Armada

Executive Summary: Predictable Fun. It's not nearly as good as [b:Ready Player One 9969571 Ready Player One Ernest Cline https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406383612s/9969571.jpg 14863741], but that's hardly surprising. 3.5 stars.Audio book: When I found out Wil Wheaton was narrating this, it was a done deal. He's the perfect narrator for certain books, and this is definitely one of those.Full ReviewI love [b:Ready Player One 9969571 Ready Player One Ernest Cline https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406383612s/9969571.jpg 14863741]. It's one of my all time favorite books. It's not the best written, or the even the best story. It just hits all the right buttons for me. In fact, I reread it not to long ago and loved it just as much.I was looking forward to checking out what Mr. Cline had in store for us next. Could it be as good as his first book? Of course not, or at least I'd have been shocked if it were. However it seems like many people who loved that book were not only disappointed in this book, but downright upset.That wasn't the case for me. There a ton of similarities to Ready Player One and several stories, most notably the Last Starfighter and Ender's Game. Mr. Cline acknowledges that right away and makes it part of the narrative.Our protagonist Zach Lightman is a high school gamer who's obsessed with the games/music/movies of the past. Gee where have I read that before? This book isn't breaking any new ground. In fact it's treading on very familiar ground.I thought it started a bit slow, but once I got into it I was having a blast. That should be obvious when you see I listened to the whole thing in just two days. It's only 12 hours, but I normally average 3 hours/day. I kept finding things to do so I could keep listening.Ordinarily that kind of thing would mean a 5 star book for me, but while this book is fun, it's just not as good as others. It hits many of the same buttons as Ready Player One, just not as hard I guess. That doesn't make me mad or disappointed though.I'll probably give it another listen down the road though. The door for a sequel seems to have been left open, so maybe I'll listen to it again at that point.Not need to rush out and grab this one, but if you get it on sale, or need a light quick read, it's worth a look in my opinion.