Too good, toooo good

I waited ages for this book and finished it within 1 1/2 days. Next please. Highly entertaining and highly recommended. RC Bray is just superb. I can’t understand how he manages some of the intense parts with multiple people and the emotional content. Hurry up with the next one - no pressure 🙃

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3 people found this helpful

Craig's writing keeps improving with each story!

If you haven't listened to the other books yet then get going!!! Another magnificent performance from RC Bray, giving real life to each character. The story and narrative not only follows the delightfully well worn groove of Skippy and Joe, but also adds depth again in the supporting cast. More please!

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1 person found this helpful

Somewhat half added but still a fun listen

Language gets very repetitive and it ruins it a little for me. It's a fun book though, but I don't laugh as much as I did earlier in the series

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1 person found this helpful

Snot Bubble

This book is brilliant, funny, if you are reading reviews trying to decide if you should buy this book DONT! go back and start from the begging. read all the books in this series you will laugh until you nearly pee yourself.

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Simply brilliant

This has become my favourite series of ebooks that I have ever listened to and I listen to a lot!

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I have managed to binge all of them during lockdow

Considering this was written by a Monkey I have throughly enjoyed all the books in the series and I am now a super fan of skippyasyermuni!

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Amazing series

R C brays performances in these books are fantastic would listen to any audiobook narrated by this guy. 👍🏻

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Seriously outstanding!

This series just keeps getting better! Just when you think it cannot get better, it does 🐱 luckily, l am on holiday so off to the next book.

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Great. Amazing. A Must

Another great book. I was worried that it was going to start going stale but Craig Alanson has smashed another amazing book. Fast paced in parts really funny. and for me a 1st an incredibly sad part. For me the Expeditionary Force series are the type of book that you get lost in. Massive fan right here.

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A jarring change of tone… due to a valiant attempt to change series tone and direction.

This series started out light hearted, with some serious elements. Joe is a lovable dufus, Skippy an lovable dickhead.

This book is a massive turn to serious character bonding, crammed full of action and… well… perhaps a little too much military self loathing, combined with a high degree of inconsistency between words and deeds, and the overall tone.

That’s understandable, given that Joe and Skippy haven’t really evolved for several books and they mostly wandered from crisis to crisis. It also reads like the author read his fan complaints on Joes utter inability to plan beyond five seconds (and so not being a genius) and had him learn, and learn hard. The same goes for Skippy being a real boy.

The problem is, doing this all in one book something like 10 books into a combined series is…

… a rough rollercoaster, and one which ends on a somewhat grey note (if an awesome sci-fi geek reference). I think it might have come across better as two separate books with a little more tightly focused plotting, because to be honest the first four-five hours could simply not exist, and then at least you might have to listen to Joe being self recriminating and everyone telling him he’s an idiot.

This crush of plot also brings up another simple fact - the author is explaining away prior inconsistencies and trying to build a more coherent world to bring to a climax, which is understandable - series like this change direction, and the ‘old formula’ is stale - Joe *never* learning and being in constant conflict with ‘REMFs’ (or the civilians he professes to protect) simply isn’t fun.

But part of Joe learning about the world and the tech was part of the ‘progression’ element that makes series like this interesting, as tech grows and develops.

But it’s mentioned in passing. We get no descriptions of a captured ship of immense power, or of the next iteration of the Dutchman, not even much of a description of its bridge. From the point of view of an emotionally charged military drama, this is great… but these books were not that. They’re now lacking in an area that’s been filled by the burnt rubber of a handbrake plot turn designed to line us up for a more serious ending.

Compare this to the excellent development in Mavericks, which is frankly a better series and you see the gaps. The characters have a ship of supreme power, stuffed with toys, but we don’t get to see them. They stick with weapons and gear they know. And even then, the battle sequences are short, the insane plans and self recrimination long. I look forward to the ‘let’s kick some ass’ tone of future books and I hope to the two series finally come together (I’ve stayed away from criticising the plot points keeping the two apart, because a plan by characters is a matter of personal taste) and stay on a united theme.

You could almost skip this book.

Almost.

But you’d regret missing the bits of it that shine, you’d regret the awkwardness and cuteness of *that* tormented romance. You’ll miss Skippy and Joe getting angry and serious together.

And those redeem it to 4 stars, as does RC Bray’s sterling performance.

But Valkyrie had best deliver on the new theme, and… Critical Mass, I think? Yes, had best deliver on uniting the series and carrying us home.

(Oh, and… if you don’t like any hint of words like ‘causality’ or ‘collapsing probabilities’ and alternate dimensions changing ours… there’s one glaring section you can so far basically ignore. But this book also reveals a wider end game change and more of Skippy’s powers… which may or may not work.)

Here’s hoping!

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