Armada

by Ernest Cline

El esperado regreso del autor de Ready Player One, el best seller geek en que se basa la película homónima de Steven Spielberg.

Zack Lightman se ha pasado la vida soñando. Soñando con que el mundo real se pareciera un poco más al sinfín de libros, películas y videojuegos de ciencia ficción que lo han acompañado desde siempre. Soñando con el día en que un acontecimiento increíble y capaz de cambiar el mundo hiciera añicos la monotonía de su aburrida existencia y lo embarcara en una gran aventura en los confines del espacio.

Pero un poco de escapismo no viene mal de vez en cuando, ¿verdad? Después de todo, Zack no deja de repetirse que sabe dónde está el límite entre lo real y lo imaginario. Que sabe que en el mundo real nadie elige para salvar el universo a un adolescente con problemas para controlar su ira, aficionado a los videojuegos y que no sabe qué hacer con su vida.

Y entonces Zack ve un platillo volante. Para colmo, la nave alienígena es igual a las del videojuego al que se pasa enganchado todas las noches, un juego multijugador de naves muy popular llamado Armada en el que los jugadores tienen que proteger la Tierra de unos invasores extraterrestres. No, Zack no se ha vuelto loco. Aunque parezca imposible, aquello es muy real. Y van a ser necesarias sus habilidades y las de millones de jugadores de todo el mundo para salvar la Tierra de lo que está por venir.

Al fin Zack se va convertir en un héroe. Pero a pesar del terror y la emoción que lo embargan, no puede evitar recordar todas aquellas historias de ciencia ficción con las que ha crecido y preguntarse:

«¿Acaso no hay algo en todo esto que me resulta... familiar?»

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

From the author of Ready Player One, a rollicking alien invasion thriller that embraces and subverts science-fiction conventions as only Ernest Cline can.

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: 8490705798
• ISBN13: 9788490705797
• Publish Date: 11 December 2018 (first published 14 July 2015)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: ES
• Imprint: B de Bolsillo
• Edition: Spanish Edition
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 432
• Language: Spanish
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9788490705797

Reviews

[Rinn]

I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Also on my blog, Rinn Reads.

I had been waiting for Armada to be published from the moment I finished Ready Player One back in 2013. Despite my attempts to stop requesting ARCs on Netgalley until I raised my ratio, I just couldn’t stop myself when I saw Armada.

It was everything I wanted, and expected, from Ernest Cline. Pop culture references galore, every one relevant. A fantastic sense of humour. Fast-paced action. And video games – I can’t seem to get enough of books about or that involve video games. When the book opens we are introduced to Zack, an apparently ordinary teenager, living with his mum in a small town in Oregon. He daydreams through his classes and spends his free time playing an online game, called Armada with his two best friends. Soon we learn more – Zack has quite a temper on him, and he never quite got over the death of his father when he was only one year old. His father was a huge fan of science fiction – video games, films, books – and Zack has inherited this passion, along with his father’s collection, including his journals. Journals which detail conspiracy theories on how the government are using video games to train people for extraterrestrial combat, Ender’s Game style.

It turns out that Zack’s father was right, and Zack soon finds himself enlisted in the Earth Defense Alliance. This happens early on in the book, and from there on out Armada is an incredibly fast-paced and action-packed story. To me, this story did not feel as ‘big’ as Ready Player One, in that the reader only gets to see a few locations. However, this did not detract from my immersion into the plot, and I was cheering every character along every step of the way. Cline’s writing meant I could easily visualise each action scene as it happened.

With references from Star Trek to The Lord of the Rings, plus more subtle ones to games such as Portal, as well as ‘appearances’ from famous scientists, Armada will draw readers in with its link to our very own lives. Armada is, ultimately, a love letter to old school alien invasion sci-fi that also pokes some fun at the genre, one that many sci-fi fans will find themselves equally as in love with. Highly, HIGHLY recommended for all fans of Cline’s previous novel, Ready Player One, as well as any classic science fiction fan.

Throughout the book, Zack refers to his father’s ‘Raid the Arcade’ playlist, which he uses for gaming. I have recreated this playlist on Spotify, although sadly without the AC/DC tracks which aren’t on there.