Armada by Ernest Cline

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 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...

I really wasn't a fan of this book. I wasn't sure what it would really be about (other than video games) and I guess that the video games were the part I really did not enjoy about the book. I sometimes play video games, but its not hard-core stuff like Armada or any of the other games that Zack plays. I also do not play every single day, maybe not even every week so I couldn't really connect with how obsessed Zack was.

I thought the new take on videogames being used to train people for fighting was really interesting. I thought that it was kind of weird though, and I found it really unbelievable that the school wouldn't have stopped Zack from being taken, literally, right before class started. Even if it was the government who took him, I would hope that they would ask more questions.

Zach's family situation was really sad. He basically only had his mother, what with his father being dead. I also really felt sorry for him when other kids tried to fight him. I was glad when he showed them that he could fight and didn't take any crap from them. I found it really unrealistic though when no teachers seemed to stop any of the bullying going on and just seemed to ignore it.

Pretty much the only real thing that I enjoyed about this book, stopping it from being one star, was the writing. It was super good and the only thing keeping me reading. The author also really knew about videogames and I'm only sorry that I sort of skimmed over that stuff since its not my thing.

I might recommend this based on how many videogames you play and if you're obsessed with them like Zach. If you're like me and barely play any I would definitely recommend a different book.

***I received a review copy from the publisher via bloggingforbooks.com This did not influence my rating or review in any way.***

Thanks for reading and remember to follow!
~Bri