In 2011 Ernest Cline published Ready Player One which went on to win numerous awards, including an Alex Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association, and millions of diehard fans.

In March 2015 Steven Spielberg announced he would direct Ready Player One and the film is set to hit theaters in 2018.

Now Cline has published his follow-up Armada a sci-fi novel about a teenager Zack Lightman who happens to see a flying saucer and is forced to save humanity. But like Ready Player One the story deals with as much introspective thoughts and questions (if not perhaps more so) than the physical ones.

Told with wit and charm and a splash of humanity Armada is perhaps the best sci-fi book of the year for all readers. Cline’s characters in Armada are better drawn, more for a better word, real er than in Ready. They pop from the page and grab you by the collar, tantalizing you to join them. His protagonist has a charming way of being fun while still being annoying.

Lightman snatches the reader into his chaotic life in a way perhaps only John Kennedy Toole successfully managed. Lightman isn’t as unforgettable nor as original as Kennedy’s Ignatius J. Reilly, but a close second and perhaps the rightful heir for readers in the 21st century.

If You Go: Ernest Cline reading and booksigning takes place on Wednesday, April 20 at 7 p.m. at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, 55 Haywood St., Asheville. Call (828) 254-6734, or visit www.malaprops.com.