Armada

Armada by Ernest Cline (2015)

Zack Lightman is a typical kid at Beaverton High School outside of Portland, Oregon. His dad died when Zack was just a baby, so he lives alone with his mom. He has a job at Starbase Ace, a video game store, and video games are what Zack excels the most at. Especially a game called Armada, in which a race of aliens called the Sobrukai threaten planet Earth. One day at school Zack is staring out the window in boredom and sees a flying saucer that looks strangely like the Glaive fighters in the Armada video game. Initially elated that something amazing is finally happening to him, Zack gets more than he bargained for when the mystery of that flying saucer is revealed.

I loved Ernest Cline's first novel, Ready Player One, so I approached his follow-up with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. As I expected, it wasn't as amazing as his debut, but it shares some similarities and I ultimately wasn't disappointed. The novel starts out a bit slow, despite Zack spotting a flying saucer on the first page. This was followed by a lot of detailed descriptions of video game playing, which is hard to visualize and got a bit boring. But that all doesn't last for long, and the story picked right up and maintained plenty of momentum to propel me through.

I'm not going to say much about the plot actually because I think it's best left to discover for yourself. What you need to know: video games, aliens, 1980s pop culture. The story about Zack's parents and his job at Starbase Ace also played into the whole overarching plot in a way I really liked.

Ernest Cline apparently loves 80s pop culture, but the references made more sense in Ready Player One. That novel centered around a video game created by a guy obsessed with 80s pop culture, so of course his followers needed to know all that stuff to win the game. Here it's just a high school student who knows a lot about a long-ago decade, which is maybe not totally believable, or at least it's not explained. At any rate, the 80s were my decade so I'll take it.

As a bonus, there's a mixtape of his father's that Zack listens to while playing Armada and the music is referenced quite a bit. The mix is called "Raid the Arcade Mix" and is included in the back of the book as a photograph of a Maxell cassette cover, with the song information hand-written just like the old days. The playlist includes such classics as Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust," Joan Jett and the Blackhearts performing "I Hate Myself for Loving You," and the anthem from Top Gun. (And yes, this playlist is available on Spotify.)

Like Cline's first book, Armada is different from the (albeit limited) other science fiction that I've read, primarily because it's written in a more personable, entertaining way and doesn't seem to take itself too seriously. If you go into it expecting another Ready Player One you might be disappointed, but if you just want a fun enjoyable book about video games and aliens it's a great choice.

Ready Player One

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (2011)

In the not-so-disant future, the reality of living in the United States has become extremely unpleasant, especially for Wade Watts, who lives in the Stacks in Oklahoma City. The Stacks are a trailer park in which trailers are stacked upon each other in what is basically a vertical ghetto. Luckily, like many people, Wade spends most of his time in an online world called OASIS, a virtual reality game created by the legendary James Halliday. A few years back, Halliday died, leaving behind the ultimate game with the ultimate prize. Using just a few cryptic clues, players must find three keys that open three gates before they can find the Easter Egg hidden in the game. The first person to reach the egg wins Halliday's entire estate, including a controlling share of stock in Halliday's company, Gregarious Gaming Systems. But in addition to all the individual egg hunters (known as "gunters") a company called IOI - the world's large internet service provider - has channeled all its forces towards winning the quest so they can take over the OASIS. Wade, known online as Parzival, pins all his hopes on winning, as the only way out of the Stacks and his miserable existence there.

Integral to the quest is a vast knowledge of 80s pop culture, because Halliday grew up in the 80s and was obsessed with the tv shows, video games, and movies of that era. So the gunters also adopt this obsession, memorizing everything about that decade, including the lines to all Halliday's favorite movies. This encyclopedic knowledge is not only important to the gunters' mission, but is also makes this an incredibly fun book (especially if you're a child of the 80s.) Wade knows way more about 80s pop culture than I do, and I lived through that decade.

Ready Player One was so different from anything I've read in a long time. Admittedly, I stick to domestic fiction with a side of YA dystopias, and it was so fantastic to read an adventure! It was fast-paced, funny, and just generally well-written. I am not a video game person (except Tetris, which I just have to stay away from for my own good) but this actually made me want to play video games. The whole quest was very creative and pulled in so many fun tv shows, songs, movies, and even breakfast cereals that I remember from my childhood. Wade and his friends are all decent, even admirable, people that are totally worth rooting for.

Ready Player One is by far one of the best books I've read recently. Now I want to read more books like it, but I have no idea if there's anything similar out there. (If you have suggestions, please leave them in the comments!) I'm very happy to hear that the day after the book sold, so did the film rights, with Cline as screenwriter. I think this could be a fantastic movie. I wonder if there will be a video game?

I'll just leave you with one more Ernest Cline tidbit: "Dance, Monkeys, Dance." He didn't make the animation, but the words are all his. If this doesn't make you want to read his book, I don't know what will.