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A review by vylotte
Armada by Ernest Cline
3.0
Armada, oh Armada. I wanted to love you. It's no secret that Ready Player One was one of my favorite books of 2011. It was a non-stop adventure ride that pushed all the right geeky buttons. It felt effortless.
Armada was not effortless. From start to finish it felt forced. The characters seemed obvious and unoriginal, the pop culture references were pretty much down to the formula, "write three lines and [insert witty 80s tribute] here."
And the writing, oh, the writing. Part of what made it feel like a struggle to read was how we were spoon fed the atmosphere. As writers we're told to "show, don't tell" for a reason. The reader needs to be given just enough rich detail to spin a picture of their own, to bring them into the story. Instead, we get the following example, from just one paragraph:
"As our shuttle continued its descent, one of the plowed fields adjacent to the farm collapsed in on itself, like a perfectly rectangular sink hole, then split in two and slid apart, like two massive elevator doors set into the earth. They revealed an enormous circular shaft leading deep underground - like an empty missile silo, but much larger in diameter."
Lazy writing, lazy editing, IMO.
Anyway, I still gave this three stars, because in the end I did enjoy it. Enough to keep struggling through for THREE WHOLE WEEKS. And this book is neither long nor complex. Yes, I was cheating on my reading with video games (I'm looking at you, Witcher 3), and so my leisure time was truncated, but I can find time to read anywhere. So there was enough story to walk that tenuous line that kept me picking it up, but then putting it right back down.
In the end I would call it a fun book to read if you're in the right mindset, probably perfect for an airplane ride, someplace you want an occasionally clever, generally fun story you don't have to think too much about.
I have faith in Ernest Cline, that he can write gold again. But he needs to create something he feels. I don't think this was it.
Armada was not effortless. From start to finish it felt forced. The characters seemed obvious and unoriginal, the pop culture references were pretty much down to the formula, "write three lines and [insert witty 80s tribute] here."
And the writing, oh, the writing. Part of what made it feel like a struggle to read was how we were spoon fed the atmosphere. As writers we're told to "show, don't tell" for a reason. The reader needs to be given just enough rich detail to spin a picture of their own, to bring them into the story. Instead, we get the following example, from just one paragraph:
"As our shuttle continued its descent, one of the plowed fields adjacent to the farm collapsed in on itself, like a perfectly rectangular sink hole, then split in two and slid apart, like two massive elevator doors set into the earth. They revealed an enormous circular shaft leading deep underground - like an empty missile silo, but much larger in diameter."
Lazy writing, lazy editing, IMO.
Anyway, I still gave this three stars, because in the end I did enjoy it. Enough to keep struggling through for THREE WHOLE WEEKS. And this book is neither long nor complex. Yes, I was cheating on my reading with video games (I'm looking at you, Witcher 3), and so my leisure time was truncated, but I can find time to read anywhere. So there was enough story to walk that tenuous line that kept me picking it up, but then putting it right back down.
In the end I would call it a fun book to read if you're in the right mindset, probably perfect for an airplane ride, someplace you want an occasionally clever, generally fun story you don't have to think too much about.
I have faith in Ernest Cline, that he can write gold again. But he needs to create something he feels. I don't think this was it.