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A review by rembrandt1881
Armada by Ernest Cline
2.0
I read Ready Player One and was excited to see what else Ernest Cline had in store and finally grabbed a copy from the library. As I was reading I became aware of some things then came over to Goodreads and saw many reviews that echoed the things that I was seeing. While he has moments when he is a good writer, Ernest Cline can be too engrossed in trying to show off his more geeky side and the things that seem to be stereotypical for nerd culture these days.
Early on in the novel he shovels so may pop culture references it makes your head want to explode. They aren't used in any insightful way but just to have a shared moment for those who also enjoy the obsessions unlike in his previous novel where at least there was some basis and explanation to them and why they were integral to the story. In Armada, they are superfluous and not needed at the level which they are used. In fact a lot of this reminds me of ET. A main character who idolizes an absent father who is also a nerd who has suppressed rage which he uses against a bully. He also ends up meeting and impressing a girl with the same interests immediately upon encountering her. It's all a ridiculous fantasy for a pop culture dork which still could have worked at some point had we really developed a feeling for the main protagonist.
That is probably the worst thing, the characters are never fully fleshed out at any point other than they love pop culture and are excellent at this video game Armada. Even the eventual female interest is just a shell of what an introverted boy might desire and doesn't have any real reason to behave the way she does or have loyalty to our main character. That's just rushed writing it seems to me, even when there are action sequences, they end and it doesn't feel like we have gone anywhere even though the stakes are incredibly high, and the ending just comes from no where and stops the book. It isn't satisfying in any real way. I had real high hopes and I was very disappointed by this novel. The 2 stars is because there is some fun in the action sequences and during some of the middle of the book but the characters nature of "they can because these are our heroes" doesn't work for me.
Early on in the novel he shovels so may pop culture references it makes your head want to explode. They aren't used in any insightful way but just to have a shared moment for those who also enjoy the obsessions unlike in his previous novel where at least there was some basis and explanation to them and why they were integral to the story. In Armada, they are superfluous and not needed at the level which they are used. In fact a lot of this reminds me of ET. A main character who idolizes an absent father who is also a nerd who has suppressed rage which he uses against a bully. He also ends up meeting and impressing a girl with the same interests immediately upon encountering her. It's all a ridiculous fantasy for a pop culture dork which still could have worked at some point had we really developed a feeling for the main protagonist.
That is probably the worst thing, the characters are never fully fleshed out at any point other than they love pop culture and are excellent at this video game Armada. Even the eventual female interest is just a shell of what an introverted boy might desire and doesn't have any real reason to behave the way she does or have loyalty to our main character. That's just rushed writing it seems to me, even when there are action sequences, they end and it doesn't feel like we have gone anywhere even though the stakes are incredibly high, and the ending just comes from no where and stops the book. It isn't satisfying in any real way. I had real high hopes and I was very disappointed by this novel. The 2 stars is because there is some fun in the action sequences and during some of the middle of the book but the characters nature of "they can because these are our heroes" doesn't work for me.