Armada

by Ernest Cline
355 pgs

As Zack Lightman sits in class, staring out the window, waiting for another tedious day of school to end, he sees it--a flying saucer! As he stares out at it incredulously, too stunned to even move or speak, he realizes that he's seen this flying saucer before. He recognizes every detail of the ship, from its distinctive grooves and front-end fangs, to its plasma cannons and insignia. It's a Glaive, and he's seen and destroyed thousands of these alien spaceships nightly for years, ever since his favorite computer game Armada came out.

Zack and other gamers like him from around the world are about to be recruited into the Earth Defense Alliance. Decades ago the government found indisputable evidence that we were not the only intelligent life form in our solar system. It also had reasons to believe that our continued existence would soon be threatened. So for years they have been controlling much of popular culture; ensuring that movies, TV shows, books, and video games were created that would train up future generations with the necessary skills to one day fight off an alien invasion.

They were secretly behind Star Wars, Star Trek, The Last Starfighter, Enders Game, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Battlestar Galactica, just to name a few. They were behind the gaming systems and games such as Space Invaders and ultimately Armada, which simulated the exact controls, enemies, and fighting tactics that Zack and his fellow recruits will now need to use in order to save the earth.

Armada is Ernest Cline's second book. His first, Ready Player One was fantastic, and just like this one, steeped in pop culture references. This time around Cline offers up a fun and action-packed story that even the most casual fan of science fiction stories should enjoy.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Ready Player One

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

"Dogs and cats, living together . . . mass hysteria!"

"You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada."

Family Ties

Silver Spoons

DeLoreans

Rush’s "2112" album

Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong

If these things mean anything to you, then Ready Player One is a must read. Ernest Cline has written his first novel and it’s a blast. The 1980s are forty years in the past, but because of one man, James Halliday, it’s the most important decade in human history. Knowledge of that decade’s movies, television shows, music, and video games is going to make someone wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.

James Halliday is the creator of the OASIS, an on-line reality that most people now spend every waking moment of their lives inhabiting. They live there as avatars, going to school, working, completing quests, defeating dragons, and falling in love, all while they sit in a chair, looking through a visor, wearing a suit that provides the tactile sensations of the virtual world they’re experiencing. The world outside the OASIS has fallen apart and the OASIS is the only world that matters anymore.

But the continued existence of that world becomes uncertain when James Halliday dies. In his will, he leaves ownership and control of the OASIS to the first person who can complete a contest; find three hidden keys that unlock three hidden gates within the OASIS and you’ll receive the OASIS along with Halliday’s immense fortune and wealth.

Ready Player One is really a lot of fun to read. Part of the fun for me was because I was a teenager during the '80s and grew up on all of the pop culture references Cline uses so well throughout the book. But you don't need to have fond memories of that decade to enjoy this book. The fate of the avatars is just as captivating as the fate of the real people behind them. And sometimes I found myself forgetting that the characters in the story weren't the real ones, but their virtual identity instead.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