COLUMBUS DAY: Expeditionary Force Book 1 by Craig Alanson

Narrated by R.C. Bray

Smooth as a Fresh Jar of Skippy

The first half of this novel is decently plotted, humorously self-deprecating, but basically standard fare for military science fiction. Enter Skippy the ancient Artificial Intelligence being (AI) and it immediately becomes laugh out loud funny. Honestly I was liking the book well enough but was not sure about continuing with the second volume of this series when I was at the half-way mark. But with Skippy in the mix I find myself wanting more of the irreverent, snarky, insulting and yet somehow endearing beer-can sized AI from the distant past.

 R.C. Bray has a great resonant voice that easily varies the authority of gung-ho military types and also the condescending voice of the aforementioned Skippy. Oh and by the way, he gives Joe the protagonist and all the other characters excellent voices as well. His is one of those narrator voices that I can enjoy listening to—all on his own—no matter what is going on in the story.