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science fiction looking forward columbus day space opera craig alanson well written story line character development highly recommend great read expeditionary force deus ex machina writing style joe bishop laugh out loud fast paced grammatical errors forward to the next rest of the series really enjoyed
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Richard
4.0 out of 5 stars This book is an absolute gem.
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2016
I checked this book out using my KU account and from the title did not expect much. Oh how wrong I was.

This book is an absolute gem. It has all the cliche story lines; a soldier on leave gets caught up in an alien invasion, the soldier fights back, the Earth is saved by another alien race, the soldier signs up to go fight the invaders for their new alien friends. Ho-hum. yawn, been there read that, but wait...suddenly totally new, never before scenes start to pop-up. You get an inkling when Barney (yes the horrible purple dinosaur from childrens TV) makes an appearance.

From there you are taken along on an hilarious ride of non-stop action, jokes, impossible situations, prison breaks, stealing a spaceship; etc; etc. All fun, fast paced and well written.Then there is Skippy....'nuf said!

Be cautious though, if you have a problem with the F word, skip this book. Same thing for anyone who cannot deal with coarse language, some gutter humor and are looking for hard science. But, for anyone that has been 21, and/or been in the military and been in situations you didn't understand, but just went with the flow, this book is for you.

Thanks for a great book Craig and for putting it on Kindle Unlimited, I probably wouldn't have read COLUMBUS DAY otherwise..

.
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Brett
2.0 out of 5 stars Stop after book 2
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2018
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Read all 5 books. Started off well but after book 2 the “dialogue” between Joe and Skippy the AI became redundant and pedantic with books 3 though 5. I think the introduction of nagatha AI was an attempt to introduce a new voice into the mix. It didn’t help. I enjoy reading sci-fi thoroughly but found myself skipping pages. The continued crises and “unintended” consequences were predictable after the 3rd book. I came across a goodly number or typos and grammatical errors too. Time to find a new editor.
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars A fun, entertaining, ultimately action-packed series
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2017
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A really fun book, and listening to the audiobook really made it come to life. Skippy is the best AI I've run across anywhere, and the narrator really brings his character, and Joe's, to life. I left off one star for constant run-on sentences, but the narrator overcomes that by reading the run-on sentences as the multiple sentences they should be. This is fun, funny SF take spanning multiple species and ships and planets, with enough humor to keep it all pleasantly light. I know there is a genre of whodunits called "cozy" mysteries; is there such a thing as "cozy" SF? If so, this book qualifies thanks to Skippy!

Get a copy editor, Craig, and it will really help tour work. The stories and characters are fun and well-donr but if the copy editing isn't cleaned up, eventually you'll lose readers.in the meantime, hang onto your wonderful audio book reader -- he's a gem who helps immensely by his fantastic voice characterizations!
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Marethyu
3.0 out of 5 stars Almost quit reading halfway through, but it got better by the end.
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2018
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I ended up enjoying the second half of the book enough to want to read the second one, but the first half is dry and filled with unnecessary details and jargon. They sci-fi aspects were decent and the author clearly has lots military knowledge, but the book would have been better if he hadn't spent so much time going into every detail of the alien spacecraft and weapons or every nuance of military life. It wasn't only that the details were unnecessary, they were also presented in the most boring way possible with long detailed dialogue either between characters or in the protagonist's internal monologue. In fact the story is almost exclusively told like it is a mission report being made by the character. That is a unique idea, but it was executed poorly in my mind. The sad thing is that it hides an otherwise interesting concept and some enjoyable characters, especially later in the story. I almost abandoned the book, but I saw a couple of reviews suggesting that it picked up at the midpoint, which was true.

They audio book narrator did a great job, especially with an understated, but fairly authentic Maine accent for the main character.
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Patroo
5.0 out of 5 stars I found another fantastic series! Yay!
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2017
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This is a simply outstanding series. I am very glad that I discovered it AFTER he wrote four books so that I wouldn't go into serious withdrawal issues upon completing Columbus Day. It's original, clever, funny, and a real delight.

You have an ordinary Joe who just wants to serve his country and go home, but he finds himself in the middle of an interplanetary invasion by...hamsters. Yes, the aliens are similar to bipedal hamsters. Alanson had me right there. Hamsters?

He gets a scratch team together and manages to capture two aliens. He treats them well and turns them over to the authorities, figures that's the end of it. The war goes on, and another alien army shows up. They conquer the hamsters and seem to enlist Earth as an ally. They're lizards, and you know you just can't trust lizards.

Earth sends military forces out with the lizard ships, ostensibly to be trained and used in the war against the hamsters, but they end up on the hamster planet as occupation forces. Joe is semi-famous for capturing hamsters on Earth, but here he's considered trouble, and the plan is to station him at a remote area where he can't make more trouble.

He befriends a hamster official who turns out to be in charge of the hamster government, and learns a lot more about their supposed allies, the lizards. They aren't allies...just slave labor in training for the lizard overlords. Yet another alien nation is participating in this messy war, but they're mainly support and transport. They don't get into the messy stuff, just deliver lizard ships and supplies.

