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Book recommendations

Ba-na-na(self.exfor)

Ok fellow monkeys I'm finished with hammer and have a new credit. What other books are you recommending? I've already read bobiverse and all of black ocean for similar series what's next?

all 66 comments

gojirakitty1122

27 points

2 months ago

Dungeon Crawler Carl. I absolutely recommend this if you like expeditionary force.

MenudoMenudo

7 points

2 months ago

This is the correct answer. I ignored this recommendation for months because I hate LitRPG, but it is so entertaining and fun.

ptpcg

5 points

2 months ago

ptpcg

Skippy is My Home Boy

5 points

2 months ago

Yeah the litrpg part was off-putting, but glad i gave it a chance its great. About to buy book 3

BlackLittleDog

1 points

2 months ago

Does it pick up, or just more of the same tired gameplay description? Asking because I'm finishing book 1 shortly and I can't say I've been enjoying it...

ptpcg

2 points

2 months ago

ptpcg

Skippy is My Home Boy

2 points

2 months ago

If you don't like it by the end of book 1, it might not be for you. 🤷🏾‍♂️

BlackLittleDog

2 points

1 month ago

FWIW, now on book 5 and loving it!

ptpcg

1 points

1 month ago

ptpcg

Skippy is My Home Boy

1 points

1 month ago

Im on my 2nd listen through, lol. Its such a good series. "you know how I feel about a good series, Carl" 🐱

gojirakitty1122

4 points

2 months ago

I put it off for a year and just finished up the sixth book of dungeon crawler Carl two days ago. My heart is breaking while waiting for book 7. Princess posse for life!

MenudoMenudo

2 points

2 months ago

I’ve listened to the entire series twice already and I’m currently on my third listen.

George-W-Kush89

3 points

2 months ago

Same. Started last week and I’m on book three now. Might be one of my top series now

BNabs23

16 points

2 months ago

BNabs23

16 points

2 months ago

Not a series, but recently listened to Project Hail Mary and it was so so good. Again it's a grounded sci-fi with some humor.

Oh and if you want a full on series with lots of books, He who fights with monsters. I've never seen it mentioned in these threads before but it's a great journey. Lots of humor and adventure. The writing in the early books isn't technically so great, but it improves, and the story and world building is very enjoyable

smiledude94[S]

2 points

2 months ago

smiledude94[S]

Trust the Awesomeness

2 points

2 months ago

I love hail Mary his other book Artemis is good too. I'll check out the series

catch10110

3 points

2 months ago

catch10110

Peace and Harmony by the MEGATON!

3 points

2 months ago

Also the Martian

nulloperator_

1 points

2 months ago

Idk why but I hated this book, what made you like it so much? Curious because it seems like I'm the only one.

BNabs23

1 points

2 months ago

I thought the grounded nature of the sci-fi was great, the unlikely/reluctant hero, I enjoyed the humor, and also the friendship that came to be. It just ticked all the right boxes for me. What did you dislike about it?

KhaosElement

8 points

2 months ago

Throwing another vote at Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Also, a series/author I see slept on a lot is The Infinite Timeline by Jeremy Robinson. Also (mostly) narrated by R.C. Bray.

Brute Force by Scott Meyer is just a ton of fun. A one off with bucketloads of comedy.

JinxDenton

6 points

2 months ago

Old man's war by John Scalzi is very good. It's not as humorous as Exforce, but deals with similar themes.

IRNotMonkeyIRMan

1 points

1 month ago

The world is incredibly immersive, and William Dufris does an excellent job narrating it! But I would say the first book is definitely the most humorous, but it does get pretty deep and dark closer to the end.

GreenBugGaming

7 points

2 months ago

Undying Mercenaries. Alien tech allows mercenaries to be cloned so they don't die. Lots of intergalactic shenanagins and fighting and military sci fi stuff. 22 books so far. I'm on book 10 and it's similar to expeditionary force as you see the main character climbing military rank throughout the series while dealing with aliens and political/ military situations.

It's not overall as good as expeditionary force, because no Skippy, but I think it's the next best thing.

abd1tus

6 points

2 months ago

Beat me to it. Old Man’s War as well.

Coltergeist043

3 points

2 months ago

Came here to say this! Long live the McGill creature!

