Renegades (Expeditionary Force) Paperback – May 6, 2019

I started this series in audiobook form. This is the first time reading the print and I liked it. I still couldn’t get RC Bray’s voice for Bishop out of my head, though. Fantastic series. Imaginative, serious where it counts and fun and playful everywhere else.Humanity facile a dark threat and this is handled in a way without the book becoming morose. Every page stings to the next and it is a captivating read. Occasionally the dialogue between Bishop and Slippy gets a little routine but isn’t that how dialogue with a friend often goes?If you are a fan of imaginative sci if that still gives you the tech stuff without going overboard then you will love this.

Great book. Even though it is part of the series. It stands on its own. There's enough context provided when speaking about past events that they do make sense and you are connected to them as you are with the story. My singular drawback is that Skippy has become more condescending, arrogant and disrespectful to Joe. Skippy seems more self-centered than previous books. Perhaps it's a prelude to him going off the rails.

You see, Joe is rescued back to the Flying Dutchman along with some of the Merry Pirates and a few volunteers that were hanging around at the time, and with the help of Skippy, conscripts some delta force guys who were trying to take over the Dutchman on behalf of the USA. The Maxolhx are sending two warships to investigate strange things happening at the local wormhole. We know this is the fault of Joe and the gang from the previous adventures. Joe is given three impossible tasks to perform in order to save the Earth. This reminds me of Jason and the Argonauts. I personally would have tried to avoid the three challenges, and would have tried to incite a war between the Maxolhx and the Rindhalu, but no, our Skippynauts accept the three challenges which require the Skippynauts to sneak behind Maxolhx lines and invade unbreachable security to pick up a pixie, steal a Maxholhx dropship, and get word from an unmanned communication outpost that can only be approached by a Maxholhx ship with a pixie. Once these three challenges are met, the Skippynauts are to destroy the two Maxholhx warships using the decrepit Frankenstein ship known as the Flying Dutchman. You won't believe how all of this is accomplished through the awesomeness of a beer can and the ingenuity of a band of monkeys. He who can manipulate micro wormholes can do anything! The story is still exciting, and the Beer can is still amusing even though he's gotten a bit more mellow. I will be reading the two more follow-on books, but this one felt like a formula with the three challenges

This review is a general one for books 3 through 7 there may be some spoilers for earlier books, but if you arehere, you probably read them.I reviewed the first two of these books last month. This is theremainder of the series to this point.To reiterate, the basic setup of the series is that in the aftermathof the departure of the Elders, there is an ongoing, apparentlyendless, interstellar war drawing in all the known intelligent racesof the galaxy. There are two coalitions, each headed by a seniorspecies which has mastered some of the Elders' toys, with a pyramidof technologically inferior species under each senior race. Oneside is, basically, the bad guys and each species in that coalitionworks as much to screw over their supposed mentors and allies asthey do against the good guys. Unfortunately Earth got chosen tofight on this side, and we are so far down on the tech pole thatwe barely even count as cannon fodder.Sent with the UNEF to the planet Paradise by our Kristang "allies"to do essentially mall-cop level duties by evacuating Ruhar "enemy"civilians from Paradise after it changed hand from Ruhar to Kristang,US Army enlisted man Joe Bishop comes into contact with a stillfunctional (though somewhat arrogant and ADD) Elder AI he christens"Skippy" who will help Joe, and by extension, Earth if Joe will getthe (non-self-mobile) AI off of Paradise.With an unlikely team, and monkey cunning, Joe's "Merry Band ofPirates" have managed to exterminate the Kristang occupying Earth.Unfortunately it is vitally important that no race of either coalitioncome to realize that Earth is a) free & b) has a spaceship andlimited Elder tech. This leads to wilder and iffier missions tokeep the secret, and means that the UNEF on Paradise can never betold that the homeworld is OK.Two books & a novella here basically deal with the situation onParadise: _Paradise_, "Trouble On Paradise" and _Mavericks_.Basically, without ever contacting anyone on Paradise, Joe's teammust maneuver events so that the Ruhar take back the planet, becauseotherwise the Kristang will massacre the humans of UNEF as traitorousallies. With that done, a tenuous detente trending towards friendshipblossoms there (the Ruhar are basically OK guys, though there aresome jerks of course) and may lead to something new in the age oldwar. This sequence is generally well done, though the framing storyof Joe's Pirates in _Mavericks_ is a bit forced.The other books are tales of the increasingly frantic efforts by Joe'steam to keep the rest of the universe from noticing that there is anythingat all going on on Earth. This is not helped by Skippy being taken downseveral notches and dealing with species several steps higher on thetech tree. Along the way, the team gathers alarming information onthe state of the Universe, and indications that "Everything Skippy knowsmay be wrong". The final (as yet) tale deals with Joe's decision togo it alone after being a consummate team player, something that can't helpbut have major repercussions.As before, these are engaging tales full of puzzles, humor, hairbrained plans that work, hair brained plans that don't work,arrogance, humility and the continuous prospect of the end of theworld as we know it. Recommended.

This is the last in the Expeditionary Force series, a lengthy series following the escapades of an alien and super intelligent AI and a group of humans with whom he bonds over the previous 6 volumes and many dangerous escapes from other nasty aliens all while trying to save earth and humans. Written tongue in cheek and with one of the most amusing sets of characters, from the alien AI (often referred to as a beer can) and a self-deprecating human hero to the many other characters that populate the series. My whole family loves Skippy the AI, especially as read in Audible. I tend to read the books so I’m a huge fan of the writing and of this author who’s other books are just as easy to read and just as entertaining. I admit sometimes the technical sci- jargon gets in the way of the fi- but I’ve really enjoyed the series and would wholeheartedly recommend it. I’m a Virgo though and get bogged down occasionally in detail and the detail that annoys me about the series is that there are too many grammatical errors that make one pause for a second or throw the impact of the story. However, as that’s my only complaint and is easily remedied by the publishers it gets a full thumbs up.

Another awesome installment in the series, after this one it's on to the audio drama (wish that was in book form also).

I shot through all seven books in this series in a couple of weeks. I couldn’t put them down. Finally, towards the end of book seven, it seems that we are about to learn a lot more about Skippy’s origins and the history of the galaxy. I’m hoping our intrepid pirates can figure out a way to end this long-drawn-out and unwinnable war. I can hardly wait for books 8&9.

Het is leuk om te lezen wat er allemaal bedacht wordt om de Aarde op de lange termijn te beschermen. Dat is allemaal vlot beschreven en leest lekker weg. Er wordt weer een klein tipje van sluier opgelicht over de Elders en Skippy maar vooral dit interessante stuk blijft nog steeds wat in de achtergrond. Dat is jammer want het is veruit het interessantste deel. Ik hoop dat het in deel 7 aan de orde komt want die ga ik zeker ook weer lezen - ik blijf hopen en, zoals gezegd, het is prettig lezen...

Craig Alan's on is one of the best Si Fi Writers I know. And the conversation between skipoy and Joe are what crack me up most of the times

Another great yarn about skippy, Joe, and crew saving the world. I’m enjoying the gradual tease about skippy’s origin, and exploration of all the other species in the galaxy. It’s been a fun read.