Review | Armada by Ernest Cline
Rating: 4 / 5 stars
Format: ebook / Hardback
Published: 14th July 2015
Amazon | Goodreads
SUMMARY
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.
MY THOUGHTS
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.
Thanks for reading.
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*I received a copy of this book from Crown Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
29 Comments
AddAltModeR
I’m reading this at the moment, it’s great fun but so far I do agree it feels a bit too much like a rehash of Ready Player One (which I adore).
bluchickenninja
Yeah I really loved Ready Player One as well. I wonder if part of the disappointment came from the build up to a new book buy him. I don’t know about you but I’ve been waiting 2 years for this book.
AddAltModeR
I was really late to the party with Ready Player One. I only read it last month but I adored it so much I immediately looked to what else Cline had written. It was really exciting to find a new book just about to be published. So I hardly had any wait at all for Armada. There wasn’t a big build up for me like you had, but reading the two pretty much back to back makes it impossible not to compare them and Armada doesn’t come out of that so well.
bluchickenninja
Oh that must have been a nice surprise. I love it when that happens. But yeah, it is really difficult to not compare the two.
listentothebabe
Did you review Ready Player One?
bluchickenninja
I’m in the middle of writing my review. It was supposed to be up last week but life got in the way!
listentothebabe
cool because i had it in my hand and just about restrained myself from adding another to my pile of books-to-be-read…
bluchickenninja
You should totally read it, especially if you like gaming, science-fiction and 80s pop culture.
listentothebabe
i like two out of three. but i have gaming in my face because of my partner.
bluchickenninja
Ahhh, computer gaming is a huge part of the plot. Most of the story takes place in an MMO, it also has references to a bunch of classic games. But maybe give it a try anyway?
listentothebabe
will wait for your review 😉
bluchickenninja
I should probably stop watching Netflix and go write it then 🙂
Lynn Love
Ach! I was gonna ask the same question about Ready Player One.
My son (rather sweetly) bought it for his dad for Father’s Day, knowing dad is a Halo addict and loves his sci-fi. Me and husband grew up during the eighties, so to hear it has strong 80s refs is great.
Look forward to your review, Emma 🙂
bluchickenninja
I’m working on it I promise!!!! I keep having to put it off, it was actually supposed to be posted last Sunday.
Lynn Love
Ha! No pressure, honest! Just interested to hear what you think. 🙂
bluchickenninja
Haha! I wrote some of it today. Its going up some time in August. I think…. I had to push it back again, I got approved for a few arcs on Netgalley and they are more important than books I bought myself.
Lynn Love
Ooh, well done you! Don’t worry – we can all wait. BTW, did you get a pingback from me yesterday? I’ve been singing your praises 🙂
bluchickenninja
I did not. I don’t think…
Lynn Love
Link seems to work … Wonder why that didn’t ping? Here’s the post and please, don’t be put off by the title 🙂
https://lynnmlovewords.wordpress.com/2015/07/25/book-review-bloggers-and-why-i-dont-follow-them/
bluchickenninja
That was so nice of you. All I do is give my honest opinions <3 <3 <3
Also for the ping thing, I think you have to link to a specific post. Not just the main page.
Lynn Love
Ah, showing my ignorance there- thanks for the tip! And BTW you give your opinions, but in a concise and interesting way – that’s why you have so many followers 🙂
bluchickenninja
Not really. I just did a quick google search 😛
I can assure you I don’t do that intentionally. I just write stuff and apparently people like it.
Lynn Love
Well, you’re certainly doing something right. 🙂
When do you start college, by the way – September? Have you got prep work to do? Exciting times.
bluchickenninja
Thanks 🙂
Yup! Some time in September. Its funny since I already started this course and dropped out of it I don’t really need to go buying loads or art supplies and back to school stuff.
I’m in the middle of trying to figure out if I need to go buy some type of day planner or if I can just use the notebook I already have.
Lynn Love
Oh, I love buying stationery. Any excuse to find a new pen that writes fluidly – a lovely notepad with smooth, creamy pages just waiting to be filled with my scribbles.
A bit feitshistic, but there are worse vices 🙂
bluchickenninja
Yup! Totally. I bought a really nice Moleskine last month so I’m excited to start using that.
Lynn Love
Glad it’s not just me 🙂
bluchickenninja
Its embarrassing how much stationery I’ve been buying considering I don’t need any of it.
Lynn Love
🙂