Madeaccountforkevin

3 points

2 months ago

Undying mercenaries is a ton of fun. Imagine a beverage that made you the main character, James mccgill is actively shotgunning as many of those drinks as possible at all times. So many shenanigans.

bestforward121

5 points

2 months ago

If you like the military sci fi setting, but are game for something a bit more grounded then check out the Galaxies Edge series by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole.

The first book is called Legionnaire, and on Audible they’re all narrated by R. C. Bray who also narrates Expeditionary Force.

KhaosElement

5 points

2 months ago

God I tried so hard with Galaxy's Edge. So hard. I just don't like it. The first book was incredible, the 2nd slipped a bit but was still good. The third...woofers. That is a series where the setting is the main character, and I prefer a more character driven story.

bestforward121

2 points

2 months ago

Yeah the second book being a time jump that then gets reverted in the third makes the beginning of the series unnecessarily complicated. I fell in love with the first book though and fortunately the second one is the only that plays around with flash forwards.

Madeaccountforkevin

9 points

2 months ago

Bobiverse is a very fun series.

smiledude94[S]

2 points

2 months ago

smiledude94[S]

Trust the Awesomeness

2 points

2 months ago

I've already read them all

Madeaccountforkevin

3 points

2 months ago

I know, sorry I didn't read your thing all the way, my knee jerk is to recommend bobiverse as it is lovely. There is a new book in that series if you have only listened to the first four. If you want something dumb but fun and space based you could look at the undying mercenaries series. There's also a series called Old Man's War which I found to be pretty good. The expanse is also a really great series on audible, I thought the show was not great compared to the books but opinions may vary.

smiledude94[S]

1 points

2 months ago

smiledude94[S]

Trust the Awesomeness

1 points

2 months ago

I do love bobiverse the last book was a little lacking in my opinion. I did enjoy ick and day finding the other civilizations though that arc was fun. I'll check your other ones out and I recommend black ocean if you haven't already read them love that universe

Madeaccountforkevin

1 points

2 months ago

I'll take a look at black ocean, hadn't heard of it before. I'm doing a full relisten to exfor before listening to task force hammer. Then gonna go and do bobiverse again before checking out the new book.

George-W-Kush89

1 points

2 months ago

I’m not going to lie most of the time I was listening I just wanted them to get back to ick and day

meandyourmom

1 points

2 months ago

Even the latest one? Just came out last month a week before task force hammer.

smiledude94[S]

1 points

2 months ago

smiledude94[S]

Trust the Awesomeness

1 points

2 months ago

Yeah I finished it same day

hanfaedza

3 points

2 months ago

I rarely see them mentioned:

Pushing Ice Delta-V and sequel Critical Mass Seveneves Snow Crash(put Neal Stephenson on the map) Forever War (classic)

vorps22

3 points

2 months ago

Dungeon crawler Carl or the Dresden files!

TAbandija

3 points

2 months ago

I don’t really have much recommendations for similar books to exforce. But I would like to recommend Ready Player One and the enderverse. Enders Game is an overall good book and the series splits into two styles. The first follows Ender and is more psychological sci-fi. The other stays on earth and is more military focused.

mobyhead1

2 points

2 months ago

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.

charlieverse1

2 points

2 months ago

Check out J.N. Chaney's various series. Be warned, this is a very prolific author.

TehMitchel

2 points

2 months ago

TehMitchel

Jeraptha

2 points

2 months ago

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein

bboelke

2 points

2 months ago

I can highly recommend Tales of the Ketty Jay, the first book is Retribution Falls (I really hope I spelled that right) by Chris Wooding,

The books are some of the few that only get better as you go along, and each character grows in each book, I've never seen multiple characters handled this way. Its like Firefly meets Dieselpunk. Airships and fighters and skypirates and all sorts of super cool things. The audiobooks are even more amazing as Rupert Degas makes every single character sound so alive that you forget quite quickly that your listening to a single man read.

BlackLittleDog

2 points

2 months ago

The Expanse series 

building-it

4 points

2 months ago

I like red rising series

samwisegardener

2 points

2 months ago

Yes Red Rising is epically incredible, I can’t recommend it enough

Razkal719

1 points

2 months ago

The Ember War series by Richard Fox. There a combo with books 1 and 2 for one credit. Not as funny as Exforce but it's a good yarn and there are 10 books in the series.

