NEW YORK TIMES*BESTSELLER ¿*A rollicking alien invasion thriller that embraces and subverts science-fiction conventions, from the author of the worldwide*phenomenon*Ready Player One*

"Exciting . . . mixes*Star Wars,*The Last Starfighter,*Independence Day,*and a really gnarly round of*Space Invaders."-USA Today*¿*"A thrilling coming of age story."-Entertainment Weekly

Zack Lightman has never much cared for reality. He vastly prefers the countless science-fiction movies, books, and videogames he's spent his life consuming. And too often, he catches himself wishing that some fantastic, impossible, world-altering event could arrive to whisk him off on a grand spacefaring adventure.*

So when he sees the flying saucer, he's sure his years of escapism have finally tipped over into madness.*

Especially because the alien ship he's staring at is straight out of his favorite videogame, a flight simulator callled* Armada-in which gamers just happen to be protecting Earth from alien invaders.*

As impossible as it seems, what Zack's seeing is all too real. And it's just the first in a blur of revlations that will force him to question everything he thought he knew about Earth's history, its future, even his own life--and to play the hero for real, with humanity's life in the balance.*

But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can't help thinking: Doesn't something about this scenario feel a little bit like . . .* well . . . fiction?*

At once reinventing and paying homage to science-fiction classics, *Armada*is a rollicking, surprising thriller, a coming-of-age adventure, and an alien invasion tale like nothing you've ever read before.