{ARC Review} Armada by Ernest Cline

Armada

It’s just another day of high school for Zack Lightman. He's daydreaming through another boring math class, with just one more month to go until graduation and freedom—if he can make it that long without getting suspended again.

Then he glances out his classroom window and spots the flying saucer.

At first, Zack thinks he’s going crazy.

A minute later, he’s sure of it. Because the UFO 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 the earth from alien invaders.

But what Zack’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 the earth from what’s about to befall it.

Yet even as he and his new comrades scramble to prepare for the alien onslaught, Zack can’t help thinking of all the science-fiction books, TV shows, and movies he grew up reading and watching, and wonder: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little too… familiar?

Armada is at once 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 author Ernest Cline’s trademark pop-culture savvy.

I received this book for free from the publisher or author in exchange for an honest review.
This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

When I read Ready Player One last year, I was sure there would be no way for this author to top himself. Because that book was SO great and amazing. I have never been so happy to be wrong.

Armada is about Zack. He’s daydreaming in another boring math class when he suddenly sees a UFO outside and it looks like one from the videogame he always plays, Armada, in which gamers just happen to be protecting earth from an alien invasion. Initially, he thinks he’s going crazy. Suddenly everything becomes all too real and his skills – as well as those from gamers all around the world – are needed to save the world.

While Ready Player One was epic in and of itself, Armada ups the stakes. RPO felt much more… contained. It was more like a high-stakes global treasure hunt. Armada is an all-out intergalactic war that threatens to destroy the world. Both make use of 80’s and 90’s pop-culture references and I think that’s the thing that makes me enjoy them so much. Because I’m not a big science fiction fan, but I just love these books so much! It makes these books just the right amount of nerdy. The writing was fantastic, but I’m sure you already know that. Man… those final 100 pages… Damn.

Because of spoilers, I don’t want to talk too much about the characters. I loved all of them though. Especially Zack, the main character, and Lex, a girl he meets in-between the giant mess. I loved both of them instantly. I loved their chemistry a lot and that there wasn’t really a romance until the very end of the book. There are some characters I would’ve liked to see more of though.

Overall, Armada is everything I wanted it to be. It’s intense, gripping, full of nail-biting action and plenty of old pop culture references to make any nerdy heart go wild. Ernest Cline can do no wrong and just confirms why he’s on my author autobuy list. Read this!

Reading Progress

I don’t normally do this, but since I updated my status on Goodreads so much, I wanted to share all of it with you. It’ll also show you more of how epic this was for me. It’s spoiler-free.

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Bee

Bee (born as Bieke) is 27 years old and from Belgium. (No she won't send waffles.) She's a strange, nerdy and anxious creature floating around somewhere on the ace spectrum. Oh, and she also writes books as Nelly B. Jones. Or tries to anyway. You can also find her on Novel Ink.

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