Armada by Ernest Cline
My rating: [rating=5]
(Click here to see this review on Goodreads.)
Another great, nerd-filled classic by the Ohio native. As most fans of Ready Player One, I was very excited when I heard about Armada. He does succeed, again, in stirring those nostalgic nerdy memories from my childhood with various references to games and movies I played/watched growing up. I will admit, however, perhaps the references were a little too prolific, especially at the beginning of the book, but I could tell Ernest Cline was writing a book that was fulfilling a childhood fantasy. The same childhood fantasy all of us had playing video games in the 90s and watching Star Wars and The Last Starfighter.
Despite the abundant movie references, and the teasing at the end which lead me to believe there would be a sequel, I still gave this book 5 Stars. Ender’s Game is one of my all time favorite books and Armada felt like a combination of Ender’s Game and The Last Starfighter and turned out to be an excellent juxtaposition.
When Zack learns what he is destined to do, the book becomes impossible to put down. I found myself sneaking in a page or two when the toddler and the wife were distracted; or I went an extra minute on the stationary bike just to keep reading. In fact there were a couple of nights where I was reading until 1 in the morning, allotting me only 4 hours of sleep for the night. There are, literally, only a handful of books where that has happened to me in the past.
Thank you, Ernest Cline, for another epic nerd-themed book. Thank you for taking me back, once again, to my childhood days and the games and movies of the 80’s and 90’s, and I’m looking forward to the next great novel!