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[Schattenjäger]

Coming July 14


Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he’s spent his life consuming. Dreaming that one day, some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure.

But hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little escapism, right? After all, Zack tells himself, he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that here in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don’t get chosen to save the universe.

And then he sees the flying saucer.

Even stranger, the alien ship he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders.

No, Zack hasn’t lost his mind. As impossible as it seems, what he’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.

It’s Zack’s chance, at last, to play the hero. But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can’t help thinking back to all those science-fiction stories he grew up with, and wondering: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little…familiar?

At once gleefully embracing and brilliantly subverting science-fiction conventions as only Ernest Cline could, Armada is a rollicking, surprising thriller, a classic coming of age adventure, and an alien invasion tale like nothing you’ve ever read before—one whose every page is infused with the pop-culture savvy that has helped make Ready Player One a phenomenon.



Reviews
“A thrilling coming-of-age story.”
— Entertainment Weekly

“Video games come to life in this witty, extraterrestrial thriller.”
— New York Post

“Built like a summer blockbuster…Cline recombines the DNA of Ender’s Game, Star Wars, The Last Starfighter, and old-school arcade games like Asteroids into something that’s both familiar and unpredictable. It’s a mutant homage to sci-fi tropes past.”
— Gawker

"A novel so fun, you'll want to reboot it and read it again…the best novel this gamer geek has read in a long, long time."
— Hugh Howey, New York Times bestselling author of Wool

"Those conspiracies you imagined when you were fourteen turn out to be true in this masterful tale of Earth's desperate struggle against a powerful alien foe."
—Andy Weir, New York Times bestselling author of The Martian

 

[The_Poet]

I enjoyed Ready Player One but I hear this is much the same.

Apparently it panders even more to the 80's-90's and gets very laboured with its references, and for people on GAF who are generally well informed with games and retro culture, it gets quiet cringey and eye rolling.

 

[lazygecko]

Didn't Terry Pratchett write a book with the same premise?

 

[Scousefury]

Sounds like the plot of the Last Starfighter.

 

[Osiris]

Sounds like the plot of the Last Starfighter.

That was exactly what I thought too.

 

[Polk]

Didn't Terry Pratchett write a book with the same premise?

Only you can save Mankind, but it's hardly original premise for a story.

 

[Ventilaator]

This sound like it's just Ready Player One again.

Apparently it panders even more to the 80's-90's

and this isn't even possible

 

[WoodWERD]

I figured this was an update on the 21st Century Bible getting self-published on Amazon or something. Then again there were practically zero supporters.

 

[G-Fex]

Sounds like the plot of the Last Starfighter.

Yup

This author seems like a unoriginal guy.

 

[Timedog]

Sounds like a book made for 11 year olds. Nothing wrong with books written for 11 year old dorkwads. I wish I had this instead of Hardy Boys or whatever the hell else I was reading that sucked balls.

 

[Wiktor]

That;s such great cover design.

 

[HORRORSHØW]

rpo sucked so hard. cliched and predictable with terrible prose. pass for me.

 

[mclem]

I'm curious to see how it works out. The Last Starfighter pretty much plays the premise straight, while Only You Can Save Mankind subverts it significantly.

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

Sounds like a book made for 11 year olds. Nothing wrong with books written for 11 year old dorkwads. I wish I had this instead of Hardy Boys or whatever the hell else I was reading that sucked balls.

Hardy Boys? Did you grow up in the 50's then get stuck in a block of ice before thawing out in the new millennium? There was plenty of awesome weird shit to read from the era this author apparently lifts his ideas from.

 

[aku:jiki]

I enjoyed Ready Player One but I hear this is much the same.

Apparently it panders even more to the 80's-90's and gets very laboured with its references, and for people on GAF who are generally well informed with games and retro culture, it gets quiet cringey and eye rolling.

No way, really? I was going to give this a shot to see how this author does without the reference crutch, but I guess not then.

 

[The_Poet]

No way, really? I was going to give this a shot to see how this author does without the reference crutch, but I guess not then.

Just repeating what I heard from a few reviewers, might be worth reading and deciding for yourself though.

