a computergame. Without a plot, or character building or worldbuilding.
No, sorry, not for me.
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.
