I was really excited to read Armada since I read some months ago Ready Player One and I enjoyeI expected something more original...
ZACK’S GAME
I was really excited to read Armada since I read some months ago Ready Player One and I enjoyed A LOT that other book.
So, reading the next novel by Ernest Cline was a obvious decision.
I was aware of the basic premise, and I really hoped to read something fresh and original with the same sense of witty and humor found on Ready Player One, but while I can’t deny that Armada contains witty and humor, I didn’t find it fresh or original.
Any big reason? ...
...some book that you may heard about (not matter if you have read it or not)...
...Ender’s Game.
Cline didn’t do any attempt (that it could be pointless and illogical) to hide the connection to the mentioned novel, in fact in the “reality” of the book, Ender’s Game exists as the same known sci-fi novel than in “our” reality.
But, one thing is aknowledge the novel and other is trying to make a “readers’ friendly” version of that novel. Ender’s Game is a complex book, you love it or hate it, very rarely you are in the middle about it (where to be fair, I think that I am in the middle). There are many reasons why readers hate the book, some illogical like the personal opinions of the author about polemic topics (if I’d worry about personal thinking about authors, actors, musicians, etc… Very likely I wouldn’t be able to enjoy a lot of good books, movies, tv series and music albums). I prefer a shitty person but good writer than a good person but shitty writer. (Yes, I got that from the film adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars).
Anyway, there are other issues on the actual book like the age of the main character in contrast with his too mature attitude or violent actions. But, at least it was original.
Honestly, I don’t think the same about Armada.
And if some of you (my fellow geeks) are thinking about the movie The Last Starfighter, don’t worry, Cline mentions that film too...
...of course he has to mention it!!! He’s shamelessly merging Ender’s Game (book) with The Last Starfighter (movie) as being any able to avoid mention those. But, being open to mention the awareness of those projects and excusing them as “being part of a bigger plan” to explain why Armada is so much like those previous stories, it isn’t a satisfactory scenario to justify the lack of originality in this novel.
On the narrative, there is even a large and meticulous list of all works about alien invasions, military sci-fi and books/movies about using civilians (usually teenagers) in video game simulations to train them for real military duties. Where in that, I was amazed that (taking in account how extensive the list is) it wasn’t mentioned the film “Toys” (1992) with Robin Williams. Yes, the movie is pretty lame, but hey! Its general story makes a bullseye on about what’s about the main topic on the novel as to be picky about it and not mentioning it. (The sci-fi list covers until 1999, so there is no reason why to skip that movie since it fits in that “big conspiration theory” like a glove).
Another curious thing is that Zack Lightman, the main character, has a history of previous violence and even a bully is afraid of him. The bullies are afraid of the geeks?! What kind of insane world is that one?! Hehehe.
I didn’t see the point of portraiting Zack Lightman with a past of violence. I know many gamers whom they don’t kill a fly in real world and they are insane killers in video games. It was like taking Ender Wiggin but instead of recruiting him as a small child and waiting until he is eighteen years old. While I understand the disliking of some readers of a child doing the kind of violence as Ender, at least that’s something to talk about, something polemic, any controversy is good for the general impact of a story... but a 18-years old man with a violent past? Mmh... Nope, no controversy there, sorry.
I won’t spoil the ending, don’t worry, I will only say that even the way as “the twist” in the story is managed, it isn’t that original, fresh or innovative. Basically it’s a kinda loose reverse way of The New Twilight Zone episode “A Small Talent for War” (that it was considered one of the best episodes of the revival TV series. It impacted me so much when I watched it, back then in 1986, that I still remember the basic storyline of the TV episode).
Hey! If you don’t want geeks (like me) to point out that they read/hear/watch a similar story before, then don’t do “geek stories”, since we (geeks) love to show off our geekness’ sapienza, totally worthless in the day-to-day real life, but fun to point out when something isn’t as original as others may think.
Wait a minute! 1986? The episode of The New Twilight Zone was aired in 1986??!
Ender's Game was published in 1986!!!
Dang! Forget 1985! This novel should be titled "1986 Strikes Back!"
GEEKNESS TOO MUCH
You may think that a geek (like me) will be in paradise in a novel like Armada where in almost every single paragraph, there are like between 2 and 6 pop culture geek references.
If so...
You thought...
...wrong.
I don’t know, maybe I am not as geek as I think… who am I kidding? I am a dang geek! But, honestly, even I found irritating/excesive/unnecesary (pick your poison) to include such overwhelming ludicrous HUGE chunk of popular culture geek references in every single dang paragraph in the whole novel.
