This took me a loooonnggg time to finish. Not because I didn't like it, but because I was reading a hardbound copy I borrowed from a friend. Minus two other titles, all of my reading for 2016 is done on my phone or tablet. Ebook reading started as a solution to read more when the lights are always dimmed because of a baby. Also, finding ebook copies are more convenient, since I don't get much time to visit bookstores (also because of aforementioned child).
But the real reason it took months to finish Armada by Ernest Cline is because the little one kept stealing it from me when I tried reading. So, I went back to the tablet if I wanted to read and kept putting off my reading of Armada. I decided I don't want to have unfinished books on my current reading list at the end of the year, so I distracted her with whatever I could think off... Winnie the Pooh and Frozen viewing sessions, her own books, demanding for 'tea' whenever I'm reading so she'd be too busy 'making' it for me. So, with a few days to spare in 2016, I finally finished it.
Zack Lightman lives a pretty quiet life. He's still in high school, with an ex-girlfriend who dumped him for someone else, a nemesis with a penchant for bullying others, and a part-time job at a video game shop. He's also the sixth best player of the video game Armada, which features the Earth Defense Force or EDA battling aliens using tech they reverse-engineered from the same aliens. His mom who works as a nurse raised him on her own after the death of his father, who he thinks might be crazy after finding journals filled with conspiracy theories involving video games and men in black. Zack is afraid he might be going crazy, too, because he just saw an alien spacecraft much like the one in Armada flying outside of his school.
Even as Zack questions his sanity, you know that he really isn't going crazy. Sure, he's got a lot of teenage angst, growing up without a father and with a temper that he easily gives voice to, but nobody starts reading an Ernest Cline novel thinking that psychological problems is the worst of a protagonist's problems. Following in the footsteps of his debut novel, Ready Player One, author Ernest Cline once again creates a fictional mix of sci-fi, video games and pop culture. This is both a good thing and a bad thing.
There's something inherently fun about the way Ernest Cline weaves his stories. If you're part of my generation who saw the most evolution in video games, it's hard not to appreciate how he incorporates it into his stories. Unlike the immersive nature of the MMORPG environment in Ready Player One, however, Armada instead focuses more on how video games became the training ground for Earth's defense against aliens, albeit with potential recruits unaware of the threat and that they're learning how to fight.
The first few chapters were slow going, with Zack thinking that he's going crazy, until he gets picked up from the school yard by an EDA aircraft. After that, the novel picks up its pace, covering Zack's recruitment into the EDA, his first battle with the aliens who mysteriously fight exactly like the enemies in the Armada video game, his bad choices, his trip to the moon with numbers seven to ten in player rankings, his meeting with the general at the moon base, and the countdown to the possible end of the world. A lot happens and it's easy to breeze through the pages because you can't help but anticipate the excitement of the battle scenes (really, Ernest Cline writes action scenes you know would translate well on screen) and find out what the hell exactly is going on.
There is a surreal quality to Zack's account of his experiences as a lieutenant for the EDA. It's not just because this feels less likely to happen than people practically living their lives in an MMORPG game, but because the aliens are faceless and they follow far too predictable patterns that make Zack, and the readers, wonder if maybe it's just a dream (I was still holding out hope he really wasn't crazy). This is where I still debate on whether this was a good or bad thing for the narrative, because I can't quite make up my mind on whether it was too in-your-face or actually a display of sophisticated subtlety that was intended for readers to be more in tune with Zack's state of mind.
Armada is a good read, with a fun premise and definitely steeped in action, adventure and drama. Author Ernest Cline gives Zack a good cast of supporting characters. The heroic moments are numerous and you can't help but appreciate how rousing certain scenes were. But I couldn't quite give it more than three stars on Goodreads. I read Armada with zero expectations, except to hopefully have a good time reading, which I achieved. I certainly did not intend to compare it with Ready Player One. But, despite my promise to judge Armada on its own merits, I did just that.
Armada is solid on its own, but when you remember the strengths of Ready Player One, you realize that Ernest Cline's second novel was lacking in some areas. Zack never quite reached the levels of empathy I felt for Wade. The world building wasn't quite as expansive and the novel never quite reached the point of being believable. Sci-fi gems, including Ready Player One, Robopocalypse and Too Like the Lightning, are memorable because, as implausible as their settings and technology might be, they feel true when they are grounded in human nature. It's why sci-fi novels offer some of the best settings in books, because even with technology and probably because of it, people tend to make a lot of human mistakes. I don't know if it's because Armada featured a faceless enemy, but the lack of the other side of the human coin made Zack's story less resonant.
As I've said, Armada is a good read. It just feels like it's missing something to make it great. I would still recommend reading it, if you want something light and fun.
Happy reading!Labels: Action, Adventure, Armada, Books, Ernest Cline, Fiction, Reading List, Sci-fi
