Armada by Ernest Cline

Goodreads Summary

*NO SPOILERS*

Armada is such a fantastic combination of Sci-fi genius and geek pop culture with a little bit of the right kind of humor, you won’t want to put it down! Not only is it all of this but it’s action-packed too! This book is everything you ever wanted in a sci-fi book. I absolutely loved Armada! It took me a few chapters to warm up to it but after that it was nothing but instant love. One of the reasons I had for picking up this book was because I read his other work, Ready Player One, and couldn’t get enough. I didn’t have high expectations going into this book and was a little discouraged at the beginning, but when things started to pick up, all of my doubts flew out the door. Honestly, after just these two books, Ernest Cline is now one of my favorite authors and from now on will be an instant buy. I loved all of the videogame references and appreciated all of the time and research that went into connecting all of these real-life things to create a wholly fictional world. Unfortunately though, some of the references made went over my head, because I was not part of that time period (I’m only 15 years-old). Thankfully I have a huge dad-geek to teach me most of the incredible geek culture that he grew up with, such as: Star Wars, space invaders, E.T., the Twilight Zone, Halo, and some other sci-fi movies and games. I really loved the humor in the book also, more than once I found myself cracking up at some of the banter between characters. Additionally, I love this story because it gives you multiple outlooks on the invasion and gives valid and logical reasons as to why it is all happening. Cline lets you see both perspectives and lets you decide for yourself what you think before he reveals what he intended to happen all along. This book is unrivaled in originality and is completely unpredictable. The whole time I had no idea what was coming! Furthermore, I felt like Cline captured the reality of humanity, and how our instincts and our thirst for survival change and shape us in times of crisis. All of the characters are beautifully well written and can be related to very easily. I have told you all before how much I admire a book that can spark just one emotion out of me, this book managed to surface a whole range of emotions while reading. Bonus points awarded to Ernest’s ‘high score’ for the great cover and naked book art combo (see what I did there?) Armada is truly a great story and one I will cherish forever and look forward to re-reading in the future! (If aliens don’t invade us first 😉)

*SPOILER ALERT*

The first shocker of many, Ray is part of the EDA?? Really? I did not see that coming. Secondly, Redjive is HIS FATHER?? Definitely did not see that coming. Third huge shocker, the whole invasion was crafted by an AI?????? WhAAtTtt? I was so not prepared for any of this and couldn’t help but gasp louder and louder at each reveal. I thought that Xavier’s theory was pretty good because it explained away all of Graham and Zack’s doubts. Although I will say that it made me extremely mad when you thought that Xavier was dead like three times before he actually died. Why would you put poor Zack through all of that? I just felt so bad for him and the others it made me want to wrap them in bubblewrap so they wouldn’t get hurt ever again. Two things that I thought were irrelevant that I want to point out, Zack’s anger issues, and the epilogue. I really don’t think we needed those little pieces of scattered information at the end. I guess he could still make another book to go with it out of what he told us in the end, but I seriously think it would take away from the first book, if he were to do that. For those of you that have read it, are there any of you that feel the same? Let me know in the comments please!