This was one of those books that I noticed on the shelf and pretty much decided to buy before I even picked it up. The cover is designed like a video rental jacket from the 80’s, front to back, right down to the “Be Kind, Rewind” sticker, and it’s like I had no choice. I still remember in fourth grade when the one liquor store in town started renting VCRs and movies on VHS, and just looking at this book brought back the sights and […]
Manic Pixie Dream World
I knew nothing about Ready Player One when I picked it up. Somewhere along the way I had gotten the impression that it was in the Hunger Games/Running Man kinda book–this was way off. Ready Player One is the story of a dystopian future USA, dominated by a virtual reality universe called OASIS. James Halliday, the man who created OASIS, before he died, hid a series of clues within it. The person who finds and solves these clues (Easter eggs) will be rewarded with Halliday’s […]
A checklist of 80’s trivia in book form
Okay. I’ve been sitting on this review for about two weeks, getting my head around how I felt about Armada for a bit longer, and 3.5 stars it is. It’s not a bad book — all things considered, it’s very entertaining — but even without comparing it directly to Ernest Cline’s first (and still best) book Ready Player One, it is precocious and simple in ways that aren’t completely flattering. There will be some spoilers below, and I’ll mark them. In this paragraph, I will […]
In the future all of our conversations will be in 80’s movie quotes
Armada is a summer blockbuster in book form. It’s entertaining, it moves fast, and it’s a fun ride. It’s also not nearly as smart as it thinks it is. Armada walks the line between “homage” and “rip off” on a razor wire. To be honest I’m still not sure which side it ultimately falls on but I’m leaning strongly toward rip off. Aliens are invading Earth and only a group of clandestinely trained gamers can save us. Sound familiar? The X-Files tells us “The truth […]