Armada by Ernest Cline

If we stand a chance, it will be the gamers who save us. Because maybe, just maybe, they've been training us as drone warriors through video games.

Zack lost his dad before he was a year old, and he's spent his youth a little obsessed about the same movies, music, and games his dad loved, just to feel a kinship. So on the day of the alien invasion, Zack finds he's perfectly positioned for a top spot in the real-world fighting force he's been trained on in his favorite game.

In the face of potential extermination, much about the world changes: the bonds of friendship and family are stronger, and so is the possibility of love at first sight. But is human nature what will save us, or what dooms us? We'll have to play out this game to see.

I loved Ready Player One, and this is just as good.

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

What if the fate of humankind rested on the skinny shoulders of a washed-up pop star?

When the rest of the galaxy discovers that Earth exists, we're forced to defend our sentience: Are we people, or are we meat? Based on a horrific past war and its time-tested truce agreement, the pre-ordained litmus test is, of course, an intergalactic singing-and-entertainment contest. Like Eurovision, but weirder.

This book a hilarious pop culture fest in the best kind of way.

It's also written in elaborate similes and Vegas-showgirl feathered headdress adjectives and expressively convoluted sentences that take lux vacations to exotic locales for up to half a page at a time and twist themselves inside out and backwards in a primitive mating ritual before they bleed out fuschia glitter and then expire. You'll either like that or hate it.

Eight Days on Planet Earth by Cat Jordan

An unusual girl shows up in the field next to Matt's house, waiting for her ride home - a field still famous 50 years later as the crash site for a UFO. Her story can't be true, but Matty can't seem to write her off as just another nutcase.

He may be falling in love. It may be teenage hormones. Or it might be merely a distraction from all the other things going on in Matty's life. But in any event, Priya has somehow captured his interest ... along with the undying devotion of his dog, Ginger.

I loved this book, mostly because I was never sure where it was headed.

Matty's perspective on the world shifts as he explains things to Priya - it gives him a new reason to reconsider the mundane. It also brings him back to the stars, something he once shared with his dad but has left abandoned of late.

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

A full-planet reality reset on the Disc causes major chaos, as magic makes sure a failed magician with an important spell stays alive long enough to use it.

This one's an epic quest kind of novel: the guys have a mission (even if they don't know it), and they meet characters and fight battles on their way to the final goal. And Luggage shows what he's really made of!

I'm just sort of getting into the Discworld way of thinking - I've decided to read my way through them in the order they were written. They're funny and smart, with a deep philosophy that bears lingering analysis.

Super Extra Grande by Yoss

Who knew there's a whole sub-genre of Cuban sci-fi? And apparently, Yoss is the crown prince.

This slim volume features a space biologist who specializes in really, really large creatures (partially because he's very big, himself). The one experience that so-far eludes him is actual research on the living, moving lakes of a distant planet.

When he's offered the chance-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do so, it's not without an ulterior motive. Because not one but two of his former employees are MIA, crash-landed in one of the alive lakes, but they were on a secret mission that cannot be revealed. Also, they're both sort of in love with our hero.

The book was entertaining and the characters and creatures were interesting and new. I felt like some things were a bit too pat - just sort of resolved immediately with no drama or tension. I wanted more!

The real reason I picked up the book was that I'd read about a heavy-metal rocker with a degree in biology who wrote sci-fi, and that was just the kind of strange I had to investigate.

Morning Star by Pierce Brown

In the finale of the Red Rising trilogy, Darrow and the Sons of Ares rise to battle for control of Mars - and other planets in the modern system too. Their goal is the end of government based upon class distinction and birth caste. The battle is mighty.

While Red Rising was about character development and Golden Son was about political positioning, Morning Star is completely about the war: battles, fighting, blood, death, strategy and survival. Who can you trust, and who must you kill? But also, is it all worth it?

This book has twists and heartbreaking betrayals, and just when you think you know how it will end, it twists again. Oh!

What a great series, overall. Highly recommended!

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance

While many have tried to simplify Elon Musk down to a real-life Tony Stark (Iron Man), this biography shows that there's more to the man than "playboy millionare who will save the world" ... although that is certainly a goal of his.

Musk's got extraordinary vision and dreams way larger than most - and thanks to early investment in tech startups that paid off, he's also got the money to give it a go. While SpaceX may be the first commercial company to take payloads to the International Space Station, that's just a lilypad in the leapfrog to Mars.

But I feel very sorry for his employees, who must be willing to give 110% on everything at the expense of their personal lives. He's the kind of guy who leads by example - but ill health, crappy diet, extreme stress, work-a-holic tendances, and lack of empathy aren't something to which you should aspire.

