Armada: A Novel

by Ernest Cline

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A rollicking alien invasion thriller that embraces and subverts science-fiction conventions, from the author of the worldwide phenomenon Ready Player One 

“Exciting . . . mixes Star Wars, The Last Starfighter, Independence Day, and a really gnarly round of Space Invaders.”—USA Today • “A thrilling coming of age story.”—Entertainment Weekly

Zack Lightman has never much cared for reality. He vastly prefers the countless science-fiction movies, books, and videogames he's spent his life consuming. And too often, he catches himself wishing that some fantastic, impossible, world-altering event could arrive to whisk him off on a grand spacefaring adventure. 

So when he sees the flying saucer, he's sure his years of escapism have finally tipped over into madness. 

Especially because the alien ship he's staring at is straight out of his favorite videogame, a flight simulator callled Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting Earth from alien invaders. 

As impossible as it seems, what Zack's seeing is all too real. And it's just the first in a blur of revlations that will force him to question everything he thought he knew about Earth's history, its future, even his own life--and to play the hero for real, with humanity's life in the balance. 

But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can't help thinking: Doesn't something about this scenario feel a little bit like . . .  well . . . fiction? 

At once reinventing and paying homage to science-fiction classics, Armada is a rollicking, surprising thriller, a coming-of-age adventure, and an alien invasion tale like nothing you've ever read before.

• ISBN10: 0804137250
• ISBN13: 9780804137256
• Publish Date: 14 July 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Ballantine Books Inc.
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780804137256

Reviews

[remo]

Hmmm. Sentimientos encontrados con esta novela, segunda del autor. El argumento me parece aún mejor que el de Ready Player One: (show spoiler)[La humanidad descubre extraterrestres en una luna de Saturno y crea videojuegos que replican con gran detalle los movimientos de los extraterrestres en combate para que la humanidad se entrene para LA batalla] (hide spoiler) . Pero la ejecución me dejó muy decepcionado. Hay partes de la novela que deberían ser ÉPICAS y el autor pasa por ellas con estilo entrecortado, como de adolescente empezando a escribir, sin recrearse, sin impactar. Soso y plano. La historia es entretenida y aunque hay un par de cosas que no le perdono al autor, tiene un pase. Las constantes alusiones a las pelis y videojuegos de los ochenta ayudan a los cuarentones como yo a mantener algo más la atención, sin llegar a redimir la novela.

[ross91]

First of all, let's just say something that should be clear: ARMADA IS NOT READY PLAYER ONE!! a lot of people complains that this book is not as clever or as innovative as RPO, but comparing this two books is like comparing Harry Potter and The Casual Vacancy: JK Rowling has written both, but it's absurd to say that the second is a let down just because it's not about a magical school!
Anyway, Armada as a book IMHO is clever and imaginative enough to be read and enjoyed easily, at least in the first part.
This book is about videogames and, as the main protagonist says to us, to properly enter in a fictional world about an alien invasion a huge dose of suspension of disbelief is necessary. That's what Zach keeps telling us: in every game parts of the plot is totally absurd and convenient for the player and consequently this is also what happens in Zach reality as soon as the videogames interacts with his world. For some people, I think especially gamers, this kind of convenience is ordinary and not bothering, but for me sadly seemed sloppy. Too many things happen without any logic and just because the plot needs it.
Another thing that bugged me was the overly detailed information about Armada (military ranks, differences between spaceships and so on), in addition to Zach's dad research about historical videogames. I'm not a gamer but I did a Videogames history course at uni so I was mildly interested in all the informations contained in that research, but you can easily skip it if you're bored.
Another thing this book lacks is character depth: all the main protagonists seems different copies of the same nerd prototype, everyone is obsessed with sci-fi and every once in awhile they all talk using cool cultural references... This is just absurd.
Anyway, for me this book could have been a 4* reading thanks to the exciting plot and all the cool nerd background dear to me, but the ending was just too hideous.
I don't wanna spoil anything but let's just say the aliens motives were just stupid. So incredibly stupid.
The ending made me so angry that I wanted to give the book 2*! In the end I settle down with 3. I don't know if it fully deserves them.

[Joséphine]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

Initial thoughts: What stellar narration from Wil Wheaton! Listening to the audiobook certainly is a huge contributing factor to my enjoyment of something that usually wouldn't be my kind of book. Hard core gaming? Aliens? Excessive pop culture references? None of these are things I care much for and yet I had a blast with Armada.

I think that subject matter aside, Armada did well in presenting relatable characters as well as a huge conflict interspersed with minor ones. The resolutions came with caveats and ambiguity yet I felt satisfied at the end of the ride.

My only reason for holding back on full five stars is that Armada didn't blow me away as an original story — I found it a little predictable, reminiscent of science fiction books I used to read over a decade ago.

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Generally speaking, I found this book to be rushed and not as original as Cline's first book. The plot has been done in film and literature before, and there was nothing to add to the story that made it any better than a pre-existing story. If anything, there was an excess of forehead-slapping cliches. I'm not sure what bothers me more - the fact that it was so rushed and cheesy, or the fact I believe it was ridden that way intentionally.

That said, it still was entertaining in its own way and it's great to see a different kind of science fiction falling into the mainstream. The book started with the slur of excellent references, even if that familiar theme from Ready Player One disappeared about 30% through. With a lot of suspension of disbelief, a reader can still enjoy the book. I would recommend this for those who are not well-read in science-fiction, who are looking for a light introduction to the genre (outside of the ever-popular dystopia). Avid sci-fi readers will be quickly frustrated with the juvenile characters and lazy writing... not to mention the cliches.

