I thoroughly enjoyed Cline's first book, "Ready Player One", and pre-ordered his second, the moment I learned of its release. Going in I knew that my expectations might be too high so I worked to calm myself the day "Armada" arrived. The story starts out with...wait for it...a loner high school student who loves video games. Then one day he sees a spaceship from his favorite video game (Armada) fly by in the real world. The story then starts down the path of Enders Game or The Last Starfighter, where the military has been training future pilots using video games. But the protagonist is completely aware of those stories, and what is happening to him doesn't quite make sense. I won't spoil the story other than to say, the book is not "Ernest Cline's Ender's Game", it takes a different turn. As with his previous works, Mr Cline includes lots of pop references, and some subtle ones. I was proud of immediately recognizing the keypad combination of 1-1-3-8-2-1-1-2. [If you don't get those, track down Georg Lucas's first film and review Rush albums. If you aren't willing to, you probably shouldn't be reading Cline's books]. Also two out of my three favorite pop scientists make an appearance. While Ready Player One was wet-your-pants exciting for people who graduated high school 30 year ago, "Armada" appeals to a wider science fiction gamer fanboy or fangirl audience.