Armada, by Ernest Cline
Posted on: May 18, 2016
Armada, by Ernest Cline
published 2015
where I got it: purchased new
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I liked Ernest Cline’s debut novel, Ready Player One. I don’t remember if I really *really* liked it, but I recall enjoying it. I was excited to hear he had a new book coming out, and even more excited when Armada showed up in paperback. Armada was going to be just as good as Ready Player One, right? It was going to be better, right?
Well, it was certainly an Ernest Cline book, that’s for sure. And Ernie Cline fan or not, you’re either going to really love this book, or really hate it.
In his free time, high school senior Zach Lightman plays his favorite MMO, Armada, with his buddies. Even at his part time job at the local gaming and comics shop, Zach gets to play Armada with his boss when the shop is slow, which is usually is. And because this is an Ernest Cline book, not a paragraph goes by without a reference to the video games, music, and scifi movies and tv shows from the past 30 years. Zach even digs through his late father’s VHS tapes and cassette tapes, in an effort to know the father he barely met.
(Ok, something neat was happening here: Zach and his generation are the children of today’s gaming teenagers. Zach grew up playing video games with his Mom, and most of his friends grew up playing video games with their parents. That’s actually pretty cool.)
As it turns out, the video game Armada and it’s sister game Terra Firma are simulations designed to train an Earth force and identify highly skilled pilots. Earth is being attacked by aliens from Europa, and our best and last chance are the best players of Armada and Terra Firma! All that time playing video games wasn’t wasted after all! And in fact, the entire science fiction entertainment industry was designed on purpose to get humans used the idea that we are not alone, and that one day we would have to defend ourselves.
As one of the top Armada players in the world (because of course he is), Zach is whisked away to a secret training base. He learns our scientists have been capturing alien technology and backwards engineering it for decades (because of course they have), and that the enemies in the Armada video game were designed to mimic the aliens from Europa. Entrapped into enlisting into the Earth Defense Alliance, Zach is given a shiny uniform, and assigned to Moon Base Alpha. This all happens incredibly quickly, and the how’s and why’s are heavyhandedly swept under the rug. Because who wants to think when you’re in the middle of a space battle, defending the Earth and everything and everyone you cherish? Right?
Here’s the thing: I couldn’t buy into what was happening. And it wasn’t just me, even the characters were having trouble buying in to what was going on. And when they do question what’s going on or verbalize that things don’t make sense? They are shut down and told to shut up. And that annoyed the living hell out of me.
Eventually Zach notices that the alien invaders suffer from “Stormtrooper syndrome”, and can’t hit the broad side of a barn, making it look like people are in danger but actually easily allowing the heroes to get to where they need to be for a leveling up boss fight. On top of that, even with alien technology, the science and physics in a number of scenes just don’t work. Even with alien technology, It should take more than 40 minutes to get to the moon (and the moon base shouldn’t have Earth gravity), and it should take more than a few hours for a fighter drone to get to the moon Europa. If you’re playing a video game, you can hide travel time with a cut scene, but in a book I just couldn’t buy it. Being reminded by the characters that things “just didn’t feel real” and “didn’t make any sense” didn’t help either.
The entire book felt like a set up for some kind of M. Night Shaymalan twist. Maybe everyone constantly questioning everything is just some really unsubtle foreshadowing? Alas, that was not the case. When the “big reveal” did show up, it didn’t feel connected to the rest of the story, and for my money it couldn’t have been more disappointing.
Some readers are going to really love this book, and that’s great, I’m happy for them. But Armada was a giant fail for me. The writing was incredibly heavy handed, the action scenes were oddly boring, and as a reader I felt like I was being talked down to. Yes, I get that 80s gaming, music, and movie references are Cline’s thing, but after having a reference in nearly every single paragraph, it quickly spiralled from fun, to gimmicky, to me feeling like someone was bragging “look how much I know about the 80s! Aren’t you impressed with how much I know? Let me tell you more! I know, I’ll tell you more!”. Yes, Cline, I get it. We all get it. Can we get on with the storytelling now? I was so disappointed in this book that I wouldn’t have even finished it, except it’s this month’s pic for my local scifi book club, and I really was hoping for some kind of cool crazy twist at the end.
