Armageddon (Expeditionary Force)

This book was wonderful. Some people think this series is getting stale, and that there's always some crazy event to react to. This book ups the stakes. There's a reason why this book is called "Armageddon". There are some revelations, and ideas I haven't heard of in other science fiction series. Craig Alanson really portrayed the rivalries between different countries in his series quite well. This series has really good representation and diversity, and alien species feel very unique. This series also has some good character development. Joe Bishop often questions himself and has many doubts, and it makes him human. There have been so many events that the Expeditionary Force had to deal with, that every time the author references them, I start getting them mixed up. It would be nice if there was a list of events that have happened so far. A timeline would be nice. Maybe a map of the galaxy would also help us imagine different locations in space. Overall, there were some moments that were confusing, such as why the main characters had to cancel a cover story. However, there is an event mentioned in this book that is quite confusing. There is mention of a Kristang attack on Wright-Patterson Air Force base, but I don't recall any such attack happening at the end of Book 7. If Craig Alanson meant for this to be backstory of what happened between books 7 and 8, he could have explained it in a clearer manner. There are also many typos in this book. I feel like the quality of the editing dropped a little from the previous books in the series. There were probably about 20-40 typos in the book, and while it didn't take me out of the story, it was a small hindrance. The beginning of the book was also a little slow, and lacked action. There was also one frustrating moment, which is a series of frustrating moments in this series. The main character, Joe, had the chance to pick up some advanced alien technology, yet didn't. I'd like to see a progression of technology, for characters and humanity to grow, to better be able to handle the alien threats out there. It keeps the story interesting and the plot moving. I felt like this was just an excuse to not write some more imaginative alien technology. However, there are advances in the technology in other ways, so that's nice. The author also had the main character say "I avoided using the temporary name 'Avalon' because part of the team resented that Eurocentric Anglo-Saxon name, or some politically correct ... I didn't care about (location 2769). While Craig Alanson has done a great job including diversity and country rivalries in his series, this comment was a little off the mark. He could have shown different countries having different opinions about what to name Avalon (I won't say what it is because I don't want to spoil it for you), but Joe's thought, above, just didn't make sense. Finally, Craig Alanson does a great job bringing his world to life. Even inanimate objects are brought to life, such as in the case of missiles that "talk" to each other. Can't wait for the next book in the series. I'm currently trying to read the Mavericks book, which is supposed to be read before this book. But that book is hard to get through because it has way too many typos and is pretty boring to read compared to book 3.5 in this series about the ExForce team stuck on Paradise.

Characters are finally showing off character development then boom, half of them are dead. All at once, or in super critical condition. I can't really seem to put it in to words how frustrating this series is with actual meaningful character development. While overall I love this series, the characters at times, and the interactions of characters and advancements of getting a new starship/s greatly disappoints me. The only time it seems like Joe and skippy or any character development at all is when they get the flower, and when they get the valkyrie. Humor is a 9/10 in this series for me Character development is a 1/10 Cool factor 8/10 Flow of story 8.5/10 Danger factor 5/10 The pirates may mainly be military, but it's like most of the time they seem to be acting almost exactly the same as the beginning of the series. It's been YEARS in this story easily six years easily, and huge events keep happening yet, the main characters have very minor changes. Not only that, but while there are breaking moments it's in a way that's only semi realistic to me I suppose, or when characters I kinda know die, and a buncha randoms it's like "eh whatever.*. I want to be able to say these main characters mean alot to me but I would of needed more heartfelt moments etc. Because I want a character to get me emotional when they die because it's like i KNOW them. Overall very good book, good or decent in some ways, disappointing in others. But overall I think that the ups of this series makes it worth atleast considering a buy. That's why I'm giving it a 4 out of 5. If I thought it would be a absolutely fantastic purchase I would 5/5 it... Also if you have a kindle unlimited subscription just use that to read it, and decide for yourself if you want to support Craig.