I'll nitpick that the book's not truly a biography of Musk - there's great info about his early days, then once we get into his big businesses there's not much detail about his personal life anymore. For example, there's a minor aside dismissed quickly like, "And then he married his second wife again." I'd like to have known more about that decision and the change-of-heart one or both experienced; that's a pretty big reversal for a guy who's always moving forward. And what is he REALLY like as a dad to 5 young boys with 4-day-a-week custody, a private plane, and an overbooked schedule? How does he parent?

This book fired in me a personal obsession with Tesla cars (how will I find the kind of money to buy one?!), and Musk's drive to make green energies more affordable is interesting and commendable. I was fascinated by the subject and enjoyed this book immensely - and thankfully I don't have to like the guy all that much to have loved the book.

The Dark Side of the Sun by Terry Pratchett

It was long ago predicted through complicated math and probability that Dom Salabos will die on the day he takes the helm of his family's empire. Yet his assassin keeps failing. Can everything be predicted through p-math?

This is a funny, furiously fast story of space fantasy fiction. The extended theories and new worlds introduced in a rapid-fire manner have at times left me reaching for the pause-and-rewind and a second chance to absorb it all.

Also, listening to the audiobook has given me a real appreciation for the foreign languages and accents of the universe. (Although I have to admit the audiobook version of this was tough to come by and less than perfect when it arrived.)

NOTE: In honor of his recent departure from this plane of existence, I've decided to read Terry Pratchett's catalog from start to finish. Apologies in advance if you tire of this endeavor more quickly than I do.

Smek for President by Adam Rex

Timed along with the release of Home (the animated movie made from The True Meaning of Smekday) this sequel continues the friendship of human 12-year-old Tip Tucci and Boov alien J.Lo (whose name was changed to Oh for the film) about a year-and-a-half after they saved the world.

Socially, J.Lo is in bad shape: He's viewed as a villain by his people, who consider him The Squealer because his message allowed their enemy the Gorg to find Earth. On the other hand, the humans view him angrily as one of the recently defeated earth invaders and all-around as a general nuisance.

So when J.Lo and Tip strike on the idea of a trip to see New Boovworld (formerly Saturn's moon Titan) and try to clear his name, what could possibly go wrong? Well, for starters, Mom says NO. And there's that bit about J.Lo being Public Enemy Number One.

It's not necessary to have read the first book to understand this one, but by all means READ THEM BOTH!! This has become one of my ultimate favorite series in the history of ever.

I cannot say enough about the AMAZING Bahni Turpin, who narrates these audiobooks. The noises, inflections, and personality she injects into the characters and story are fantastic - she has brought it all to life in such a wonderful way, that I'm actually afraid to see the movie with someone else's version of these characters.

Boy21 by Matthew Quick

Finley lives for basketball, and because he isn't the best player on the team he works extra hard to prove he's an asset. But when Coach asks Finley to watch over a special new kid in town, the strange boy's friendship changes everything: Russ has been through tough stuff and seems not quite right in the head, yet he becomes the kind of friend Finley's never had. When it comes down to friendship or basketball, there are tough choices to make.

Matthew Quick always does a wonderful job with marginalized characters, and typically he likes to put you right inside the head of his most damaged character. So it's a bit different that in this novel, he chose Finley's voice: Finley's life isn't ideal and there's a lurking darkness, but he's a more "normal" character than Russ, who believes he's from outer space and answers to Boy21 instead of his name. Just a slight change of style for Quick, I thought.

I absolutely loved this book, and I have really come to adore Quick's writing style and the stories he tells. His scenarios aren't easy, but they're a journey I'm glad to embark upon to get a new perspective.

Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer

Sunny has spent five years being the perfect mother: wearing the blonde wig, making the mother-shape in the world, organizing, responding and acting properly. And yet, her son Bubber is autistic and must wear a helmet in the car to prevent head-banging.

Her husband, Maxon, has spent his life trying to respond and react appropriately in social settings: nodding, raising his eyebrows, and using inflection in his voice to convey emotion. And yet, now that he's in a rocket headed to the moon, his robotic Asperger's brain may make him Earth's perfectly evolved hope for space colonization.

When something sets each Sunny and Maxon's missions off-course, it's not just a minor glitch - these are major situations, not in the plan or part of the forecast. Nobody graphed this out on the whiteboard. Will the cracks show? Will anybody be OK?

I loved, loved, loved this book and I'm not sure I can fully describe why, but I'll try. The characters are perfectly flawed, yet trying their hardest to be normal: They don't see is that normal is a mirage. Each has a unique perspective coloring their world vision, and I thoroughly delighted in their thoughts and theories.

Additionally, the narration of the audiobook by Joshilyn Jackson was truly, monumentally EPIC. Her voices for each character were rich and unique, truly fitting such spectacular and strange people.