John Scott
I honestly don't know what the hell I just read, or what I'm supposed to feel about it. Am I supposed to root for the main characters? Hell, the protagonist is one of the most annoying ones I've ever come across, and that's not even counting his flawed character turn midway through. They're all self absorbed pieces of shit, and any redeeming qualities they have are just diminished by the sheer number of negative ones they have. No one is likable. And now I have two more books in a series looming over me, but I highly doubt I ever read them. Not once did I hope the characters you follow succeed. I hoped they all failed.
And the random ass juvenile humor mixed in. Why take the time to put in throw away lines about how big the unit is on a creature that appears for two pages? It's not needed.
WTF
Rothfuss starts this book with a warning that it isn't for everyone, that it may be difficult to read because it doesn't follow any sort of traditional writing style. There is no dialogue. There is no real action. Beyond Auri, the only other characters are inanimate objects.
Yet, this novel enamored me. I couldn't stop reading. I would go back over passages multiple times simply because of how the language was. The wording is wistful, delicate, endearing.
I tried for some time to figure out the best way to describe this story, the best way to get across how it made me feel and how I think it would maker others feel.
He best way to describe it is lovely. I can't take credit for that, though. In the quest to figure out how to describe the feelings I had about this book, I sent a tweet to Will Smith from tested.com asking him what he thought, and he said he thought it was lovely. And when I read that, it became clear that that is how I would describe it, as well. Lovely. It makes you feel smug, like you're wrapped in your favorite blanket on a rainy fall day.
Through all of her wanderings and wonderings, you get insight on Auri that you don't get in either of the Kvothe centered books that she appears. Without revealing much about her, the book reveals nearly everything about Auri.
It's fantastic.
It's lovely.
Ernest Cline loves the 80's, of that there is no doubt. And, that is fine. But, Armada is rife with pop culture references that, if taken out, would leave you with a book largely devoid of much substance. While the book can be enjoyable, the constant references to old games, music, TV and film are tiring.
The book winds up being the bastard offspring of Ender's Game and The Last Starfighter. It can be fun, but there is nothing new or inventive to it.
If you enjoyed Ready Player One, you'll probably enjoy this. But, if the cringey dialogue, overuse of references, and non-relatable characters of Ready Player One bothered you, you'll get much of the same from this.
This, and RP1, are like Twilight for nerds: a possible fun read without much substance and written with questionable skill.