Did I understand the geek references?
Sure! I am a geek, duh!
However, unless I am in the middle of a “deep” discussion with fellow geek friends, I don’t think or speak out loud so many pop culture geek references in day-to-day situations. Believe it or not, if we (geeks) opted of not wearing a geek-related t-shirt, we (geeks) can mingle in the middle of non-geek masses and you (non-geek) won’t be able to indentify us...
...BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!
Mmh... Of course, it helps too if we (geeks) opted to avoid laughing out loud in machiavellian style! In that way our camouflage is impeccable... Bwa...mmh...right, right...
But really, I am a geek and I don’t think or speak like Zack Lightman, and even I can’t believe that the most obsessive real life geek may think or speak as Zack Lightman does. Yes, I know, it’s a book and usually that kind of characters are archetypes intentionally exaggerated to construct epitome-like characters and in that way, being able to differentiate between different characters in a story and/or clearly pointing out the purpose of the character in the narrative. However, while in Ready Player One I felt that pop culture references were used in a proper way, with the right amount of it, here, in Armada, the author just lost control of it and the popular culture geek references just ran free crushing any chance of enjoying the reading experience.
In a smaller note, but relevant, I think that the novel takes a bit too much to engage, since after two compelling initial chapters, you get lost in over-detailing descriptions of video game sessions before reaching the point where the story begins to kick, provoking a “bump” in the first part of the book.
At the end, I felt not fair giving it at least a 3-stars rating, which it puts the novel in the safe positive side of the rating bar, but definitely I expected a lot more of this book, taking in account, Cline’s great job in Ready Player One. I don’t regret having read it, but I was looking for something more original and enjoyable and sadly it wasn’t the case.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets The Big Bang Theory meets TRON (raised to the nth power (TRWOW !!! (Pun intended, if you what I meant ;) )
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets The Big Bang Theory meets TRON (raised to the nth power (TRON, I mean)).
The most clear appealing to read this novel is obviously the insane quantity of geek references, mostly to 80's era (and some of 70's too), so it is most likely that people who aren't geek (don't worry, nobody is perfect) may be feel alienated and/or not interested to read this book.
However, since "geek" is the new black these days, so maybe you would consider to give it a shot to the book. But trust me, if you didn't born in the 70s or early 80s, so being able to live all the things that were "cool" then, well, or if you weren't interested to read about "the past", well, you won't understand or enjoying several (if not all) of the references made here, that they're not the story per se, oh yes! There is a story! But maybe you won't enjoy it the same.
Therefore, I can't deny the advantage of being a geek, specially raised in the now classic time known as "The 80s", to understand almost all references and stuff that it's commented on the narrative.
However, honestly I think that even you aren't a geek per se, if you are looking for a good novel in the dystopian genre with young brave heroes battling against a powerful corporation determined to rule society, well, I am sure that you will be able to enjoy quite enough the general core of the storyline.
(While it's almost impossible that a novel can coincide with our own personal favorites of 80's and 70's, I thought to quote some of mine along the review. If you don't get them, don't worry, they're not relevant to the review itself. Just indulge me.)
I feel the need. The need for speed!
While on the novel is stated that, Wade Watts, the main character thinks that God doesn't exist and even, James Halliday, the key trigger of the story, is an atheist. I really think that religion is a strong issue in this novel. Wade a.k.a. Parzival didn't believe in God and therefore he doesn't read The Bible, BUT he believes in Halliday and he reads with passion the Anorak's Almanac, reaching the point of knowing almost anything about Halliday's life and his tastes on films, TV, music, books, etc... So, basically he changed the name of his raw human necessity of a god or a higher power in which to believe on. Even it's amusing to notice a moment where Wade calls the name of the deity in Conan's stories, since he is an "atheist", he "can't" claim that his luck was because the common perception of god. However, not matter the name that you choose, in the moment that you acknowledges that your life may be affected by the hand of a superior power, well, it's non-relevant which name you opted to use. God is God.
Another religious evolution in the story is another raw impulse in human beings... becoming a god. Halliday, with the creation of his Easter's Egg contest, he acomplishes that a whole generation (even severals of it) became obssesed with his life and his personal tastes, influencing the way of thinking and speaking of all those interested to get the ultimate prize. Wade goes to that too, since he is able to reach positions that nobody else has ever done before and he is able to taste how is like to be a god and that thousands of strangers get interested to follow his life and his tastes.
Darmok and Jalad... at Tanagra.
