Review: Armada by Ernest Cline

Title: Armada

Author:  Ernest Cline
Publisher: Crown Publishing

Publishing Date: July 14th, 2015

Pages: 384
Genre: Science Fiction

Series:  Stand Alone
Source: Audio

 

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 video games 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 video game 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?

I really enjoyed reading Ready Player One and was very excited to read another book by Ernest Cline. This one sounded pretty exciting. I mean I like video games, I loved the movie War Games and The Last Starfighter.  Space adventure sounds amazing, aliens sound fun. This book was a little of a disappointment for me. I thought it was interesting and I really enjoyed some aspects of the book, but it was a little too much action and not enough story or character interaction for me. 

Zack has been playing video games his entire life. They are his life. He has been dreaming his entire life for something exciting to happen. Well one day it does when he sees a UFO outside the window. This leads to some investigation which leads to his father's theory of video games being preparation for war which leads to a huge adventure of a lifetime. 

I dont' think I will have much to say in this review, this book is very hard to review without giving something vital away. So it will be short. 

What I liked about this book. The story was very interesting. The more into the story I got, the more interesting it became. I really liked the storyline and plot. 

The characters. I loved Zack... for being a teenage boy character. He wasn't whiny, he was smart, he was a good kid, he had a great relationship with his mother. 

I also loved all the nerdy sci fi talk of games movies and pop culture. Ernest Cline always does such a great job adding this stuff in. I am total geek and reading geek in my books always makes me happy.

What I didn't like. The action. I like action in my book but there was too much video game detail. I felt it was overload and found myself bored during the action scenes. I do like action but I like them short. When there is a load of action there is not enough character interaction and character building. Even though I really liked Zack, I didn't feel like I knew him until the end. Also I felt in between the action sequences the book seemed a bit slow. 

I really feel if I had more character interaction I would have really loved this book. There was a teeny bit of romance and I thought I though it was cute, but there wasn't many scenes with the romance. There were some great family moments, but again not too many. 

Most of the book is is spent in Zack's head, his ideas, his research, his thoughts. I just needed more. 

Now this was for about 3/4 of the book. The last 4th I really really enjoyed. The ending I loved. It just seemed to take forever to get there and I wished I had more character interaction instead of long winded action sequences. Now if you love action filled books, this is for sure the book for you. 

It was okay. Great story but just not the kind of read I particularly enjoy.

ERNEST CLINE is a novelist, screenwriter, father, and full-time geek. His first novel, Ready Player One, was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller, appeared on numerous “best of the year” lists, and is set to be adapted into a motion picture by Warner Bros. and director Steven Spielberg. His second novel, ARMADA, debuted at #4 on the NYT Bestseller list and is being made into a film by Universal Pictures. Ernie lives in Austin, Texas, with his family, a time-traveling DeLorean, and a large collection of classic video games.

Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Title: The 5th Wave

Author:  Rick Yancey
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Publishing Date:  May 7th 2013

Pages: 457
Genre: YA Apocalyptic/ Sci-Fi Thriller 

Series:  The 5th Wave 
Source:  Audio

 

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker.

Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

This book took me forever to get to. Its been on my list since before it's release date and I finally got around to reading it. OH MY GOODNESS!!! Why did I take so dang long to read this book. I loved this book. I listened to it on audio and the narrator was awesone, the writing was awesome, the characters and the story was awesome. This book was creepy, disturbing, dark, and viscous. I really didn't expect all that. But it was and I loved it.

Its a world where aliens exist, the world has gone to crap. Aliens are not nice and they want to make the humans extinct. There were 4 waves and now the 5th is about to start. Cassie is trying to survive while be hunted, feeling she is the last one left she pushes forward to survive... she has to, she has to find her brother.

This book was holy cow good. I am not sure why I waited so long to read this book. I kept putting it off for no reason whatsoever except the book sounded interesting enough but nothing totally grabbed me. Well I was so wrong, it is so much more than interesting. 

