Armada - Book Review

Armada, by Ernest Cline, is a science fiction book with lot of eighties pop culture references - just like his previous book - Ready Player One .

The books are not related, and while Armada is pretty good, I recently re-read Ready Player One and it wins easily.

Armada is clearly inspired by The Last Starfighter, and quite mildly by Ender's Game. I imagine most people who have seen both movies or read the books already have a pretty good idea where this is going.

The main character is Zack, who is 18, still at high school, and on a class he suddenly sees an alien spaceship - which looks exactly like one from his favorite game. Is he losing his mind? His father had a crazy notebook with theories about aliens...

Personally I felt that it felt too derivative until the middle, but then things pick up and it is pretty good till the end (which allows for continuations).

There is also heavy mentions of mix tapes left by Zack father - which certainly reminds me of Guardians of the Galaxy. I'd nag more about it, but it is a pretty sweet selection and included in full at the last page of the book. I even made a playlist on Apple Music (missing Old Enough to Rock, though - couldn't find it on Apple Music).

 Overall, very enjoyable and recommended.

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