Armada Audiobook By Ernest Cline cover art

Armada

A Novel

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Armada

By: Ernest Cline
Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
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About this listen

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A rollicking alien invasion thriller that embraces and subverts science-fiction conventions, from the author of the worldwide phenomenon Ready Player One

“Exciting . . . mixes
Star Wars, The Last Starfighter, Independence Day, and a really gnarly round of Space Invaders.”—USA Today • “A thrilling coming of age story.”—Entertainment Weekly

Zack Lightman has never much cared for reality. He vastly prefers the countless science-fiction movies, books, and videogames he's spent his life consuming. And too often, he catches himself wishing that some fantastic, impossible, world-altering event could arrive to whisk him off on a grand spacefaring adventure.

So when he sees the flying saucer, he's sure his years of escapism have finally tipped over into madness.

Especially because the alien ship he's staring at is straight out of his favorite videogame, a flight simulator callled Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting Earth from alien invaders.

As impossible as it seems, what Zack's seeing is all too real. And it's just the first in a blur of revlations that will force him to question everything he thought he knew about Earth's history, its future, even his own life--and to play the hero for real, with humanity's life in the balance.

But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can't help thinking: Doesn't something about this scenario feel a little bit like . . . well . . . fiction?

At once reinventing and paying homage to science-fiction classics, Armada is a rollicking, surprising thriller, a coming-of-age adventure, and an alien invasion tale like nothing you've ever heard before.

©2015 Ernest Cline (P)2015 Random House Audio
Adventure Fantasy Fiction First Contact Science Fiction Space Opera Thriller & Suspense Space Funny

Critic reviews

“Nerd-gasmic . . . another science fiction tale with a Comic-Con's worth of pop-culture shout-outs.”Rolling Stone

“An amazing novel [that] proves Cline has the ability to blend popular culture with exciting stories that appeal to everyone.”Associated Press

“A fantastic second novel . . . fans of Ready Player One, it is time to rejoice.”HuffPost

What listeners say about Armada

Highly rated for:

Nostalgic Pop-culture References Entertaining Sci-fi Adventure Engaging Narration Imaginative Video-game Premise
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

I was really looking forward to this one

if you're looking for the same story that rocked you in READY PLAYER ONE you're going to be disappointed. Not even Wheaton could save this one. Good wiring, but the story flopped. Same awesome 80's references, Clive is like an encyclopedia of 80s pop culture, but again, not enough everything else.

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64 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

He rushed too fast to get to the action at the expense of character development. If he had just added a few more chapters at the beginning , this story would have been far more compelling. Instead it felt like a bad adaptation of a cheesy sci-fi movie. One bright spot, as always, is the narration by Wil Wheaton. It was the only reason I managed to listen to the whole thing.

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39 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great listen for gamers!

Really liked the story and hope they don't make another crappy movie of this like they did with Ready Player One. I would definitely recommend this book if you enjoyed the Ready Player One book.

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12 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The Last Starfighter meets Enders Game and Ready Player One

Solid follow up to Ready Player One. Wil Weaton and Ernest Cline do it again

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8 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

ernest cline

master peice. cant wait for more books by you and i love will wheaton as the voice actor

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Its not as bad as the reviews make it out.

This is just a mindless, fun, sci fi adventure. nothing more, nothing less. It's not just like ready player one.

The 80s/Video Game nostalgia is strong in the beginning but tapers off soon after the first few chapters.

Plus, Will Wheaton reads it!

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Duh...

Where does Armada rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top ten!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Armada?

When he met his dad!

Which character – as performed by Wil Wheaton – was your favorite?

Stephen Hawking! Who else could bring nerds to orgasMs? Lmmfao

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The brave, the strong, the nerdy!

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Reasonable story but predictable and monochome

The story is OK,centered on teenage boy whose gaming skills help him in his quest (sounds familiar?), Cline's humor, cultural references and brilliant way of twisting language carried me through, but personally I thought the story predictable and to be honest a bit monotonous. It seemed to me the book was constantly teetering on the edge on unbelievably (ask yourself where was the Armada was made) with not enough time for decent character building.

I had to admit my expectations were pretty high after his previous book, and it did not live up to them. It was like looking at a few dull threads compared to the brilliant tapestry of Ready Player One.

Wil Wheaton's narration is excellent, as ever he is great speaker for this type of genre, Honestly if he had not been reading it would have a hard slog to get through.

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Ernest - Get on With It

Any additional comments?

OK, there will be some spoilers here. Look, I am not a gamer, but I am in my sixties and 80% of what I have read in my life has been science fiction. (I started out with "Spaceship Under the Apple Tree" when I was in first grade.) So Cline's approach in "Ready Player One" and "Armada" has great appeal. I know most of his references and enjoy the nostalgia. But enough, Ernest! "Armada" borrowed plots from movies (as was noted in the novel) and yes, it is narcissistic - the boy gets the girl, his father, adulation from the world, and so on, but then it becomes so simplistic that I was reminded of a Star Trek episode (whoever loses this fight, their species will be eliminated), Twilight Zone, and Outer Limits. While these were fun to watch at the time, they were also . . . well, stupid. OK, at the end, when the protagonist blows up the Earth's icebreaker, and the orb ascends from Europa, what is the conversation? Only that Earth has passed the "test" to enter the galactic federation. It doesn't matter that if one thing had been different, and one person had acted differently, Earth would be destroyed. Is it believable that a super-technological group of aliens, species that had monitored radio and television since their advent, would be so cut and dried as to decide to either aid or destroy Earth based on one person's actions? Come on! Maybe in Star Trek.
I do need to comment about Wil Wheaton. He is good!

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Okay story, lame references

The story was okay, even great. Very predictable, but decent. Will Wheaton made the book enjoyable.

But the author had gone out of his way to include too many pop culture references to the detriment of the story. It felt way too forced at times, making me roll my eyes...

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2 people found this helpful