Armada by Ernest Cline

Armada

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.

Reviewed by Kelly on

2 of 5 stars

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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.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 4 August, 2015: Finished reading
  • 4 August, 2015: Reviewed