One of my favorite things about Expeditionary Force is Craig's ability to mix seat-of-the-pants nervous excitement about nearly continuous cliffhangers sprinkled throughout his books, with humor, a hint of legitimate science, and a great military Sci-fi story containing plenty of nerdy easter egg references to other famous sci-fi works. This book was my favorite of the series. I particularly loved how he defeated his own record of setting up each subsequent book with a bigger and jucier cliffhanger than the previous book in the series - Armageddon takes the cake. If he supersedes the cliffhanger in this book with one, much less each of the multiple stories left in this series, I'm not sure my emotions will be able to handle the intensity. The ending of this book foreshadowed potential short term problems at earth from a third tier species, acknowledged pending Armageddon for the humans at the hands of one or both apex species, left us wondering what scared the most powerful species in the history of the galaxy enough to run them off to a non-corporial existence (while insinuating Skippy and the humans could do something about a threat even the Elders fled from), and mentioned the need of the MBoP to do address both senior species possessing their own Elder AIs. The ending setup half a dozen more books with these unanswered questions. Craig, if you read this review. I HAAAAAATE you, you stupid monkey!!! I hope the universe comes back to kick you in the a$$ for what you do to us, the fans of your books. My heart can't take much more of this.

As an avid reader I love a long series where I get to know every ‘human’ and even some ‘Ruhar’ as if they really exist. This series has captured me in a way not many have, From ‘Skippy, the beer can, His Magnificence”to the lowly Sargent now Captain of a Starship. You will feel the highs and lows,.. and in this book feel the loss of friends. Great read and on to book 9.

The eighth novel in the Expeditionary Force series exceeded my expectations to a level then even Skippy would have trouble calculating. Any long running series has to deal with the need to keep things interesting without falling foul of repeating plot points or making things too stupid to retain the narrative which captured the reader in the first place, Armageddon achieved this. I will admit I was a little lost with all the talk about their previous mission (convinced myself I had skipped a novel) but once I had that figured out I fell right back into the swing of things with the merry band of pirates. I am not going to go into any plot points because well nothing I can say would be a surprise to a regular reader and if you are not yet been lured into the adventures of Joe and Skippy then by all means grab a copy of Columbus Day and welcome to the family. So my review, this novel was exceptional in that it delivered everything you would want from this series but presented it with icing and a bow, maybe even balloons. That said the knife got twisted good a proper but again you can't realistically have this sort of long running tale without the fact that there are consequences to actions and even inactions. There are not many novels that really make me want to keep reading be it late a night or during a break at work but every time I put the kindle down I was desperate to delve right back into the story. I'm not sure how the consequences of the events in this novel will pan out, maybe in a manner which reflects the changing status of the galaxy but I know I am going to enjoy it. My hat is tipped to Craig for this well written and immensely enjoyable novel.

So after agonising over the prospect of having to wait for this to come on an audible version I finally caved in and decided I had to read it knowing there were still a few months to go was I disappointed absolutely not this is another amazing great chapter in the series that has so many ups and downs you just can’t imagine things don’t always go great for the characters of these books but the direction of the series and where it is heading has me wondering how many more books I’m going to have to buy because I just don’t want to series to ever end keep up the great work Craig Alanson

I am reading these books since the beginning. (Actually read and listen them multiple times and makes me laugh every time) Now this book, (and I won't spoil it for those who haven't read it yet) I knew something like this will happen in one of the book. I was kind of expecting it Craig ! I am looking forward to see how the barrels of monkey will get out of this. Simply it is a great book again and I hope this won't be the last trouble what the monkey get themselves into! ( It surely cannot be because of the unintended consequences). Audio book?? I cannot wait to listen how Bray going to give voices to all these emotions going on in this book!

De vorige boeken in deze reeks vond ik steeds minder interessant worden. Voor mij is het sterke uit deze reeks vooral de interactie tussen Skippy en Joe maar zeker ook de vragen waar Skippy vandaan komt en wat de Elders nu precies waren en waar zij zijn. Op die vragen wordt in dit boek iets meer verteld (en je ziet daar alweer een volgende deel in). In dit boek komen gelukkig niet veel ellenlange beschrijvingen van ruimtegevechten (ik blader daar snel doorheen om te zien hoe het afgelopen is (tip: eigenlijk altijd goed)) en iets meer "science". Ik hoop dat de schrijver in het volgende boek tot een mooie afronding komt rond Skippy, de Elders en de dreiging van buiten. Het heeft lang genoeg geduurd.

Awesomeness, definitely awesomeness. Man, I missed that shiny beer can, well, the monk...er, humans too. While the end seemed a bit rushed, this was an excellent addition to a fantastic series. Let's hope the author's three year plan turns into something much longer, as we need more adventures in both of the series he has set in this universe. The garage can wait.