[g2pro]

Not as good as Ready Player One. Also seemed aimed more at the YA group.

[empressbrooke]

I'm sure it kills any artist to hear, "Not as good as their first one," but I'm going to have to say it in order to be honest. I think that it's because Cline set out to write an homage to all the sci-fi he references and then ends up not doing anything novel enough with it to avoid seeming derivative instead. It's definitely fun, and I like the premise of, "What if all our favorite sci-fi is a conspiracy to prepare us for the real thing?" but it wasn't groundbreakingly awesome like [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One|Ernest Cline|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406383612s/9969571.jpg|14863741] was.

[inlibrisveritas]

4.5 Stars

Armada was another book I read along with my boyfriend. We loved Ready Player One a lot, all of the nostalgia and geeky references were just perfect for us. So we marked our calendars, bought the book the day it came out…and promptly decided to read something else. Wah wah. However, poor planning aside when we finally decided to start it was really hard to keep pace with each other and not read the entire thing in one go.

Like RPO Armada starts out as a slow build and ramps up to a break neck speed by the last 70% of the book, with a few little slowly moments here and there to give you a breather, or the illusion of one. It took a lot of twists and turns, many of which I wasn’t fully expecting and made the whole ride a lot of fun. I’ve seen complaints about the book lacking true description because of the use of references, and all I have to say is…if you don’t enjoy movie/game/tv/music references in your books then sit it out. I didn’t get 100% of the references but there was enough to go on in the context that I knew exactly what the author was trying to say. The action is on point and has a ton of moments where any video game nerd wanting to put on a VR helmet and pilot a badass piece of tech (though maybe not in a real life situation like this). And I think that’s one of the best things about Cline’s books, he makes you want to revisit your past while also making you excited for all the cool stuff the future holds. It’s a brilliant mix.

Zack Lightman is a gamer, and a very good one at that. He’s full of references from his favorite movies, games and music…and he is pretty damn brave as well, though he can definitely push forward into the “dear god don’t do that” character mold too. I really liked Zack. I like how close he is with his mom (yay for YA parent who actually exist!) and his love of all things geeks, and the fact that he’s not afraid to stand up for himself and others (though the anger probably needs to be stunted). In fact I really like what Cline did with all of the characters and it’s a pretty diverse group. We have several different races, plenty of different backgrounds, different religious beliefs, all uniting for a common cause. I loved the dynamic between the general, Shin, and Graham… and I really loved the closeness of Debbie and her family.

Overall it’s an awesome book! I probably enjoyed Ready Player One more, just because I’m a riddle fiend and really love RPG MMOs more than would be considered healthy, but Armada was an incredibly fun read that I barely put down (even when I was supposed to).

[Heather]

This author’s previous book Ready Player One is my all time favorite audio book. I was so excited when I heard that this one was coming out and that Wil Wheaton was doing the narration again. I had a few day delay between the publishing date and when I could start it. In that time I started seeing twitter messages pop up about people who loved Ready Player One abandoning this book. They said it was too geeky for them and they couldn’t get into it. I got scared.

I loved this book! It is a very different book from Ready Player One. Where that book delved deep into 80s pop culture, this one focuses on science fiction movies and video games. I know way more about the 80s than I do about video games but I was able to follow along with Armada just fine.

Full review at http://www.spiritblog.net/?p=9024

[Kelly]

I begun reading Armada with the excitement and anticipation that I felt with Ready Player One. I'll admit that it really didn't bode well for the rest of my read.



Armada follows the story of Zack, who's only interest seems to be as a gamer and trudging his way through school. Along with friends Diehl and Cruz, each night their crusade is to save the world against an alien invasion sees Zack raising higher in the global ranks, sitting at a respectable sixth place from millions of players worldwide. But this isn't a game, it's Earth Defense Alliance training, an organisation who have been tracking the alien invaders for decades. The son of a gamer, Zack's late father was embroiled in the conspiracy that was the gaming industry just before his death, leaving behind notebooks of theories and pop culture references all pointing to the invasion. More than a decade before Armada was even released.

Similar to Ender's Game, but rather gamers of any age are recruited to fight against the enemy based on their skill level. Only the Armada back story and in game descriptions were too heavy and told in large blocks making it difficult for non gamers to immerse themselves within the storyline. It was clinical and the humour readers enjoyed throughout Ready Player One was missing, with one dimensional characters in it's place. I can imagine that Zack is unrelatable to anyone other than gamers, and his overall plight felt more like a scenario dreamed up by a male teen gamer, save the world, get the girl. It's as though Ernest Cline took every popular science fiction reference and scattered them all throughout the storyline, Carl Sagan, A Space Odyssey and from Space Invaders to Ender's Game. Where in Reader Player One is was infused as a journey for kids of the eighties, in Armada it felt forced and a little like blatant name dropping sadly.

I was mildly entertained, when I had really been expected to be dazzled by the Ernest Cline intellect and ability to immerse readers into his world.

I was still able to enjoy Armada on some level, but really quite disappointed by the release that probably should have been titled Ready Player Ender. For fans of gaming and those who need to play the hero, but sadly not for me.

[adamfortuna]

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.