Cassie is a wonderful character I just adored her. She had fight she had survival she had snark and she had attitude. I think she was pretty messed up so always making the right choice didn't come easy. But she was alone and she lost everything, so making the wrong decisions. Forgivable. 

Cassie is just lost her father and her brother. Her brother got on a bus and the men who took him are very very questionable and now Cassie needs to get him back. So this is the story of Cassie, surviving and rescuing her brother.

The book is really told from 3 point of views. Cassies, and two guys. The two guys aren't really named for a while so I am not going to tell you their names but they were some really kick butt characters. 

The two guys are quite different.... but they both bring so much to the story. Both very strong and both have many layers. Even though at first it doesn't quite seem like it.  Its hard to talk about them without spoiling anything... and there might be someone out there who has yet to read the book and should. These male characters rock though. They are both very surprising and just make you want to love them even with their faults. (which aren't small) 

There is a teeny bit of romance. Honestly it wasn't bad and it was important to the story but it was very light. It was hinted at, stepped around, maybe come to a closure at the end but was nothing that was in your face... but important to the story. This is not a love story though and it is not the focal point by any means. Which I liked. Sometimes I just need a break from it. 

This is a story about survival, smarting the enemy, and fighting back. It about good and evil, right and wrong, its about humanity.... when do you decide to leave it behind. The story is written well and it had a lot of dark. It had a lot of fingernail biting, it had a lot of anger and tears. 

 I loved it....I cheated and read the second before I even did my review. I am dying for the third!!!

Book:

Movie:

AKA Richard Yancey
Rick is a native Floridian and a graduate of Roosevelt University in Chicago. He earned a B.A. in English which he put to use as a field officer for the Internal Revenue Service. Inspired and encouraged by his wife, he decided his degree might also be useful in writing books and in 2004 he began writing full-time.
Since then he has launched two critically acclaimed series: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, for young readers, and The Highly Effective Detective, for adults. Both books are set in Knoxville, Tennessee, where Rick lived for ten years before returning to Florida.

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Review: Inhuman by Kat Falls

Title: Inhuman 

Author: Kat Falls

Publisher:  Scholastic 
Publishing Date: September 24th 2013

Pages: 384
Genre:  YA Sci-Fi/Dystopian Adventure

Series: Fetch #1
Source: Hardcover

  

In a world ravaged by mutation, a teenage girl must travel into the forbidden Savage Zone to recover lost artifacts or her father’s life is forfeit.
America has been ravaged by a war that has left the eastern half of the country riddled with mutation. Many of the people there exhibit varying degrees of animal traits. Even the plantlife has gone feral.
Crossing from west to east is supposed to be forbidden, but sometimes it’s necessary. Some enter the Savage Zone to provide humanitarian relief. Sixteen-year-old Lane’s father goes there to retrieve lost artifacts—he is a Fetch. It’s a dangerous life, but rewarding—until he’s caught.
Desperate to save her father, Lane agrees to complete his latest job. That means leaving behind her life of comfort and risking life and limb—and her very DNA—in the Savage Zone. But she’s not alone. In order to complete her objective, Lane strikes a deal with handsome, roguish Rafe. In exchange for his help as a guide, Lane is supposed to sneak him back west. But though Rafe doesn’t exhibit any signs of “manimal” mutation, he’s hardly civilized . . . and he may not be trustworthy.

I was very excited to get to to this book. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into but it sounded pretty awesome, mutation, adventure, and a bit of romance. It was quite a read. Intense at times and humorous at others. Very good read.

Lane lives in a time where a virus has taken over the world. The city is full of healthy people and life in the city is extreme. You sneeze you are quarantined. Everyone is a germaphobe. Very extreme. There is a wall surrounding the city.... Across that wall are the sick, the ones with the virus, the monstrous, the mutated. Lane is sent on a do or die mission to retrieve her father from over the wall. She heads off to journey through the land of the sick. Finds danger and boys, truth and adventure, she discovers herself and who her father really was.