Any person has tastes and opinions, and most of the cases, we are sure that we are right about them, so we expressed them and in the bottom of our souls, we are convinced that we have excellent taste in things and that the rest of people should read, watch and hear all that it's of our preference, and therefore, they will become as "wise" and "illuminated" as us.
And the ambiance of this novel is almost just like how we are living now. Certainly we don't have a virtual universe so advanced as the OASIS, but internet, the social networks, blogs, forums, etc... are allowing to us to express our opinions about anything. Ironically, in the 80s, our circle of influence was absurdly limited, we barely were able to express it to our closest friends and family, but now? We can reach any human being with access to internet.
The generational gaps occur mainly because old people aren't interested to know about new suff, while young people aren't interested to know about old stuff. As simple as that. Everybody thinks that "his/her" stuff is better than the others'. It's amusing to see in this novel that a LOT of young people (in the future of 2044) are eager to learn about "old" stuff just because there is a huge prize involving money, and guess what? Many of them starting to find out how cool of that "old" stuff is. Too bad that there is have to be an incentive of money to make them to realize that. I think that I am lucky since I don't discriminate stuff for the era when it appeared. Why do I have to choose just "my" era? Why do I have to limit myself? I have "my stuff" of the generation where I grew up, but I do my best all the time to learn about stuff of before I even born and I do my best to keep up with new stuff. Only my death will set how many stuff I will be able to enjoy in my entire life. Each era has its charm and I am enjoying all of them.
Gathered together from the cosmic reaches of the universe – here in this great hall of justice - are the most powerful forces of good ever assembled.
In the 80s (and before), our social experiences were quite identical in our circles, we watched the same local TV shows, the same movies, etc... but now? Theathers launch multiple premieres each weekend, cable has more than 100 channels showing programming 24/7/365, publishing houses release hundred of books each month, etc... So, nowadays is almost impossible to find a single other soul watching, reading and hearing the very same stuff that we do. We'll have intersection points, several of them, but at the end, each of us, we are walking our own paths of entertainment.
Even before, we innocently thought that the "good stuff" was the same for all the rest of people. Now, we have certainty that a thing (naming book, film, TV show, song, etc...) that we love, may be hated by others, and viceversa. And that's okay. We are all different. Only we have to learn to respect the opinion of others, in the understanding that we do the same.
Keep on pushing me baby Don't you know you drive me crazy You just keep on pushing my love over the borderline.
Referring to the novel itself, I must point out that I found some of the challenges repetitive decreasing the excitement or reaching each of the three legendary gates. There are tests that they are basically the same just choosing a different "environment" and/or "theme".
Also, I think that the author didn't want that anyone would be able to guess the riddles, I mean, this is not like a detective mystery novel that you may not notice the clues in clear sight, but they are there, you just didn't giving them importance, no, in here, some of the riddles are solved showing knowledge of elements in the environment of the story that they are impossible for you to know its existence.
And getting back the "religious" angle in a way of speaking, there are a lot of scenes where you met a "Deus ex machina" element, where any character has a key gadget, never mentioned before, that it's perfect to solve the trouble. Not always is like that. However, I noticed enough instants like that, just to mention it.
At the end, the novel has an engaging narrative style that keeps you entertained all the way, marvelling about this extraordinary future with all its wonders and dangers.
Highly recommended.
Choose your own life, enjoy each moment of it and don't worry about others think. People of good will and true friends are going to be happy for you not matter what you do in your lives and they will respect you too.
P.S.
Solution for the Alejandro's Easter Egg in this review:
(view spoiler)[I'm kidding! :P It could be cool to hide an easter egg in the review but I didn't think anything. Excuse me for the innocent joke. But, you got curious and you had to take a peek, don't you? Mmh? Hehehe. (hide spoiler)]
This is the sequel of the first "God of War" story, and as I commented in the review of tKratos is back... run for your lives!!!
KRATOS RETURNS
This is the sequel of the first "God of War" story, and as I commented in the review of the first book, I may be one of the few or the only one who have read this novel without having to play the video game whose is based this book.
I chose to read this series because a good friend is a huge fan of this video game saga and of Kratos, the lead character.
This second novelization is really good too.
The story continues to tell the tale of Kratos, called the Ghost of Spartan and that his deals with the Greek Olympian Gods would became a terrible change of the balance of power in the Olympus.
Here, you have other fresh takes about the Greek mythology that I found quite enjoyable and certainly, the story here became bigger in some sense, and even you will find not only the current Olympian Gods but also the famous Titans.
