Armada - By Ernest Cline

Armada by Ernest Cline
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A teenage gamer discovers his favourite game is the real thing when he is called upon to help defend Earth against an alien threat bent upon our destruction.

Having thoroughly enjoyed Ready Player One, I was ready for more 80's pop culture love.

Armada continues the love letter to the 80's, throwing tons of music, movie and sci-fi references one after the other. But it feels shallow and more of the same.

Other reviewers have complained about the one dimensional characters, bad grammar and frequent deus ex machinas. These are real problems, but Armada manages to be a fun read in spite of it.

However, I hope Ernest Cline's next book is something completely removed from eighties pop culture, as he's at serious risk of self plagiarizing.



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Battlestar Galactica: Sagittarius is Bleeding

President Laura Roslin, recently cured from her cancer, is having strange nightmares that somehow are tied in to the unborn baby the Cylon Sharon Valerii is carrying.

Admiral Adama is trying to find out how the Cylons were able to predict the last jumping coordinates for the fleet. Is there a traitor on board the Galactica? The Admiral will have to make tough ethical decisions to find out.

Further complicating matters, troublemaker Tom Zarek has taken under his wing a group of Midguardians, outcasts who don't share the same religious beliefs as the rest of the fleet.

As a relative newcomer to the Galactica universe and fan of Peter David's work, I really enjoyed this one.
A big plus for it is that it tries to explain why we never see Boxey after the miniseries.

Worth the read.