 A very good read. I really thought it was gonna be the same old story of mutation... zombieish or vampireish or something of that nature. This story was original and crazy. The mutations were those of animals and humans morphed together. The virus sometimes takes years to finish the full mutation from human to animal and sometimes not quite as long. There are many interesting "manimals" in the story and it kept things from getting boring.

The story was great, the writing was pretty awesome. The writing style fit the story well. Lots of adventure but also quite a bit of world building and character development. I was able to bring the story to life in my mind and connected with the characters as much as enjoy the adventure at hand.

I really liked the main character, Lane.  She had her "duh" moments, but for the most  part she was very intelligent. She was kept in the dark for long, the "duh" moments were honest. She was also very resilient. She knew her mission and she knew the price for failing... so she wasn't going to fail and wasn't going to let anyone stand in her way. She was a strong, independant character but she was still soft enough to need a little help through out the story. Of course that help came from two pretty hot guys. Yes there is a love triangle but not really. I mean it doesn't take over the story but there are two guys vying for the same girl. The only thing that bothered me about Lane, she was a bit ditsy when it came to the truth of the boys feelings. Yes oblivious.

I really can't say which boy I liked better. There was the classic bad boy an the classic hero. Both arrogant, but stupid, both pretty darn cute. I think I knew which one Lane should end up with but.... I liked them both... bunches. Rafe was a bit of an ass throughout most of the book, but he grew up beyond the wall. I am not sure he knew how to be any different. He was a survivior and he didn't like to have anyone depend on him. It would cause all kinds of issues. He had mad respect for Lane's father and I loved that about him.... Then there is Everson. He was the valiant one, the one that wanted to win the girls heart by protecting but not much more than that. He was sweet, but that was about it. He was the good boy and he was good at it.

The romance was very much on the light side, so the love triangle didn't take away from the story and I'm really not sure if it ever will. The story is mainly a survival story and it looks like it will lead the the epic rebellion fighting back. So I look forward to that. It was very fast paced and moved well from beginning to end. The ending sucked a bit. Left me hanging. That was the biggest downside for me.

It;s a keeper for me. Look forward to reading the next book. 

Kat Falls lives in Evanston, Illinois with her husband, theater director Robert Falls, their three children and a whole slew of pets. She grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as an undergrad and went on to receive an MFA from Northwestern University where she now teaches screenwriting.

Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Title:  Cress

Author: Marissa Meyer

Publisher:  Fiewel & Friends 
Publishing Date: February 4th 2014

Pages:  550
Genre:  YA Sci-Fi Adventure/Retelling

Series: The Lunar Chronicles #3
Source: Audio

  

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

I absolutely adored Cress. This series seems to keep getting better. I didn’t think that was possible, but it is. I enjoyed Cress even more than Cinder or Scarlet, and I loved those books too. The characters were more, the story was more, and the writing was more. It was sensational. The characters are the best, the story is unique, the writing is spectacular, and that is why I rave about these books.

Cress lives in a satellite, for the last nine years. After helping Cinder in the crew, they decided to rescue Cress. Things don't go well, and everyone gets separated. As they try to survive, try to pick up the broken pieces, and try to make it to safety, Queen Levana is making wedding plans with Kai. Cinder must find a way to not get caught, not get killed, find her missing crew, and stop a wedding. 

I absolutely adore Marissa Meyer's writing style. The story is captivating, the characters are well built, tons of memorable and humorous moments. Everything is done to perfection. There are so many wonderful things about this book that I can go on and on about, it will be hard to contain myself from babbling and attempt to make sense.

Cress is so far my favorite of the series. Of course last year, I said that about Scarlet. Like I said they just keep getting better. what I love... so many things... I will start with the characters. There are so many wonderful characters. The favorites returned and we were introduced to two more characters. Cress and Jason.

So Cress is the heart of the group. She is sensitive, a romantic, caring, and just an all around people person. Of course she has been locked up in a satellite for years without any kind of human contact... well except for the the witch. She doesn't do much for human contact. She is excited about everything and she tends to wear her emotions, her heart, and her naivety on her sleeve. I adored her and hope to see so much more of her in the next book.

