Armada

A Novel

By: Ernest Cline

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

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 heard before.

©2015 Ernest Cline (P)2015 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Nerd-gasmic . . . another science fiction tale with a Comic-Con's worth of pop-culture shout-outs.”—Rolling Stone

“An amazing novel [that] proves Cline has the ability to blend popular culture with exciting stories that appeal to everyone.”—Associated Press

“A fantastic second novel . . . fans of Ready Player One, it is time to rejoice.”—HuffPost

Don’t let the other reviews comparing Armada to RP1 deter you from downloading this audiobook.

I didn’t purchase this audiobook for several months because of the earlier reviews comparing it to Ready Player One (RP1.) However, I really enjoyed the story. I can understand the earlier criticisms the short romance but I didn’t feel like it was too little or too much. I think the relationship that was most important to the story was well developed. As for the comments comparing it to RP1, Armada is a completely different story. Different time & different characters. Although, there are many 80’s pop-culture references, they’re not as important to the story in Armada as they are in RP1. Overall, I enjoyed the story and will probably listen again.

Yes, it's no RPO, but all-in-all it's entertaining

I almost didn't give this a chance because of all the negative reviews; but I did. I didn't think it was as bad as some reviewers complained. It could have been better, it could have been worse. I do agree it wasn't as good as RPO, but it was entertaining and in the end isn't that what a reader wants?

Like RPO it is very video game centric as well as full of pop culture snippets, some that worked, some that didn't. It did mash-up a bunch of different plots from a bunch of different stories, all of which he worked into the story. If something that happened was just like an episode of the Twilight Zone, or Star Trek, or 2001, it was actually talked about and referenced; and ultimately part of the mystery.

I won't go into story details, you can read other reviews for that, I just wanted to relay that it actually is a good read (and an even better listen thanks to Wheaton). If this were Cline's first book I would guess that the reviews would have been a lot better. But Ready Player One was really good and would have been hard to top. Maybe if the style wasn't so much like RPO it wouldn't have been compared so harshly to it. Hopefully for his next book Cline moves on from the pop culture / video game plots.

I bet that people that didn't read RPO may actually like this book more. My thoughts...

I loved it.

I don't know if I enjoyed this book because it was narrated by Wil Wheaton, or if it was truly as good as I feel like it was. After looking at other reviews, I'm surprised to see that so many people didn't like it. I wouldn't say it was a super original story line, but it was still a feel good book.

Last star fighter 2?

I really enjoyed ready player one but with Ernest Clines second book I felt like he was making it up as he went along. With an plot that was obviously channeling the last star fighter and forced pop culture references throughout it felt like cline was trying to do with sci fi this time around what he'd did with video games last time. Unfortunately I don't feel like it worked as well this time

Fantastic

The story was amazing making me dread every moment I had to turn it off and return to the dreary, redundant life I was escaping with this novel! highly recommended.

Not Ready Player One

Like many, I pre-ordered Armada hoping for more of the wit, humor and cultural referencs of his first book. While it does have some of that it mostly reads like a teen adventure. Also it has more than a hint of Enders Game. I gave the book a good run, hoping for some of the magic found in Ready Player One but after three hours, it's just not doing it for me. I can already figure out what the rest of the book has in store as it is pretty predictable.

However, despite all this, I'm certain fans of this new or revitalized sci-fi genre will find something appealing here.

Liked it a lot. Did not love it.

A fun read/listen, but not up to the high standards that Ernie Cline set with 'Ready Player One.' Still, a worthy and enjoyable listen.

Fun but too derivative and predictable

This is a fun story and has the same retro flare as Mr. Cline's previous book. However, it didn't seem as original and had too much storyline that followed along from other stories that are well-known. I really thought he had an opportunity for an interesting twist to come at the end, but elected to go for the standard politically correct. Will Wheaton did an excellent job of bringing a story to life as usual.
So if you're looking for just a fun story that will entertain you, this is a good one. But if you're looking for you truly novel story, You should look elsewhere. After you listen of course that this really is fun.

Where there’s a Wil

Wil Wheaton is becoming one of my favorite narrators. While the story here was enough to hold up, Wil’s performance bumped it to another level.

Wheaton Brings Armada to Life

Who else but Wil could do justice to this Sci-Fi Pop-Culture tribute. As always Ernest amazingly rolls up every possible trope into a compelling story that just works. I can't wait for the sequel.