Armada: The thrilling sci-fi novel from the global bestselling author of Ready Player One

Take away the geek culture references and it's not so great. The plot is basically that of the Last Starfighter, video games are used as simulator to find the best pilots to defend the Earth from alien invasion. The book is full of sci-fi culture references and I'll admit I got a kick out of recognising a lot of them. However, take away those references and it's not great, We're only told, never shown, how great the pilots are. Don't expect great battles with thought and tactics, Cline is non-league compared to the Premier League of David Weber. The main character does show a bit of growth but makes an awful decision towards the end with no logical justification except to serve the plot. The end sets up a sequel however I won't be reading it.

I ready Ernie Clines first book Ready Player One last year and it went in at the top of my most favourite books pile. So I was very much looking forward to Armada and whilst I feel it didn't hit the heights of RPO, I still enjoyed it immensely. Great story and characters, bit formulaic at times but still a very enjoyable read.

I'll start by saying I read the last one, I read this one, and I will read the next one. Ernest is not a great writer but his books are so full of cultural references from the 70s and 80s that reading them is a step apart from literature. It is more like doing a word search through your own memory of all the geeky cool stuff you have ever seen. This reads like a book written by a 15 year old in his 40s for all those of us who are still secretly harboring a 15 year old inside us.