Jason is a lunar, he is a royal guard. He is stuffy, loyal to his princess, tough, and doesn't ever seem to smile. He was a big part of the story, but the story is never told from his point of view, so I didn't connect with him as well as Cress, but he had some pretty awesome and funny moments.

My favorite character, I need to bring up, is Thorn. He was in Scarlet but he didn't leave me with quite as big of an impression in Scarlet as he did in this book. Probably because Scarlet was about Wolf and Scarlet. This book, Cress, has a big role for Thorn. The story is told many times from his point of view. Let me tell you... charming, arrogant, ridiculous, sexy, and so much more. I fell hard for Thorn. He had me laughing out loud so many times.

Along with those characters we still have tough Cinder, sweet Kai, evil Levana, and of course Wolf. So many wonderful characters jammed into one book. It was crazy.

The story was of course awesome too. We have the continuation of Cinder and her quest to stop the evil Levana and then we have Cress's story. Tower (satellite) hostage, long hair, handsome rescuer... all the basics... then we add in crash landings, desert surviving, computer hacking, butt kicking moments and the old story of Rapunzel becomes a sci fi adventure.

Marrissa Meyer is amazing. The writing was just spectacular. There wasn't a dull moment through out the entire book and it was jammed pack full of laughter, adventure, thrills, and of course romance. I don't think there could be any improvement.

One more thing. I listened to this book on audio and I want to take a moment to rave about the narrator. She did such a superb job. With so many povs being switched back and forth and so many characters, it was amazing they way she read this book. She gave each character life and each with such a unique voice. It was easy to tell who was doing what and when, and boy was I sucked in to their lives. I hope to listen to more from this narrator in the future. 

I will be reading and rereading this book years to come. I wish I could rate it more than a 5, but that is my highest. So its a 5++++

I live in Tacoma, Washington, with my fiancé and our two cats. In addition to my slight obsession with books and writing, I'm big on road-tripping, wine-tasting, and hunting for antiques. I'm represented by Jill Grinberg. CINDER, my debut novel, is a futuristic re-envisioning of Cinderella in which Cinder is a cyborg mechanic. Release date: 3 Jan 2012.

Review: Midnight City by J. Barton Mitchell

Title: Midnight City 

Author: J. Barton Mitchell

Publisher:  St. Martin's Griffin
Publishing Date: October 30th 2012

Pages: 384
Genre:  YA Sci-Fi Adventure/ Alien Invasion

Series: Conquered Earth #1
Source: Audio

  

Earth has been conquered by an alien race known as the Assembly. The human adult population is gone, having succumbed to the Tone---a powerful, telepathic super-signal broadcast across the planet that reduces them to a state of complete subservience. But the Tone has one critical flaw. It only affects the population once they reach their early twenties, which means that there is one group left to resist: Children.Holt Hawkins is a bounty hunter, and his current target is Mira Toombs, an infamous treasure seeker with a price on her head. It’s not long before Holt bags his prey, but their instant connection isn’t something he bargained for. Neither is the Assembly ship that crash-lands near them shortly after. Venturing inside, Holt finds a young girl who remembers nothing except her name: Zoey.As the three make their way to the cavernous metropolis of Midnight City, they encounter young freedom fighters, mutants, otherworldly artifacts, pirates, feuding alien armies, and the amazing powers that Zoey is beginning to exhibit. Powers that suggest she, as impossible as it seems, may just be the key to stopping the Assembly once and for all.

This was one of those books that sat on my TBR list for a long time, and really I had forgotten about it for a while. Lately I seem to be into alien reads. This one was a good alien invasion read. It was a bit mysterious, a bit creepy, and a real adventure.

Holt is a bounty hunter of sorts, Mira is the catch. Holt finds Mira, captures Mira, Loses Mira, Finds Mira, Saves Mira then discovers Zoey. That is when everything Holt and Mira believed, changed. There is something special about Zoey. She has great intuition about the the aliens and their army. Oh and for some reason every alien army out there is after her. Now the adventure changes from Holt getting paid for turning in Mira to running for their lives. 

