Clara’s Verdict
I’ll be honest: I came to the Expeditionary Force series late, and spent a solid fortnight mainlining books one through eighteen whilst pretending I had better things to do. Book nineteen, Ground State, is the reward for that kind of obsessive dedication — Craig Alanson at his most gleefully inventive, tossing the Pirates headlong into an impossible situation and trusting R.C. Bray to make every chaotic moment land. This is space opera comfort food of the very highest order, and I mean that as the deepest compliment.
What distinguishes the Expeditionary Force from the hundreds of self-published military sci-fi series that crowd the Audible charts is Alanson’s genuine wit. The humour never feels bolted on; it lives in the bones of the story, in the banter between Joe Bishop and the infuriatingly brilliant AI Skippy, in the way catastrophic setbacks are met with creative absurdity rather than grimdark despair. Ground State delivers exactly that, and then some.
After nineteen books — an almost unthinkable run for any series — the fact that I find myself genuinely eager for Book 20 is, I think, the most honest endorsement I can offer.
About the Audiobook
The mission to destroy the enemy Gateway was, by any measurable standard, a success. The problem is that the universe rarely deals in clean victories, and now not one but two enemy threats are loose in the galaxy — each commanding starships that outclass Valkyrie in raw firepower. A direct confrontation is off the table. What remains is the thing the ExFor Pirates do best: improvise wildly, argue about it at length, and somehow pull off the improbable.
At its core, Ground State is about the peculiar genius of thinking laterally when every conventional option is foreclosed. Alanson mines this premise for both tension and comedy — a combination that fewer authors manage than you might expect. The galaxy-spanning stakes feel genuine because the characters feel genuine; Joe Bishop’s exasperated humanity against Skippy’s cosmic ego has never grown stale across nineteen books, and that is a remarkable achievement in serialised fiction.
The series has always had a serious side beneath the jokes, and Ground State doesn’t abandon that. The question of what humanity looks like when pushed to its limits — when the options run out — gives the comedy something to push against, and the resulting tension is what keeps these books from sliding into mere entertainment. They are entertainment, obviously, and proudly so. But they are more than that, too.
This is Book 19 of the Expeditionary Force saga, published by Podium Audio and released in January 2026. New listeners should absolutely start at Columbus Day (Book 1) — the payoff here depends entirely on the emotional investment built over thousands of hours of story.
The Narration
R.C. Bray is, quite simply, one of the great audiobook narrators working today, and his reading of this series is the defining performance of his career. He has voiced these characters across nineteen instalments and the consistency is extraordinary — Joe Bishop’s world-weary competence, Skippy’s smug brilliance, the supporting cast’s distinct personalities. Bray modulates between the comedic and the genuinely tense with the precision of a seasoned stage actor, never letting the pace sag and never pushing the jokes so hard they tip into farce.
At 19 hours and 20 minutes, this is a substantial listen, but Bray makes it feel fleet. His comic timing, in particular, is pitch-perfect — and comedy timing in audiobook narration is far rarer than you’d think. The relationship between Joe and Skippy is, in many ways, a double act, and Bray voices both sides of it with enough distinction that you forget you’re listening to one person.
What Readers Say
On Audible UK, Ground State holds a rating of 4.7 out of 5 from 850 listeners — an impressive figure that speaks to the depth of loyalty this series commands. UK readers have been particularly effusive, with several calling for a television adaptation and noting the series’ remarkable consistency across nearly two decades of publication.
One US reviewer put it best: « What is wrong with this series? Nothing. Except it has not been given Hugo Awards yet. » Another noted that Alanson achieves something rare — a variety of plots that only a genuinely intelligent and creative writer can sustain, leavened with humour that feels organic rather than performative. The sentiment that fans « love the series » because it makes them « feel so good inside » appears repeatedly, phrased with varying degrees of eloquence but consistent conviction.
The consensus is clear: readers who commit to this series tend to read all of it, and they’re rarely sorry.
Who Should Listen?
If you love space opera that takes its science fiction seriously without taking itself too seriously, the Expeditionary Force series belongs at the top of your list — and Ground State is a fine entry for those already aboard. This is the series for fans of Douglas Adams who also happen to enjoy tightly plotted military sci-fi, or for anyone who finds most space opera a touch humourless and most military fiction a touch earnest.
Fair warning: do not start here. Begin with Columbus Day and give yourself over to the ride. Once you’ve caught up, Ground State awaits on Audible UK, where you can listen as part of your membership or purchase outright. Also available on Kobo, Scribd, and Storytel for those who prefer alternatives.
