I finished Armada, & while it was not as good as Ready Player One, it was certainly a good book. There are a lot of folk who are comparing it to both Flight of the Navigator and Ender’s Game negatively, and while those comparisons are completely justified, I feel as though they kinda miss the point of the book. It’s not just about a kid learning how to be a fighter pilot by playing video games. I would contend that those points go into setting up the world that the last 1/3 or so of the book is in to drive home what the book is about.
The other book that read in the last few weeks was The Martian. I was highly trepidatious at first, as I tend to be with things seem popular (yes, hipster Tom is hipster... apparently), but I eventually caved to all of the ratings & from the fact that I felt like I couldn’t go anywhere on the internet without it being suggested to me. I got it & absolutely could not put it down. It blazed through it and find myself marveling at the amazing absurdity of the situation where an astronaut gets left behind on Mars and just has to survive for as long as he can. I won’t ruin any more of the plot than that, but it is magnificent! Also- the trailers for the movie (because... of course there’s an upcoming movie for it) are pretty great as well and seem to capture the essence of the book in short snippets.
-Tom 7.27.2015
244 - Minor Concessions
