Author: Craig Alanson
Series: Expeditionary Force
Genres: Sci-Fi, Military Sci-Fi
Publisher: Createspace
Release: May 31st 2018
Source: ebook
Pages: 275
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BLURB:
The remnants of the Expeditionary Force stranded on the alien-controlled planet 'Paradise' get a chance to prove themselves, in a simple off-world training mission with a ship full of teenage alien cadets. When the mission goes horribly wrong and the survival of everyone on Paradise is at risk, the Merry Band of Pirates may have to come to the rescue. Unless they get killed first...
EXPECTATIONS: So far I loved all of the books in these series, except the ones that concentrated too much on the other teams, not the ones led by Joe Bishop. The last one ended on a cliffhanger, so I sat there, eagerly waiting, expecting nothing more and nothing less than a continuation to the adventure in far away space.
THE WORLD: Far away space, reachable only by very advanced alien technology, and even then only via wormholes. Not too long ago, using one closest to Earth, aliens jumped in, and wrecked all of the infrastructure on our planet. People, angry as one would expect, met the other alien race that followed and kicked their furry behinds, with open arms. Just to learn later on that they jumped out of a frying pan into a boiling pot. Today Joe Bishop flies around in a stolen alien ship, with a handful of well trained humans, hoping to save whatever is left of the humans in alien planets, if possible. But his primary mission is to help his friend, who back then helped him (unlocked the locks, found an unguarded space ship, piloted it for him, safely got him home, etc.), find yet another race of aliens, an Elder race who were so advanced they entered ascension stage, and somehow left this AI behind...
CHARACTERS: Joe Bishop and Skippy the Magnificent, together with the rest of the Merry Band of Pirates crew, are soaring through space, surviving adventures and Skippy's singing. But most of the story follows other people, other humans recruited by aliens. Most have already realized this other alien race is evil, and so, together with the first kind, the ones they call Hamsters (evil ones are called Lizards), they decided that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and joined their military forces. Others settled for life on this new planet, going as far as beer brewing. After all, none of them expected to get a lift home, not now that the wormhole that caused so much trouble back then - suddenly went dormant. Even less they expected to learn some humans, calling themselves Keepers of Faith, continue to work for the Lizards. And that Lizards are becoming more nasty by the day.
ROMANCE: None. Even though Joe would really love to have someone. Someone that isn't a shiny beer can, that is. (that's Skippy's original form)
GOOD: The writing is very high-quality. There's a lot of science stuff, military stuff, and military science stuff, but everything's explained very well, very clearly, with very delightful funny helpers on the way. And the humor here is top notch for sure.
BAD: I prefer reading about Joe and Skippy, is all.
OVERALL: This book, even if not my favorite, made perfect sense to exist. We had to see this side of the story. And it is better we see it unfold in action now, than hear it told in a bar monologue later. So, not my favorite, but still very good. And now I'll eagerly wait even longer for the next one.
What do you think about MAVERICKS?
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