We hit book 3 of the Expeditionary Force series, also known as “The Adventures of Skippy and the Merry Band O’ Pirates!”
I will say I very much preferred this book to book 2, which alas did drag on for a bit, and went a little too heavy with Skippy related material. The switch to and from the perspectives from the characters on Paradise and in the Ruhar and Kristang ships was a nice break, and made me really appreciate the storyline involving Skippy a lot more.
Skippy was hilarious as always, and the ways in which our merry crew got around several obstacles was amusing to read. Specifically, Skippy’s interactions with “Count Chocula” were especially hilarious.
Where the book really shines though is the return to Paradise and picking up with characters introduced in Book 1, but that we never heard from again. Shauna, Perkins, and Bishop’s old Fire Team brought new and interesting perspectives and personalities that we got to know through their own adventures, even with Skippy/Emby.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I honestly thought this would be the last book in the series and our that our Merry Band of Pirates would somehow be able to rescue the remaining humans on Paradise and bring them home, and was surprised that wasn’t the case. So color me shocked when that didn’t happen, and the cliffhanger to introduce the next book was introduced at the very end.
I honestly will probably read Book 4, because I rather enjoy the low brow humor and banter that all the scenes with Skippy bring. But I can see why some other people would not. It kind of gets repetitive. Get in sticky situation; have Skippy say “Oh, well we’re fucked”; Have Bishop be like “Well, what if we did this?”; and then have the problem be solved with a few funny quips in between. I mean, I guess there’s no real way around that when you have painted humans as by far the least technologically advanced race in the book, and Skippy as by far the most technologically advanced. Humans can’t really go toe to toe with any of the other races, so the only way out is basically through Deus Ex Machina via Skippy.
What will be interesting is if Book 4 deals with the problem introduced in Book 2 – who went and killed the Elders, and how exactly Skippy et al are supposed to deal with that. Up until now, we haven’t even been able to deal with the Jeraptha and Thuranin host races, much less a race that is on par or better than the Elders. What exactly is Skippy going to be able to do?
But that’s a problem for another time, and overall, this book was still fun to read. 🙂
Two More Pages! 