NOT YOUR TYPICAL ODYSSEY
Maybe some elements in the story use some liberties in the characters, or not, I am not sure, since I didn't know that Prometheus was a Titan, I knew that he was punished to give fire to the mortals, but I thought that he was a mortal too, like Adam in Hebrew history, the first human mold by the Gods.
But I suppose that that it's not so important if it was changed or not.
Also, the book ended, as the video game as I understand, in an epic cliffhanger...
...so I hope that eventually they would publish the rest of novelizations of the video games to complete the story of Kratos.
Maybe I am one of the few or maybe the only one who read this novel without having played the Quite entertained!!!
A NEW KIND OF GREEK CHAMPION
Maybe I am one of the few or maybe the only one who read this novel without having played the video game whose is based this novelization.
My good "ol' days" of video gaming ended in Playstation 1, but I like to keep around of video games' world, hearing from some of my friends that they are still in the exciting world of video gaming.
I chose to read it since a good friend is a huge fan of this video game and of the character of Kratos, so when I found out about the novelizations, I thought that it was a good idea to read them.
I liked a lot, since it's a fresh take on the Greek mythology and certainly the lead character of Kratos is very different from the usual lead characters that I have read before.
He is not a hero, he is an anti-hero, and by so, he will act in many time along the story in a way that you may not expected.
However, I liked a lot the character since I think that it's not so hard to plot a story around a character that he/she is of good nature and noble motivations, however when he/she is arrogant, despective for other people and with a very dark feeling of vengeance in his/her soul.
I think that it becomes a kinda tricky that the reader can feel appealed to follow that kind of character, but that's part of what makes different this kind of "Greek" champion.
I liked the kind of character that Kratos is, since he is a truly tragic hero whose action can be questionable, but you have to take in account his whole life to be able to judge him.
If you like Greek mythology stories, with some twists, not matter if you played or not the video games, this book is a good option.
This book is reference guide book to the Playstation One video game Parasite Eve releaCreepy good guide to the video game
THOSE MONSTRUOS RATS!
This book is reference guide book to the Playstation One video game Parasite Eve released in 1998 that it was based on the Japanese novel of the same name published in 1995.
Back then, in those good ol' days of Playstation One (where we didn't say "One" since it was the first and only available Playstation system), Parasite Eve was one of my first action role-playing survival horror video game and...
...certainly the first Playstation video game that I actually bought the reference guide since I wanted to "live" to the fullest this wonderful video game.
Of course, it wasn't easy find the right time to play it since my brother (that back then, he was still a very young kid) always was behind me and wanting to see me playing the games, and I didn't have any troubles with that, but...
...my brother was attacked by a rat once, at his bed, nothing serious or something that it would leave any scar, but it was one heck of a scare for him (quite understandable) but due that, he and rats (in almost any context or situation) don't mix and he doesn't like them.
And guess what?
Yep, this cool video game had rats that they transform into big scary monstrous ones, so each time that that happened (that it was quite often in the game), he ran away screaming.
So, I had to play the video game at moments that he wasn't at home or sleeping.
But maybe that helped to increase the ambiance since usually then I had to play it really late at night and certainly this video game has a creepy good atmosphere!
Anyway, and since this was a typical role-playing video game with tons of places to be, rooms to explores, stuff to take, etc...
I didn't hesitate to buy this reference guide at the very moment that I saw it in a store.
And I don't regret it since indeed (in an era when Internet wasn't so expanded to find so easily sites with info about video games walkthroughs) it was one heck of helpful to make me experience to the fullest this video game.
This is the official guide to the 1998's The X-Files PC Game.
I had already bought the game andGreat guide to the X-Files' PC Game!
CREEPY GOOD!
This is the official guide to the 1998's The X-Files PC Game.
I had already bought the game and I was playing for a while, when (back then in 1999) I met the book and I didn't hesitate to buy since while I wanted to play it as fair as possible, also I didn't want to miss anything of it, so with the guide I was able to check if I was playing okay.
In the PC Game (that I actually played in a MAC (that I had back then (1998)), you're an FBI agent assigned by Assistant Director Walter Skinner to make a search for Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, which both are missing.
The ambiance of the game is truly respectful with your expectations for a game based on the famous franchise, where the background music and the scenarios (you played in first-person view), make to feel to be right into an episode of the TV series, along with the intrigue, dangers and thrilling.
And certainly this guide is the perfect companion for it.
Yes, I know that it's very unlike that nowadays, somebody would try a game so "old" comparing with more advanced current video games, but...
...if you're so lucky to find the book, even as a cool collectible item for X-Files fans, it's a great option.
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