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misterjay's review
4.0
It took me close to six months to read this book. But, that has a lot to do with global events and much less to do with the quality of the book. To be clear, the book is good. February to September 2021, not so much. But I digress.
Book three sees our pals Joe and Skippy getting a little R'n'R and then hopping back in the saddle to check on the human population stranded on the alien planet of Paradise. The plot is fast-paced and funny and the interactions between Joe and Skippy are alternately emotional or combative and fun either way.
The one caveat to this book is that is really ought to be read in sequence. If you're looking at starting the Expeditionary Force series, go back and start with number one.
Book three sees our pals Joe and Skippy getting a little R'n'R and then hopping back in the saddle to check on the human population stranded on the alien planet of Paradise. The plot is fast-paced and funny and the interactions between Joe and Skippy are alternately emotional or combative and fun either way.
The one caveat to this book is that is really ought to be read in sequence. If you're looking at starting the Expeditionary Force series, go back and start with number one.
chel227's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
theadorek9's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
leighhat's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
mikemikemike's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
righteousridel's review against another edition
4.0
One Small Step For Humanity
Paradise is an improvement over its predecessor while maintaining its core formula: a lighthearted space adventure driven by the buddy-comedy duo of Skippy and Bishop. While its predecessor felt very episodic, this novel widens its scope to address the social-political impact of humans taking their first steps on the galactic stage.
Craig Alanson takes a further risk and introduces new POVs. This is a welcome change! Bishop's solo narration is joined by a variety of new characters. As a military sci-fi novel, often the solution to most problems involves guns and explosions. Battles were never tense though, as the fate of Skippy and Bishop is never in doubt. New narrators don't have such plot armour and so the novel is tenser and more vivid than its predecessors.
The worldbuilding deepens by returning to familiar territory. Previous time spent explaining the political situation of the Ruhar, Kristang and UNEF on Paradise allows the author to build momentum into some fairly complex plots. It's a suprising trade-off: our cast explores fewer star systems, yet as a reader, the story explores much more alien topics. Instead of constantly introducing new locations that lack emotional buy-in, the author reduces the locations covered by the story and makes the stakes much more real.
Additional narrators also reduces Skippy's screentime. While I think readers (by this point) are all fans of Skippy's special personality, distance makes the heart grow fonder. He's funnier when he's not the focus of every scene, and his competence is all-the-more impressive now that we get a closer look at some of the aliens.
Paradise is one small step for content, one giant leap for the author's writing skill. I look forward to future output by Craig Alanson.
Recommended.
The Paradise storyline feels wrapped up, but I think it showcased what novels 1 and 2 were missing. The moment Skippy showed up, Bishop was flying from one scene to the next with very little foreshadowing. We would be introduced to a new space station or hostile world at the same time as Bishop, and we had no emotional ties to the location they would explore. The author needs to spend time building up a new location before unleashing Skippy the Magnificent to solve whatever problem we hadn't even considered.
Additionally, the introduction of the fleet commanders on both the Kristang and Ruhar sides gave us antagonists to jeer. I would have appreciated a bit more about how the Flying Dutchman evaded both fleets, as while the narration tended to portray the Ruhar Commodore as a protagonist, he would have likely shot the humans down just as quickly as the Kristang. Regardless, providing us named villains to defeat was much more satisfying than the huge number of nameless tiny green cyborgs that are littered throughout the galaxy.
It'd be nice to have named villains show up that might spoil the plans of our comedic duo. The author has written himself into a corner where the two have plot armor and are obviously going to survive any actual danger, so spoiling their desires is the best we can hope for. The constant endangerment of Earth grows tiresome after a while.
Paradise is an improvement over its predecessor while maintaining its core formula: a lighthearted space adventure driven by the buddy-comedy duo of Skippy and Bishop. While its predecessor felt very episodic, this novel widens its scope to address the social-political impact of humans taking their first steps on the galactic stage.
Craig Alanson takes a further risk and introduces new POVs. This is a welcome change! Bishop's solo narration is joined by a variety of new characters. As a military sci-fi novel, often the solution to most problems involves guns and explosions. Battles were never tense though, as the fate of Skippy and Bishop is never in doubt. New narrators don't have such plot armour and so the novel is tenser and more vivid than its predecessors.
The worldbuilding deepens by returning to familiar territory. Previous time spent explaining the political situation of the Ruhar, Kristang and UNEF on Paradise allows the author to build momentum into some fairly complex plots. It's a suprising trade-off: our cast explores fewer star systems, yet as a reader, the story explores much more alien topics. Instead of constantly introducing new locations that lack emotional buy-in, the author reduces the locations covered by the story and makes the stakes much more real.
Additional narrators also reduces Skippy's screentime. While I think readers (by this point) are all fans of Skippy's special personality, distance makes the heart grow fonder. He's funnier when he's not the focus of every scene, and his competence is all-the-more impressive now that we get a closer look at some of the aliens.
Paradise is one small step for content, one giant leap for the author's writing skill. I look forward to future output by Craig Alanson.
Recommended.
Spoiler
The following is in spoiler tags, and I say so since some Goodreads clients may not respect it. You've been warned:The Paradise storyline feels wrapped up, but I think it showcased what novels 1 and 2 were missing. The moment Skippy showed up, Bishop was flying from one scene to the next with very little foreshadowing. We would be introduced to a new space station or hostile world at the same time as Bishop, and we had no emotional ties to the location they would explore. The author needs to spend time building up a new location before unleashing Skippy the Magnificent to solve whatever problem we hadn't even considered.
Additionally, the introduction of the fleet commanders on both the Kristang and Ruhar sides gave us antagonists to jeer. I would have appreciated a bit more about how the Flying Dutchman evaded both fleets, as while the narration tended to portray the Ruhar Commodore as a protagonist, he would have likely shot the humans down just as quickly as the Kristang. Regardless, providing us named villains to defeat was much more satisfying than the huge number of nameless tiny green cyborgs that are littered throughout the galaxy.
It'd be nice to have named villains show up that might spoil the plans of our comedic duo. The author has written himself into a corner where the two have plot armor and are obviously going to survive any actual danger, so spoiling their desires is the best we can hope for. The constant endangerment of Earth grows tiresome after a while.
jhanway's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0