 

[MattKeil]

Sounds like a book made for 11 year olds. Nothing wrong with books written for 11 year old dorkwads. I wish I had this instead of Hardy Boys or whatever the hell else I was reading that sucked balls.

A book full of almost nothing but '80s and '90s pop culture references is made for people who were born in 2004?

 

[KodaRuss]

I'll check it out. That cover is really cool as well.

I enjoyed RPO.

 

[timetokill]

I can only imagine. Reading RPO it was like, okay, dude, I get it

you liked the 80s

 

[jb1234]

Gotta say, was expecting a Terry Goodkind thread.

 

[Mrs. Manky]

Gotta say, was expecting a Terry Goodkind thread.

I was expecting Orson Scott Card myself, but also a good call.

 

[jon bones]

i feel bad for the people who have to read this for reviews :/

RPO is amongst the worst books ever written, i have no idea how few books you have to read in your life for it to seem good.

I got Ready Player One in a Loot Crate a few months ago, started reading it yesterday, but from the comments here I understand every page is gonna have those noted passages and paragraphs full of references at the bottom explaining them?

Dear God, why?

I'm willing to give the story a chance, but I just read the prologue yesterday and it was already annoying the fuck out of me.

SAVE YOUR TIME

RPO is an awful, awful book about a fat, poor white neckbeard MMO player who falls in love with a girl he meets once in-game and cries when she leaves him in an MMO-dance club.

it has terrible prose, and is borderline unreadable because of it.

i assume it gets worse after that point, but i couldn't read any further.

it's like Superman 64: The Book and it boggles my mind that someone could possibly enjoy it, as it is terrible on every level: plot, prose, characterization, etc.

 

[Aiii]

I got Ready Player One in a Loot Crate a few months ago, started reading it yesterday, but from the comments here I understand every page is gonna have those noted passages and paragraphs full of references at the bottom explaining them?

Dear God, why?

I'm willing to give the story a chance, but I just read the prologue yesterday and it was already annoying the fuck out of me.

 

[Chance Hale]

I won't even try to force my way through this one

I figured this was an update on the 21st Century Bible getting self-published on Amazon or something. Then again there were practically zero supporters.

Oh my god what is this thread, with every quote it gets worse and worse. It's nice to know I can still be surprised I guess.

 

[Schattenjäger]

RPO is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures

 

[Busty]

Eh. Not really feeling that synopsis to be honest. I have heard good (and bad) things about Ready Player One but I'm only compelled to read it given that Spielberg has committed to making it his next film after BFG.

Also, it's strange to think that Universal took the film rights to this novel at the end of 2012 and only now is it being published.

 

[diffusionx]

Ready Player One is such an awful book. I had to put it down at one point because there was just this massive plot hole that was glided past that enraged me. If the book wasn't full of old nerd references it would have never gone anywhere. But the references are not interesting or enriching, they're just dorky.

 

[bennywhatever]

One thing is for sure - the thread title is accurate.

I liked RPO and loved the passionate audiobook narration by Wil Wheaton. Glad to see Wil is back for Armada. I'll check it out.

 

[Laieon]

I absolutely loved Ready Player One, but the ending was a little weak. It definitely wasn't the most well written book in the world, but it was a ton of fun to read. Can't wait for this, even if it does sound like more of the same.

 

[Ape Gone Insane]

RPO is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures

Yeah, 90% of it is an 80s info dump (which I wasn't really interested in) and the other 10% is a poorly written and cringey mess but it's still a bit of a guilty pleasure read.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Gotta say, was expecting a Terry Goodkind thread.

Same

 

[JCX]

I can only imagine. Reading RPO it was like, okay, dude, I get it

you liked the 80s

I'm reading it for the first time now. Initially I thought, "cool, a book full of references I get", but then it morphed into feeling like the nerd 1-upping I assume happens at cons. Still an enjoyable read though.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Already pre-ordered.

I LOVED Ready Player One.

Loved it.

 

[GiantEnemyGoomba]

I'm so disappointed the title wasn't referring to Rick Chapman

 

[Timeaisis]

Ready Player Two

 

[The Technomancer]

Even stranger, the alien ship he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders.

No, Zack hasn’t lost his mind. As impossible as it seems, what he’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.

