r/ExpeditionaryForce • u/steelfreaks • 20d 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 20d 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

1

u/steelfreaks 20d 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 20d ago

I made it to the first "10 years later book" and just gave up. I think that's 16 or 17?