I liked this book. The only issue I had with the book was the pacing. The were time the book was slow, but I am like that with adventures, and this book was more adventure, survival than anything else. There were moments I was a little bored, not enough to stop listening, but enough to sometimes miss something. There were also times I was completely engrossed in the book. Those are the times that made the book worth the read.  Sooo, a little issue with the pacing but other than that it was a great book. 

The story was good, not real original when it comes to alien invasions but it was original enough. Everything was shrouded in mystery, I did like this aspect of the story the best. Holt had a secret, Mira had a secret, and Zoey had a secret.  It was torturous to slowly discover what they were all hiding. The author did a wonderful job allowing bits and peisces to come to light throughout the read. Some things became obvious but there was a whole bunch of whys, whats, whos, and hows that came into play. I would have liked to know a bit more of the alien invasion and the aliens themselves, maybe that will come in the next book. I can tell you the alien army things, creepy, huge, bug like, destroyers. 

The characters were something else. We have a young adult.... Holt... about 20, Mira who was about 15-16 years old, and we had Zoey, best guess about 7-10 years old. They were a mess together. Holt was by far my favorite. I fell for him pretty early in the book. He was arrogant but sweet. He didn't allow himself to care most of the time, but when he did care, he was all in. He was pretty swoon worthy.  He was very charismatic and quite humorous. There were times he had me laughing out loud and making quite a fool out of myself in public. He was a loner but wasn't meant to be a loner. He needed a family and in Mira and Zoey, he got what he needed. 

Mira annoyed me at the beginning. I am not totally sure why. I think it may have to do with my love for Holt and she didn't treat him very well in the beginning. Of course he was trying to capture her and turn her in for money. So I guess I wouldn't have treated him very well either. I think I was also annoyed with her decision making, rash actions, and not asking for any help. Obviously Holt was the type of person that would help out, I mean I could see it.... OK so I understand why she wasn't completely honest with him and didn't want to depend on him, but her decisions still seemed stupid to me. The one thing I liked about her.... she was pretty sly and really smart.... when it came to escaping or fighting. She was feisty and snarky. She was pretty cool most of the time. 

Zoey was a real sweetheart, she was a normal little girl with obvious powers of some sort. Powers she didn't understand and didn't have control over. Other than those powers, she was just a little girl. One who needed help and was quite adorable. Easy to want to save. 


The ending was pretty emotional for me and I was in love with a every character and the story at this point. Completely immersed. The ending did have conclusion but just a tad. It left things pretty wide open for the next book, so now I need to get the next one. 

The narrator was really good. I want to touch on the narration since this an audio book. He read the book at a great pace and really brought the characters to life for me. I loved the individual voices he gave each character. Wonderful narration.

It was a sound start to what looks like to be an exciting series. It was good.

J. Barton Mitchell is a creator and writer of speculative fiction, and the author of the science fiction YA novel series CONQUERED EARTHpublished by St. Martin’s Press. He has sold screenplays to Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, and created the comic book series POE for ‘Boom! Studios’.

Or at least that’s what someone wants you to think…

The truth is, J. Barton Mitchell doesn’t exist. He’s a shadow persona created by another shadow persona dreamed up by an even more shadowy persona. Who is he really, you ask? A super villain named Dr. Sinister? Maybe. The world’s most daring thief, desperately trying to save the world from a hidden alien menace only he can see? Who’s to say? A master assassin trained by an ancient crime syndicate in Myanmar? We’ll never know. All we can know is that you take your life in your hands every time you look at this site. And that’s why you keep coming back…

Just one more page, you tell yourself. Just one more blog entry. And each click of that little wireless, bluetooth mouse of yours (that’s right, he even knows what kind of input device you use) is more exhilarating than the last.

Yeah. Now you see his master plan. Now he’s got you…

J. Barton Mitchell lives and writes somewhere in Los Angeles. Or…does he?