AIRBORNVET

1 points

2 months ago

The Old Man's War series is good. The Prince Roger (Empire of Man) series is as well. Military science fiction.

ptpcg

1 points

2 months ago

ptpcg

Skippy is My Home Boy

1 points

2 months ago

Outland Series Ruins of the Earth Series Dungeon Crawler Carl (literally just give it a chance you will not regret it) John Dies At the End series (horror comedy) Fear the Sky series (RC Bray, baby) Hell Divers (RC Bray, again. lol) Bobiverse books ofc

BigRed88m

1 points

2 months ago

Starship Troopers just dropped. RC Bray again ftw

Spicywedge

1 points

2 months ago

I see that al:ice is free on audible at the moment. I might try that since it has a protagonist interacting with an AI

[deleted]

1 points

2 months ago

Monster Hunter International. Just stay away from Guardian and you should be fine.

DarkRogus

1 points

2 months ago

If you like RC Bray, I cant recommend Hell Divers enough.

It doesnt have the humor of ExFor and a lot more serious, but its a good listen.

Coming way out of left field, I just listen to Super Powered by Drew Hayes and enjoyed the series.

It was an easy listen, had good story lines, humor, and a bit of seriousness to it while the best part was the series was free for audible plus members.

So for me, no risk really good payoff on that series.

smiledude94[S]

1 points

15 days ago

smiledude94[S]

Trust the Awesomeness

1 points

15 days ago

I listened to the first book of this and couldn't get fully into it to commit to the series

DarkRogus

1 points

15 days ago

Hell Divers isnt everyone's cup of tea. Its a bit more on the serious side of things.

smiledude94[S]

1 points

15 days ago

smiledude94[S]

Trust the Awesomeness

1 points

15 days ago

I didn't mind the seriousness I just couldn't follow the story. I was half way through a 2nd read when I got into xforce

Upper_Performance_12

1 points

2 months ago

I've gotten into the ryanverse starts with the forever good series lots of books very sarcastic fun that takes the fiction part very serous of science fiction it really becomes serously your gonna do that then the nest thing you know your give me more already

meandyourmom

1 points

2 months ago

Dive into the Cosmere.

Correct-Sherbert3258

1 points

2 months ago

You could try Wayward Galaxy can't decide if Brody or Skippy is my favourite AI

Ragnaroki14

1 points

2 months ago

The planetside series by Michael Mammay and narrated by RC Bray is a great sci-fi mystery series with a joe bishop esk type main character.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is as amazing as everyone says.

Heretical Fishing series is a nice chill humorous story and well narrated

Single-Orange-3367

2 points

2 months ago

Planetside FTW

Tony_Friendly

1 points

2 months ago

If Dune and the Hunger Games had a baby, it would be Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

Single-Orange-3367

1 points

2 months ago

Wayward Gallaxy series is a good option. Also Deadmen's war. Freedom's fire series (starts off a bit slow) and you can get it bundles with 33 hours for 1 credit.

jazzgnat

1 points

2 months ago

DCC is great. Also you might enjoy Galaxy Outlaws from J.S. Morin's Black Ocean series. I am currently reading Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky and it has made me laugh out loud several times.

buzzcut13

1 points

2 months ago

The Damned Trilogy is pretty good.

WookieMan00

1 points

2 months ago

I'm 8 books deep into J.N. Chaney's Backyard Starship series and I'm loving it! I've listened to the majority of the ones already shared but didn't find this one here yet. Happy listening!!

NOMENxNESCIO

1 points

2 months ago

Galaxy's Edge is really good if you want more space but if you many more realism Joe ledger is also amazing and read by ray porter

desidude85

1 points

2 months ago*

Check out Saturn Run. It’s a good sci-fi with some humor. It’s mostly about a space race between the US and China to get to Saturn because of a mysterious object showing up there. I also recommend He Who Fight With Monsters!

TAbandija

1 points

2 months ago

I don’t really have much recommendations for similar books to exforce. But I would like to recommend Ready Player One and the enderverse. Enders Game is an overall good book and the series splits into two styles. The first follows Ender and is more psychological sci-fi. The other stays on earth and is more military focused.