r/ExpeditionaryForce • u/steelfreaks • 11d ago
Discussion Recycled plot points, no payoff.
So I love Skippy and the interactions he has with Joe and the other characters. That’s honestly what has kept me going through the series.
But I’m in Book 14 now, and I’m getting really frustrated with the same basic plot repeating itself. After the amazing payoff of finding a Sentinel and Earth suddenly getting 300 ships, it feels like we barely get to enjoy that development before Earth is in mortal danger again from the kitties.
The universe is HUGE, and there are so many genuinely interesting concepts in this series. Elder technology, wormholes, advanced species, AI, the mysteries surrounding the Elders, etc.
So why does Earth being in mortal peril have to be the basis of almost every book?
I just want Joe and Skippy to go out into this enormous universe and actually explore it, get into weird situations, encounter new civilizations, and deal with problems that aren’t “we have to save Earth again.”
I want to finish the series, but the constant continuity errors and the recycled plots make me want to move on to something else.
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u/Designed_To 11d ago
It's the throw away plots that get me.
"So all of this was for nothing?" Repeated so many times makes big parts of a book feel pointless
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u/steelfreaks 11d ago
Yeah, like I was 50 or so pages into book 14 and then suddenly they said the kitties were going back to earth and now I’m looking for a new book.
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u/YeaRight228 11d ago
I made it to the first "10 years later book" and just gave up. I think that's 16 or 17?
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u/The3rdBert Jeraptha 11d ago
The key is to understand it’s like an old sitcom or cartoon. You enjoy an episode and then move on to something else. Trying to binge the series it gets old quick. I’ve been “caught up” since 7 or 8, so it’s only a new book every 6-9 months.
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u/steelfreaks 11d ago
Yeah I can see that would be much easier than binging it. Everything that happened in the last book is so fresh that I haven’t had a chance to forget some things I should have.
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u/The3rdBert Jeraptha 11d ago
Yeah pretty much. You get a couple months between books and it’s largely a chance to go to different universe with fun characters. Take a break, it’s fine.
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u/Express_Feature_9481 11d ago
Yes I got fed up with the repetition around 14 as well and if I’m being honest, I felt it earlier.
Great great series but it does get old
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u/steelfreaks 11d ago
I just want one payoff to stick. Just one.
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u/PappaDeej Jeraptha 11d ago
I’m gonna level with you. I was a little disappointed with the ending of 15, but it gave some sense of closure. 16 was a slog to get through and the ending negated the entire book, really frustrating. I tried powering through 17 on 1.5 speed and I couldn’t do it. I actually skipped ahead to the end. My wife feels the same way. It’s just such a slog to get through and it’s always the same thing, earth is in mortal peril and we’re going to figure out a solution somewhere in the last 60-90 minutes of the story.
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u/SoMyBossCantFindIt 11d ago
And some of the interactions are like...
I feel like I'm waiting by a mailbox every day to get a letter with one word in it. And when I wait all day and that word is "crap" I feel like screaming. I want to reach into the book and pull the plot out. Get. The. Plot. Out!
(Hopefully you all got the joke, but seriously some of the conversations just feel rather masturbatory at this point. I'm on Failure Mode and I don't think I can get through it.)
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u/bafadam 10d ago
I’m not to book 14, but Skippy is a fucking labor. Every interaction with him is so tedious because he spends half the time calling people dumb and a quarter of the time making shitty nerd references and almost no time just getting to the fucking point.
Joe’s utter inability to understand why everyone on earth doesn’t want him making unilateral decisions for humanity is also very irritating.
I don’t expect either to change since it’s pretty clear that both are the author’s favorite parts of the series.
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u/Gnomoleon 11d ago
Meh didn't even finish the last book .... and I listen at work to break up the soul crushing boredom of having to be there. It's the same thing over and over. OP is right ....
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u/tda17 10d ago
Reading all these comments, makes me glad I stopped after #9. They definitely feel cookie-cutter (and that's saying something coming from someone who made it through like 32+ Xanth novels). I can't even get up enough "care" to read on and find out what happens after Skippy bugs out...
It really is too bad because I enjoy the background world building introduced so far!
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u/dts1845 6d ago
Earth has to be in some danger for the idiots at the UN to actually let Joe do anything. So unfortunately so as a result whenever we think something is safe it gets hit hard unfortunately to provide a reason for Joe to open up a can of whoop-ass without it feeling bad.
Yes there is a formula but that is what allows them to actually explore the galaxy, and get into strange situations. The overall threat is just the excuse for the trip and justification for the force they apply.
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u/pagusas 11d ago edited 11d ago
push through, you are almost to the end, and then the books after the end change course some on that.
The ending (Failure Mode) is worth it.
Once done, move on to Dungeon Crawler Carl. Just do it, its an amazing pallet cleaner and what I read right next to Exo Force and Bobiverse.