Author: Craig Alanson
Series: Expeditionary Force 1
Genres: Sci-Fi, Fiction
Publisher: Independently Published
Release: 2016 January 11th
Source: Audiobook
Pages: 494
// Goodreads // Amazon //
BLURB:
We were fighting on the wrong side, of a war we couldn't win. And that was the good news. The Ruhar hit us on Columbus Day. There we were, innocently drifting along the cosmos on our little blue marble, like the native Americans in 1492. Over the horizon come ships of a technologically advanced, aggressive culture, and BAM! There go the good old days, when humans only got killed by each other. So, Columbus Day. It fits. When the morning sky twinkled again, this time with Kristang starships jumping in to hammer the Ruhar, we thought we were saved. The UN Expeditionary Force hitched a ride on Kristang ships to fight the Ruhar, wherever our new allies thought we could be useful. So, I went from fighting with the US Army in Nigeria, to fighting in space. It was lies, all of it. We shouldn't even be fighting the Ruhar, they aren't our enemy, our allies are.I'd better start at the beginning....
EXPECTATIONS: I really do love sci-fi. That was my first book-love, in fact, and I started my new life as a reader after I bought a sci-fi book for saved up allowance back in school. So my expectations are always pretty high when it comes to science fiction, since I have not read a book that would've disappoint me. Reading the blurb of this got me hopeful for action and mean aliens, and, and...
THE WORLD: Earth, right on the Columbus day in America, got attacked by aliens. Well, not attacked. They fell. Others followed. Destroying infrastructure, electricity and all that, killing civilians or just getting casualties, either way, they seemed bad news. So when another fleet of whole different alien race came and kicked them out from Earth, humans thought well damn, saviors! Joe Bishop was among them. After successfully kidnapping one of the attackers, he didn't feel all too great a grudge against such, seemingly, human-like creatures with fur, but one can't love someone who destroyed country to a point of reverting farmers into most important people on the globe, because hey, they grow food! Right? Right. So when these savior guys started recruiting humans for a fleet to help them fight the furry hamsters, he volunteered. And this is how humans found their way onto a spaceship that took them light years away. Onto a different planet. A planet of the enemies.
CHARACTERS: Joe Bishop, at first, seemed a cocky boring jock-boy from the military ranks. A simple child of farmers. But as story progressed, he showed dimension and strength of character. And best of all, quick wit. As trouble brewed, he wasn't up to leave anyone behind, not if he could honestly save someone and get out of there alive. This, of course, means he got into all kinds of trouble, of which one pushed him into a closet full of excavated junk, where he bumped into what looked like a shiny beer can. Up until it spoke to him. Meet Skippy the Magnificent, an AI created by an ancient race of elders! He's forbidden to interact with anyone who have the technology to travel through wormholes, so he just sat there, dormant, looking like literal trash, up until Joe stumbled in, this less hairy version of a monkey... Did I mention that Skippy is an a-hole? Well, he is. But the banter he and Joe have are so funny that I laughed out loud way too many times.
ROMANCE: There is none. Joe likes a girl there, a girl here, but he doesn't get involved. His mind is fully on the mission and survival. Which doesn't stop Skippy from teasing him whenever that's possible.
GOOD: It was very fun, intense, and funny. There's plenty of action, the story is paced very well, and characters, at least the main ones, are easy to like. Did I mentioned the banter between Joe and Skippy? Yeah, pure gold, just purest pure gold of all the golds.
BAD: Well, nothing.
OVERALL: I loved this book from the very first chapter. And I do recommend listening to it in audio, the reader, same man who voiced The Martian, is amazing, and does a great job. Seriously, if you're into fun sci-fi, this is the book. THE book.
What do you think about COLUMBUS DAY?
0 comments:
Post a Comment