YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he’s spent his life consuming. Dreaming that one day, some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure.

But hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little escapism, right? After all, Zack tells himself, he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that here in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don’t get chosen to save the universe.

And then he sees the flying saucer.

Even stranger, the alien ship he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders.

No, Zack hasn’t lost his mind. As impossible as it seems, what he’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.

It’s Zack’s chance, at last, to play the hero. But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can’t help thinking back to all those science-fiction stories he grew up with, and wondering: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little…familiar?

At once gleefully embracing and brilliantly subverting science-fiction conventions as only Ernest Cline could, Armada is a rollicking, surprising thriller, a classic coming of age adventure, and an alien invasion tale like nothing you’ve ever read before—one whose every page is infused with the pop-culture savvy that has helped make Ready Player One a phenomenon

Chapter 2 (view spoiler)[ Zack's dad was definitely a conspiracy theorist, I'm interested to see why the military would want to recruit videogamers (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 7 (view spoiler)[ I'm mostly enjoying this, but some of the game playing parts did get a little slow. I wonder how much Zack's dad really knew about the EDA? It was a bit weird that the shuttle landed at his school (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 13 (view spoiler)[ I wouldn't say I'm bored but I'm not loving this as much at the moment, it's dragging a little. There is a lot of detail about flying the planes, etc that isn't really that interesting to me (hide spoiler)]

Oh and (view spoiler)[ so his dad is alive? He just left his wife and baby son to go prepare for a alien battle?! I wouldn't be happy if my dad had some that!! (hide spoiler)]

Finished (view spoiler)[ it definitely did pick up again nearer the end, overall I liked this. Probably 3.75 stars. The epilogue was a bit strange - I'm guessing that in the time Zack was at his friends trying to save the world his mum and dad decided to conceive a baby! Odd timing, and he had a concussion! (hide spoiler)]

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Reading from the 1st of October 2017

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Yay this came in :D Starting tonight.

Going to start off with this one only 2x speed, just while I get into the gist of things, and then back to 3x I go.

Chapter 1 (view spoiler)[Wow this UFO seems really interesting! A spaceship from his favourite game??

I want to know what happened with them to cause this enemy thing! Clear Notjur (listening to audio so I need some clarification on spelling) is scared of Zach! (hide spoiler)]

Loving this story already! So much more complex than Cooper Kids XD I quite like the narrator, but once again I find American narrators harder than English ones to listen to.

Into Chapter 2 (view spoiler)[:D The dog's name is Muffet :D

These boxes about his father seem awesome and interesting! Crazy to think he could actually be crazy like his daddy.

This journal is doing what? Just listing fictional things in the timeline? Getting slightly bored of this list.... I definitely would have skipped this if I was reading it. (hide spoiler)]

But I am totally excited for this one :D wasn't too keen on it but then it dove right in and now I'm hooked already XD I hope I like it as much as RP1 (even though I know this isn't the case normally)! It's definitely showing similarities.

Off to sleep now but I'll listen to heaps more tomorrow :) I'm in the car for 1.5 hours tomorrow and I'll be listening to this the whole time :D Super excited for this drive XD I love how audio gets me keen.

Btw sorry in advance for all of my updates. I update as I listen. But tomorrow will be a different story, and I'll just have big gaps between my updates.

Chapter 12 (view spoiler)[This is going downhill a little for me. So the aspects from his game that he thought were real actually are real? Just that the normal people don't know until they're conscripted into the war to actually fight them?

I like how that Icebreaker mission was actually part of the war effort.

And bleh with Alexis or whatever her name is. Wish Cline didn't introduce this aspect. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 13 (view spoiler)[So pleased he didn't get rewarded for disobeying orders. But he did make some valid points, about them not knowing about the bombs. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 15 (view spoiler)[Oh holy moly he's going to the Moon, and his father's alive!! He's just about to meet him! I have no idea what I'd feel!

And there's the kiss. At least he isn't dwelling on it too much. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 17 (view spoiler)[I'm pretty sure if his dad hadn't told them all his fears, he'd still have stormed out, so either way he can't win. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 19 (view spoiler)[Yay they told his mum about his dad! :D (hide spoiler)]

Finished (view spoiler)[Can't believe Xavier would be reunited with is family, try to then sacrifice himself for the world, not die and be reunited with his family again, and then go and SACRIFICE HIMSELF OFFICIALLY THIS TIME! What is his problem???? He just got his family back, and then he goes and does that?? (hide spoiler)]

I also got a little confused at the end. I zoned out and lost it.

