Review: Armada by Ernest Cline

I am three days into Booktube-A-Thon and almost halfway done with the amount of books I've set for myself (4/8). I've only managed 2 challenges though so far! I'm not sure if I'm going to make it through the rest of them, but I'm enjoying the effort to get there! As part of my Booktube-A-Thon challenges, I read Armada by Ernest Cline. I read this one for the challenge to read something with blue on the cover. Armada definitely has that!

(Ernest Cline)

Courtesy of  Ernest Cline's Website

The best way to describe Zack is a sci-fi nerd with anger management issues. For me, his level of anger in the beginning of the book irritated me a little. I felt like a he way overreacted to a few situations. It didn't detract much from my reading experience, though. The good news is that he does show character progression and he becomes less and less angry throughout the novel.

Armada is full of references to 80's music, sci-fi movies & tv, and video games. If you aren't much into sci-fi, or don't play a lot of video games, then some of these references will be lost on you. I know there were some that I didn't understand. However, again, this didn't detract from enjoying the book. 

This book says that it's for high schoolers, but the thing that surprised me was the swearing. I've never read Ernest Cline's other book, so I don't know if there's swearing in the other one. I wasn't prepared for it. It doesn't bother me to have swearing in a book, but I certainly don't remember reading any books in high school that had swearing like this book does. So just be forewarned in case something like this bothers you.

I did want to mention that I did receive this book for free from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review. I did find this book to be a bit predicable. There wasn't much in the big that the reader doesn't see coming. There was only one thing at the end that I didn't see coming. However, it wasn't anything mind blowing or anything. I'm not going to say what it is, since it's at the end and I don't want to put any spoilers on here. My reaction to it, though, was just, "Oh. Ok." 

I can't help but compare Armada to Ender's Game. There are many similarities between the two. First, they use children to fight in war. Armada doesn't target children exclusively though. Second, both the books employ games and simulations to train their troops. There are other examples too, but I would reveal things about Armada by drawing the comparison that I would rather readers discover for themselves. 

Despite these criticisms, I still really enjoyed this book. It made me laugh throughout and I read it really fast. I usually only do that with books that I enjoy reading. It actually grabbed my attention quickly too. Before I hit page 100 I was already hooked. I stayed up late reading it, even when I had to work early the next morning. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Ender's Game. I would give this book 3 stars out of 5. 

Enjoy!

Jen