16 Responses to "Armada, by Ernest Cline"
May 18, 2016 at 9:13 am
I haven’t read it, but the premise reminds me so much of Ender’s Game. Perhaps Cline meant it as a homage, but personally, if I’ve already read a book, I don’t want to read a new version of it.
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May 18, 2016 at 10:27 pm
Ender’s Game was so intelligent, and in that saga things have consequences, decisions matter. I know some people don’t like Ender’s Game, but I love it, and every time I read it I get more out of it and enjoy it more.
this book had none of those things.
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May 18, 2016 at 9:15 am
Haven’t read it, but your review sounds like the plot is lifted (except for all the 80’s references ‘cuz this WAS an 80’s movie) almost exactly from “The Last Starfighter” . . . which I’ve also already seen. Thanks for the review–I’ll definitely have to pass this one by.
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May 18, 2016 at 10:26 pm
and believe it or not, early on in the book the main character says something like “This is just like what happened in The Last Starfighter!”
May 18, 2016 at 1:05 pm
Yep, what Alex said. I stopped after reading your 5th paragraph, which was close to a description of ENDER’S GAME as I’d come. I’m almost surprised Card’s attorneys aren’t after this one.
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May 19, 2016 at 8:47 pm
i guess this is homage?
We were talking at bookclub the other night, that what if books like these, that make a million pop culture references, become a whole new subgenre?
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May 21, 2016 at 1:37 pm
Oh and – OF COURSE – I did finish reading your fine, snarky review. Thank god you’re not a “only review what I like” reviewer!
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May 21, 2016 at 1:44 pm
it’s terrible – the negative reviews are often the easiest to write. But they are also the ones that tend to get the most discussion in the comments.
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May 18, 2016 at 6:17 pm
My thoughts on this one: not as good as Ready Player One which just bowled me over – and part of that could be that I was expecting not to like it. Similarly, or not, with this one I could have been a bit more difficult to please because I had such high expectations. I liked this as a fun read (and also I confess I’m always so pleased with myself when I actually understand a book that leans more towards sci fi). I thought the characterisation was flat and the timeframe was a bit ridiculous – just too fast. But, I still enjoyed it for certain reasons. I think with RPO we had a similar thing of loving the 80s references but then becoming a little bit irritated because there were either too many references or they were always explained which was just annoying. I had similar issues (in a different way – if that makes sense) with the Jo Walton’s novel Among Others – lots and lots of SFF book references that are great to begin with but then become tedious and the whole thing feels more like an almanac than a novel – plot lost.
I’ll go away now! Nobody expects a bloody essay in their comments.
Lynn 😀
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May 18, 2016 at 10:25 pm
we were discussing Armada at Book Club, and everyone was chiming in with something similar to:
” I thought the characterisation was flat and the timeframe was a bit ridiculous – just too fast. ”
I felt that way about Among Others too. Also, I was pissed that the main character in that book didn’t like one of my favorite scifi books that’s mentioned!
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May 19, 2016 at 5:25 pm
Aww man that sucks! I haven’t read Ready Player One yet, but I absolutely love video games, so I had both of his books on my TBR. But I also only like the more recent video games, as I was not alive in the 80’s. So I’m wondering if I will be bothered by all the references. Hmm. But I think what really bothers me is that Armada sounds a lot like Ender’s Game. Or at least the set-up does a little.
It sucks to see that some of the things were a little unbelievable. I hope I have better luck if I ever get to this!
Awesome review!! 🙂
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May 19, 2016 at 8:48 pm
it’s a mash up of Ender’s Game + The Last Starfighter, but less smart than either of those.
If you haven’t read Ender’s Game yet, read that instead. it’s better.
May 23, 2016 at 11:52 am
I listened to this on audio and definitely think my overall enjoyment was raised because Wil Wheaton narrated. Who can not like Wil Wheaton narrating. 🙂
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the Little Red Reviewer 
May 18, 2016 at 8:46 am
I pretty much agree with you, although I decided to just sit back and enjoy it for what it was. I was also hoping for a twist ending, I mean what a perfect opportunity, right?
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May 19, 2016 at 8:49 pm
i know right? so many cool things Cline could have done at the end!
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