Could this be any more of a...more of a self-insert fantasy? Jesus christ

 

[The Llama]

I'd never heard of Ready Player One before this thread but its $4 on Amazon so YOLO why not. Already kind of worried I'll give it up after 20 pages because of all the 80's references though!

 

[jon bones]

hey guys who liked this book, you should read this now and be prepared to be blown away at how good books can actually be:

Could this be any more of a...more of a self-insert fantasy? Jesus christ

that's the author's whole shtick

it's embarassingly cringe-worthy and makes me think less of people who relate to it

I'm so disappointed the title wasn't referring to Rick Chapman

i'm so disappointed with many of the posters here

 

[PeskyToaster]

I'm so disappointed the title wasn't referring to Rick Chapman

I thought it was too

 

[cirrhosis]

I'm so disappointed the title wasn't referring to Rick Chapman

That was a good book. I enjoyed it.

 

[Red Mage]

Gotta say, was expecting a Terry Goodkind thread.

He's not polarizing here, though. Everyone knows he sucks.

 

[ImpalingNarwhal]

At first glance, I thought that was a Triforce on the cover.

 

[Hanzou]

So what does it say about me if I like ready aye role as well. As "good books" like snow crash, necromancer, game of thrones etc. Am I an idiot?

 

[schadenfood]

Ready Player One is such an awful book. I had to put it down at one point because there was just this massive plot hole that was glided past that enraged me.

What was the massive plot hole? Been a while since I read RPO--enjoyed it but didn't think too hard about it.

 

[jon bones]

So what does it say about me if I like ready aye role as well. As "good books" like snow crash, necromancer, game of thrones etc. Am I an idiot?

it says you're well read enough to understand RPO is a bad book, but you enjoyed it regardless.

it's much better than someone who doesn't read and thinks RPO is an actual good book.

 

[Slayven]

Sounds like the plot of the Last Starfighter.

it will be, going by Ready Player One

it says you're well read enough to understand RPO is a bad book, but you enjoyed it regardless.

it's much better than someone who doesn't read and thinks RPO is an actual good book.

It is a terrible book for anyone not a fan of the 80s, even then it got old fast. But it had some enjoyable bits. But the last 3rd was laughable as hell.

 

[perfectchaos007]

I wonder if that new Adam Sandler Film "Pixels" is anything like this. It's hard to tell from the trailers.

 

[commish]

hey guys who liked this book, you should read this now and be prepared to be blown away at how good books can actually be:

Not sure Stephenson is the guy you want to be quoting here. I say that as I trudge through another Stephenson novel, Seveneves, that has a great premise and starts out fantastically before Stephenson gets bogged down in details and explaining things rather than advancing the plot or fleshing out his characters.

Anyway, RPO was dumb fun, so I look forward to this next book.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

What was the massive plot hole? Been a while since I read RPO--enjoyed it but didn't think too hard about it.

As much as love the book the part where

Spoiler

months earlier he bought hacked passcodes for the evil corps computer system just incase he was ever in their building and needed to use them. Which of course as it turns out, he did.

Not sure Stephenson is the guy you want to be quoting here. I say that as I trudge through another Stephenson novel, Seveneves, that has a great premise and starts out fantastically before Stephenson gets bogged down in details and explaining things rather than advancing the plot or fleshing out his characters.

Anyway, RPO was dumb fun, so I look forward to this next book.

Snowcrash was good once. Tried going through it again but couldn't.

Diamond Age was really good and I just finished Seveneves, which I REALLY want a tv show about the future he's set up.

Tried Reamde but really hated the first couple of chapters so I dropped it.

 

[jon bones]

Not sure Stephenson is the guy you want to be quoting here. I say that as I trudge through another Stephenson novel, Seveneves, that has a great premise and starts out fantastically before Stephenson gets bogged down in details and explaining things rather than advancing the plot or fleshing out his characters.

Anyway, RPO was dumb fun, so I look forward to this next book.

The only reason I pick Snow Crash is because it is similar to RPO in a way. I figure if people enjoyed the general theme of RPO, they'd realy enjoy Snow Crash.

It also has a movie coming along, which seems to pique people's interest in reading the source material.