CH 3 (view spoiler)[Man talk about the ideal after school job! I love that he cares more for the business than Ray. (hide spoiler)]

Review: I knew going into this one that it wouldn't be as good as Ready Player One, and I was right. I'm pleased I actually took on board other people's opinions, otherwise I would have been thoroughly disappointed. I loved the premise though, the (view spoiler)[fact that he'd been playing games his whole life and then finds out that they're actually real! It did relate to RP1 in the gaming aspect. (hide spoiler)] One thing I hated about this book was that I (view spoiler)[can't believe Xavier would be reunited with is family, try to then sacrifice himself for the world, not die and be reunited with his family again, and then go and SACRIFICE HIMSELF OFFICIALLY THIS TIME! What is his problem???? He just got his family back, and then he goes and does that?? (hide spoiler)] Towards the end I did lose a little bit of focus, as I was busy doing other things, so I didn't really understand (view spoiler)[the whole Solidarity thing (or whatever it was), how the whole alien race was made up or something? No clue. (hide spoiler)] Pleased I finally got around to reading this though.

lol... This is really good so far!!

"Only cheesy 80s movies....Cockoo for cocoa puffs..."lol

Join the X-men!!! Ok the mother is awesome...lmao!!!

Chapter 1-6 (view spoiler)[ This book is awesome! So the boy, Zack, is a geek if I have ever heard of one. But he is so upset that he is insane like his father. Notcher is an ass. He should have punched him right in the jaw. His father sounds a bit off his rocker, this is why I don’t play or watch sci fi movies..lol… Except Independence day… that is the best movie in LIFE! So the game belevious(misspelled, it was an audiobook) only had 10 playable levels and the higher levels made you have a seizure… who plays that. I wish I could go in there and clap, why do they always try to go in and kill us slowly??? Just send in a nuclear war head and kill us all… there war over..lol. Ray sounds like my kind of friend and boss, no real work don’t care that he isn’t making a profit. Wonderful.
Ray is awesome! The gifts, and telling him that he is better than what he is at the moment.
I will say that most of chapters 5-6 I was a bit lost all the game talk kinda flew straight over my head but the best friends (the mikes) are awesome… They seem like they are the type of people that would believe Zack if he told them that he saw an armada ship outside the school window. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 7-12 (view spoiler)[Jeez, why did Notcher have to go for the father button.
Holy crap it was real!!! Stop playing! NO WAY RAY IS ONE OF THEM!!!
Ugh, but is this real… Now I don’t know. Is the damn earth defense alliance real? I would be going just as crazy Zack. But did Ray know about his dad.
LOL, he says wow when they get into space. I would have been freaking all the way out! I am surprised he wasn’t screaming.
That is a idea… imagine getting drafted to participate in the alien war.
But Lex is super awesome!!! She has a thing for younger guys and talks to R2D2 flask. Of Course zack would be attracted to that, I mean its not like the world is about to be under attack by aliens or nothing… nah lets go find a girlfriend.
So the aliens are racists? Great! SMH
Carl Sagan says it, therefore it must be true.
WTF!!! Because they landed on thier moon the aliens are going to kill everyone… jeez talk about over reacting.
Oh Come on so the admiral in the game is also the admiral in the fight against aliens??? Ok now I am back to thinking this is all just a crock of poopoo.
Yes, no fighting and dying for you until you swear that you will not hold ill will as you will probably die.
But did I say already that Lex is awesome because she is...lol.
(hide spoiler)]

NO NO NO!!!! TELLL ME HE HASN'T BEEN THERE THIS ENTIRE TIME!!!!!! Im going to be soooooo pissed!

