Review: Armada

Armada by Ernest Cline
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I’m one of those few people that have yet to read Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One. It’s on my list of things to read, I’ll get around to it eventually, but in the mean time I found myself reading Armada. With the rave around Ready Player One, I was ready for Armanda to wow me.

I’m going to be honest and say Armada disappointed me. I’m hoping Ernest Cline ends up being an Andy Weir. I loved The Martian but was disappointed by Artemis, finding it to be a book trying to capitalise on the things that were good in the author’s first book but ultimately fell short. If such is the case with Ernest Cline, then it’s very much possible I will enjoy Ready Player One in the way I hope to, as I could see the potential with Armada when I looked beyond my issues.

I think my biggest issue with Armada is that everything came together far too easily. Things were introduced then wrapped up quickly. Everything came together too well, preventing the book from having the big ‘oh wow’ moment I love to experience in science fiction. In fact, there were times when things occurred that felt forced simply to ensure the story played out a particular way. It didn’t wow me, and I was disappointed.

Add in the way things were left open at the end, the way things were thrown at us at the last moment, and I felt cheated. It went from being ‘everything is wrapped up far too easily’ to ‘have some questions so you pick up the sequel’. If there is a sequel, I doubt I will be picking it up. There was not enough in this one for me to find myself wanting to read a sequel. I did not care for the characters and their overabundance of forced pop culture references, and whatever happens to them next they can do without my interaction.

Don’t get me wrong, I was curious enough to read until the end. Mostly, though, it was because Armada was an easy read. It was easy for me to complete this one quickly, and I did so to get my answers.

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