Ebook Paradise Expeditionary Force Book 3 Audible Audio Edition Craig Alanson RC Bray Podium Publishing Books

Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length 15 hours and 53 minutes Program Type Audiobook Version Unabridged Publisher Podium Publishing Audible.com Release Date May 23, 2017 Whispersync for Voice Ready Language English, English ASIN B0716P8L65

Paradise Expeditionary Force Book 3 Audible Audio Edition Craig Alanson RC Bray Podium Publishing Books Reviews

• I bought the first book, Columbus Day on a whim since the description was intriguing, and it was cheap. I listened to the entire audio version over two days, then bought the other two books. I read them in one day each. I am definitely looking forward to the next. My five stars is for entertainment value to me. Personally, I try to never use foul language, but the author at least uses it organically and sparingly, I appreciate that. I also appreciate that the biting insults from the AI character were more varied and toned down in most of this novel. It was hilarious and very unique from my experience in the first in the series, rather stale and tiresome in the second, and more balanced this go around. I also liked the change in writing style to include other characters insights through third person narration instead of only through the eyes of Joe Bishop, though some might find the transitions jarring. More editing of spelling/grammatical/continuity of plot details would make the book even better, but the errors are minor enough to be minimally intrusive, especially by today's standards of editing... I intend to check out the rest of the author's works as well. Write on Mr. Alanson, write on!
• Significantly better than the tedious 2nd book, but there continues to be both editing errors and errors in Alanson's physics. There are, as usual, a couple of "genius" ideas from Joe and the same insulting banter back and forth between Joe and Skippy. His "brilliant" ideas are obvious, imho, to anyone with an IQ above 70, and there are no real surprises in this book. Alanson relies on "reveals" from Skippy about his various powers to "save the day". There were a couple of times where I cringed at the supposed "physics" Alanson got wrong - for instance the suggestion that our (current) quantum mechanics is "wrong" is plain ignorant. (He apparently doesn't understand the difference between wrong and incomplete. What we know is that QM is quite accurate,and that like Special Relativity and Newtonian dynamics, any new theory will have to make the same predictions as QM does in broad areas of knowledge. But I digress.) What decided me to read this book after the disappointing 2nd was one review claimed that the insults and humiliation was toned down in this one. It was a bit, but Skippy repeats the same claim that Joe shaves "down there" and Joe's response is identical. Makes no sense, that is not how people react, if they were juvenile enough to care. Also, Skippy suggests a crossword word is 3 letter word for a feline that starts with a C A. Same joke was in earlier book (2nd I think). The same things are explained to the reader sometimes 3 or 4 times. It's called "filler" and suggests Alanson is either out of ideas or is simply padding what should have been ~230 pages into a ~270 page book. Unlike the other books, there really were no surprises in this book. Mostly the same material, so mostly just not funny. I'd give it 3.4 Stars if I could. So if you want a repeat of the (second half of the) first and second books, here it is. I'm marginally enjoying the story enough to soldier on to the 4th book, but Joe actually seems to be getting dumber rather than smarter as the series progresses. Worst thing is Joe doesn't seem to be making any effort to improve his mind and Alanson doesn't understand that it's impossible to "understand" modern physics without math - just can't be done. Joe asking Skippy to explain this or that "like Barney would" is really a non-starter.
• Paradise, being the third book in the series continues the story line and expands on the characters from the first two books. The story in this sequel takes one through the gamut of human emotions, situations and with the ever present snarky super AI alien computer "Skippy" ends up being a darn good book to read. I would strongly recommend that if you are contemplating purchasing this book, you read the previous books one and two first. It helps greatly to understand the how the crew got on the "Flying Dutchman" spaceship as well as the interaction between the characters and other alien races. I'm hoping the author intends to continue the series and he ended this book in such a way that it is possible to go on.
  
  As I side note for those that have read the book, I have a suspicion that Skippy may actually be a damaged Elders' Sentinel based on some of the dialog between it and Joe (Col Bishop).
• Expeditionary Force is a fine, entertaining series if one doesn't look too deeply at it. If you do, you will find that it is characterized by good writing that needs better editing to remove all the repetition, and a rather creaky plotline. The "mission" is to keep the poorly described bad aliens (lizards, need we say more) and their overlords from reaching Earth, but it takes a back seat to the various sub-missions that themselves are an excuse to explore the vast capabilities (and limits) of the mega-AI, Skippy, as amplified by the guile of his friend, Col. Joe. Half the writing is devoted to their interplay, and it is usually fun. Book 3 is devoted to the plight of the UNEF on Paradise, since the Ruhar (hamsters) are negotiating to give it back to the lizards, which would be bad. The puzzle that is the solution is sort of clever.
  
  This is a fun series that I will stick with, but in all honesty Mr. Alanson at this point is not at the same level as B.V. Larson IMHO.