But why is this so sad... ugh

Chapter 13-fin (view spoiler)[ Ok I am not a sci fi lover but for real this booked freaking rocked!!! Minus the sad ass ending. So zack gets to meet his father and they share what has happened over his life and he tells Zack that he thinks that the aliens are only testing them and if they stop attacking the aliens will back off as well. They make it all the way back to earth after Xavier tried to off himself by making the ultimate sacrafice he doesn't die and is reunited with his wife. He tries to convince the admiral that they need to not attack but the admiral thinks that he is crazy and does not want to listen to Xavier or Zack.
Then he goes after he gets reunited with his family and offs himself again. (hide spoiler)]

CH 5. (view spoiler)[THeory time! I think his dad is still alive. Good chance his is RedJive #1 in the game. (hide spoiler)]

Ch 8 (view spoiler)[I didn't expect his boss to be apart of this though (hide spoiler)]

Ch 13 (view spoiler)[HA! my theory was correct!! . (hide spoiler)]

Maddison wrote: "Chapter 19

(view spoiler)[SHe seemed to take it well (hide spoiler)]

Done (view spoiler)[Ugh, I was hoping the father was alive somehow again and that he could just pretend to be dead in the eyes of EDA so he could retire with his family or something. (hide spoiler)]

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Reading from the 28th of July 2018

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Checking in!

Phase 1 (Ch 1-7) (view spoiler)[ So this is a really interesting book, never read a book by Ernest Cline and I'm not a huge gamer lol. Some of the terminology with gaming went over my head in like chapter 5, but I really like the characters and I'm excited to see where the story goes. Also Zack is amazing standing up to Knotcher and the two Mikes are hilarious icons (hide spoiler)]

Ch 12-14 (view spoiler)[WHAT IS GOING ON??!? Everything is happening right now and there is an ambush and Zack has to become a pilot, but he's kinda smart when he destroys the enemy ship, but dumb when he disobeys orders and gets a lot of the EDA's shuttles destroyed. ALSO ZACK'S DAD IS ALIVE?!!?!? Plot twist (hide spoiler)]

Ch 14-end (view spoiler)[ Honestly I'm in my feels a little...Why did Xavier have to die? I mean he had a few weeks with his son before he died and was really gone. But I'm glad Zack has taken the position of ambassador and he and Lex together. They are adorable :) (hide spoiler)]

Finished: Really, really loved this book and I wrote a review with more of my thoughts :)

Quite late for this one :/

Chapter 14: (view spoiler)[ A lot is happening right now. It seems lie they all have dead relatives!! Zack is making some bad decisions lately... (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 1 (view spoiler)[ Who can concentrate on weird things in the sky with songs stuck in their heads?? All aboard! Hahahahahahahaaaa! I'm going off the rails on a crazy train! (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 16: (view spoiler)[ I'm glad that the romance isn't taking over the plot too much, and I like how the plot is going. I mean, it's a little ludicrous, but that really adds to the entertainment. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 19: (view spoiler)[ I feel like his mum definitely should have been told this information sooner, but I am glad that she has found out. I'm interested to see where it is all going. (hide spoiler)]

Finished: (view spoiler)[ The ending felt a bit abrupt, but I did enjoy the way that everything unravelled. The concept of the test was really interesting and I thought it was quite cleverly done. I really enjoyed this book! (hide spoiler)]

End of Part 1 (view spoiler)[ So far I'm trying to figure out how it's much different from The Last Starfighter. Same idea, recruited through playing a video game... but regardless of the similarity I still love Ernest Cline's 80s obsession. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 13 (view spoiler)[ I was waiting for the moment he found out his father was alive. Figure that was how his mother got all that money as a payout for his "death" all those years before. (hide spoiler)]

Lara wrote: "Chapter 19: [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I'm not sure why they couldn't let her know he was still alive while everyone else thought he'd died. Let her keep in touch as long as she stayed quiet. (hide spoiler)]

End (view spoiler)[ I don't think I would've trusted the Soldality either, basically played games with humans for years for their own entertainment as a "test" so no matter how generous who is to say they couldn't do something down the line? (hide spoiler)]

Carrie wrote: "End [spoilers removed]"

Yeah, I completely agree.

End Phase 1 (view spoiler)[ So far, I'm rather frustrated with this book. I feel like I've read more gaming definitions than anything else. I'm a third of the way in and know basically nothing of any of the characters which I feel like I should know more about being this far into the book. (hide spoiler)]

Erin wrote: "End Phase 1 [spoilers removed]"

Yeah, I also thought that there could have been more character development throughout this book, but particularly at the beginning.