You can't tell the players without a score card in this interstellar war zone, and Joe realizes humanity has been duped into helping the equivalent of space Nazis in their regime. He tries to get the information to the decision-makers, only to discover that he's in more trouble...and then in jail, awaiting execution. He's locked in a makeshift cell with some stuff stored in it, and there he finds an ancient alien Artificial Intelligence unit who is millions of years old, knows everything, and is bored out of his little metal gourd. He actually occupies a huge volume of space in another dimension, but in this one, he's manifested as something like a silver beer can with an attitude.

With the help of Skippy, the AI, Joe and a few other prisoners escape and try to save themselves...and planet Earth, a wormhole away from their present location.

I love this series, and in fact, went ahead and bought all four of the main books so that I could find out how this all went. There are some minor editing issues (you and your, omitted words, phrases that were "test-driven" and not used, which should have been removed. The story is good enough that I'll put up with that stuff just to find out what happens to our merry band of space pirates next. After all, that's what they are. Pirates operating under the guidance of an ancient intelligence who can manipulate computer systems, wormholes, and so much more, particularly with the help of the "monkeys," his term for humans.
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Jarrak
5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Story
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2018
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The Earth was alone until that day flashes in the sky herald the arrival of an alien species that we later learn were known as the Ruhar, they struck our industry and infrastructure but left the cities mostly intact and then their soldiers arrived. Jo Bishop (former US Army) was back home looking forward to celebrating Columbus Day but finds himself and a few friends engaging in a cat and mouse maneuver with the alien occupants of a damaged troop ship but when it looks like the end is nigh the sky erupts again as second alien fleet arrives and engages the first.
The Earth is saved and in gratitude the world governments commit ground forces to aid the second alien species (Kristang) in their ongoing galaxy wide conflict but the men and women who journey to the stars are in for a rude awakening, not everything is as advertised and the Earth and her people are little more than pawns in a greater game.
Columbus Day was a purchase based purely on reading the blurb when the Amazon algorithm decided I would like it and you know this time it got it right. The central character of Joe Bishop was written well and with enough flaws to make him the everyday former soldier drawn back into what he's really best at and to exercise his ethics in a theatre that has little time for compassion and justice. The novel takes its time to create the world the series is based in and of course that always pays off so when the scope of the narrative expands greatly it all fits together well and doesn't stretch the bounds of credibility. I'll certainly be reading the rest of the series but not right away, there is a lot on my to read list but when I'm ready they are on the kindle good to go.
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Rob Roy
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant stuff
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 9, 2020
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This is up there with the best military space opera I have read in the past. Multiple alien races - pretty much all more technologically advanced than humans. Alien invasions & occupations. Alien spacecraft and an advanced sentient SO with a sense of humour. Plenty of action plastics and in space. Last but not least numerous instances - mostly involving the AI's interactions with the central human character - where I had to chuckle or even laugh out loud. Great stuff. Suffice it to say I will be reading the next instalment in very short order. The story COULD conceivably be regarded as stand alone since there is an ending of sorts, but I feel that most readers will feel compelled to find out what the future holds in store for Bishop, Skippy and the remaining Parameciums/bacteria/monkeys and maybe even the hamsters too? Narration of the Audio book was superb, as you may expect when R C Bray reads science fiction.
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Kmelx
4.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed the first book a great deal
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 30, 2016
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I enjoyed the first book a great deal, very pithy writing, interesting subject and concept, main characters are well done and there were several moments in the book that made me laugh out loud.

The only reason this is a 4 star rather than a 5 is the editing of the book, there are plenty of typos and grammatical errors, nothing too bad, but it does detract slightly from the overall experience, the author may wish to consider a professional editor in future.

I've bought the next book and am enjoying that so far as well.
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James Davis
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best military sci-fi novels I have read in a long ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 24, 2017
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One of the best military sci-fi novels I have read in a long while. It is definitely not hard scifi with long detailed descriptions about how humans have overcome FTL or other technological challenges; the author handles this with some relatively unique methods. But leaving out the hard science makes room for some great characters and plot developments. As has been mentioned, the best part of this story is the humour that goes along with the action. I can't recall many times I have laughed out loud while reading military scifi but Alanson manages this without ever detracting from the plot. I am already well into the second book in the series and enjoying it just as much.
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B. C. Webb
5.0 out of 5 stars Military sf at it's best
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 29, 2018
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Start of a new series of books set in current or near future times. Advanced space traveling races wage war, using worm holes and jump space to move relatively quickly in space. Earth is attacked on Columbus day and US soldier Joe Bishop manages to capture 1 of the invaders. The Earth sends a united nations based army to fight in the war. Joe soon realizes that we may be on the wrong side. Imprisoned for not shooting civilians by the un's allies he finds an ancient AI and escapes prison with some other prisoners. After some daring escapades they manage to both save the Earth and get home.
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