June 2017

Ernest Cline had an impossible act to follow after writing 'Ready Player One'. He could have written a sequel or an entire new story. He chose the latter and threw in some quirks that made 'RPO' such a hit. He named this new story 'Armada' and released it in 2015.

The adventure is set on present day Earth. Shock horror, no dystopian future (Every young adult sci-fi novel I pick up seems to be dystopian at the minute). The story progresses through the character of Zack Lightman. He is your 'some what' average high school kid who is world level at the video game Armada. I say 'some what' because his dad died in a odd accident when he was a child, and he has a reputation of a short fuse, that he can't get rid of.

The story has all the 80s references and video game humour that made 'Ready Player One' a fan favourite. Read below to find out if this was enough to make 'Armada' an instant classic?

WHAT I LIKED:

Cline is great at creating humour. The conversations between Zack and his close friends are easy, authentic and funny. The exchanges are a joy to read and a real strong point of the book.

The story differed from 'RPO' but still kept that gamer/ 80s essence. Cline's bravery is worth noting because many writers would have written the 'RPO' sequel.

The surprises and the guessing games readers have with the story line keep you intrigued and hungry for the outcome. Nothing feels predictable!

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:

The pacing is extremely slow to begin with. It takes an age to get into the story which is a shame because once I was invested I couldn't put the book down.

Obscure references are common and they disconnected me from the story. Agreed, this shows my ignorance rather than an issue with the story, but a lot went over my head and ruined the immersion for me.

The antagonists never felt threatening. The lives of the characters aren't under true threat and this lowered the stakes. Everything boiled down to the odd motivation presented by the antagonists. I always felt that their was a real motive, so never felt danger.

WHAT IS IT SIMILAR TO?:

The story has elements of Orson Scott Card's 'Ender's Game'. The training simulator concept, the distant hardly known villain and the sketchy human morals had me feeling Ender Wiggin could appear at any moment.

The 80s pop and video game references give the story similar moments to its spiritual predecessor 'RPO'. It doesn't weave in the references as well or create moments of 'fuck yeah' (They saturated 'RPO' from start to finish). I did get the impression that Cline was trying too hard to recapture his previous magic.

WOULD I RECOMMEND IT:

If you've read RPO and enjoyed it, the allure to read this would have been too much and i'm guessing, like me, you devoured this within a week of finishing RPO. That being said, if you've stumbled across this book without reading RPO, you are in for a fun adventure that differs from anything else out there.

If you like suspense and twists this book has its share. They are slightly slow, especially at the start, in presenting themselves but it's a fun story.

If video games and fantasy fiction aren't your thing, I'd advise you to stay away. This book was made solely for that crowd.

For those looking for RPO part 2, this will disappoint. It just isn't as magical although it is a decent effort.

"This must be it." He said.

"The old bat was right!" She removed her cap, dragged her hands through her dirty hair and flopped to the ground.

He grabbed one of the artefacts out of the box and analysed it. After a few rotations he realised he didn't know what he was looking for. He returned it to the box and checked the others. "They all look the same."

"Let me see." She pushed him out of the way, tore into the box and burrowed around. "What is this junk?" She tipped the box upside down.

"What the hell are you doing?" He tried grabbing the box from her, but she pushed him back. Showing no signs of her smaller frame.

The artefacts fell to the floor, nothing broke. She turned to him with an 'i told you so' smile. Turning back to the pieces, she sieved through them, "This can't be what the witch was talking about? They're just lumps of rubbish." She tossed one of the artefacts over her shoulder in disgust.

The boy rushed behind her to make sure the piece wasn't damaged. He picked it up and examined it. "You idiot! We don't even know what these... Oh my god!" She turned to face him.

The artefact glowed a fluorescent purple. "I think you broke it." He pulled it to his face and stared at it. From purple it flashed green and then tripled in temperature. "Ah!" The tips of his fingers seared and he dropped it.

"What are you doing?" She said. The artefact hit the floor. It quickly returned to purple. The boy waved his hands about, but his fingers still stung. In need of stronger measures he clustered his fingers together and blew on them.

As he emptied his lungs, his body froze. From heel to head he couldn't move. The artefact turned red and pulsed from dark to light.

Not realising the boy had frozen, the girl crept toward the pulsing object. Half a metre away she crouched down. She looked at it closely, "Hey stop messing around and look at this," she moved to within touching distance of the artefact when she froze too.

The artefact rose from the ground and hovered in the air. The girl let out a stifled moan, her fear was clear. The artefact swayed towards her face and stopped. If she had control of her eyelids she would have shut them tightly.

Marks and lines appeared across the artefact. They stayed for a second and then changed direction and twisted into something else. The red cooled to a pink glow and then the marks and lines stopped moving.

A voice oozed from the artefact. "Are you sure?"

Shock silenced the girls moans and groans.

"This is it. This is your story. It all begins here." Said the voice.

A blue light beamed from the artefact and shone first on the girl and then the boy. The moment the light touched them they vanished.

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