Armada: A Novel

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 hersquos 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 therersquos 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 donrsquot get chosen to save the universe And then he sees the flying saucer Even stranger the alien ship hersquos staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armadamdashin which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders No Zack hasnrsquot lost his mind As impossible as it seems what hersquos seeing is all too real And his skillsmdashas well as those of millions of gamers across the worldmdashare going to be needed to save the earth from whatrsquos about to befall it Itrsquos Zackrsquos chance at last to play the hero But even through the terror and exhilaration he canrsquot help thinking back to all those science-fiction stories he grew up with and wondering Doesnrsquot something about this scenario seem a littlehellipfamiliar 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 yoursquove ever read beforemdashone whose every page is infused with the pop-culture savvy that has helped make Ready Player One a phenomenon.