A Tiny Book Review

I have just finally got my copy of the latest Call of Duty game called Black Ops 6. I am excited about this. But…I have to write to you about another thing just before I start to get into playing some Black Ops 6 on my Xbox Series X. The game is installing right now so I have some time here to tell you about a book that I just completely read to the final page today.

The book that we are dealing here is named Armada. It is the second book that has been written by a novelist that goes by the name Ernest Cline. Of course you might have heard of his first book Ready Player One. There was a movie made based on the book. There have been some more books written by Cline later in his career (books like Ready Player Two).

I got this book free from my local library. They were handing out some older books so they can make some newer releases available and to be borrowed. I have read Cline’s first book and I thought it was okay. It is a bit “nerdy” even in my own somewhat nerdy considerations. It was a fun read. It featured many associations to well-known computer and video games including some references to music artists and also movies. The Atari 2600 gets a special valuation in the book.

This book is not only a science fiction book. It is something that might be an interesting way to spend some free time for a gamer. I liked this more than I did like Ready Player One. The story has somewhat more situations that feel very exciting to the reader. There aren’t as many awkward moments in my opinion. Of course there are some embarrassing moments between Zack, the main character of the book, and his father.

The book has a bit over 350 pages. So, it isn’t a long book to read. I got mine as a Finnish translation. If you speak English I think you find this book in English very easily. There must be translations to many other languages also. The book was originally published in 2015.

So, as the title of this blog post tells you, I finished reading my copy of Ready Player One. It was originally published in 2011. My copy of this book is printed in 2018. This is the translation. I read this one in Finnish. I just wish that I would have read the original book in English. The translation isn’t bad. I just think there are so many terms in English “nerd slang” that you cannot directly translate to Finnish. They have done their best. I know this because there is a person mentioned in the first pages of the book. That person is Jyrki J. J. Kasvi. Or at least was because, sadly, he passed away some years ago.

This book offers a story and lots of references to 70s, 80s and 90s video game related content. This includes games, music and movies. When I am reading this material, I feel very much like a real nerd. I can feel the writers, who is, actually, Ernest Cline, passion, so to say, about every movie and game that he mentions in the book. You probably get who this book is targeted for. It is a fun read. All this talk about Atari 2600 makes it also a bit funny. It just shows how much this console mattered to the author of the book.

The book has a bit over 500 pages. On these last pages there is an advertisement about Cline’s new book called Armada. It is said that it will be available in 2018. I didn’t actually buy this paper back book as a new copy. I bought it from flea market. It might have been from recycling center. I don’t remember clearly.

The story takes place in year 2045. People are really into virtual reality gaming. There is a huge video game called OASIS. It was developed by a now deceased game designer James Halliday. He left a quest inside the game. There is a huge reward promised to that person that can solve the mystery. There is also a large company called IOI that is doing its best to get their hands on this award. The book takes you through of how the main character, Wade Watts, deals with this challenge.

This book has been very popular. There is also a movie made out of it. With all this hype around the book I found it to be a nice read. And of course it is related to the subject of my dearest hobby – collecting and playing video and computer games.

Intensive Gaming Diary

Tag: ernest cline

A Tiny Book Review

I Finished Reading “Ready Player One”