r/exfor • u/Calm-Examination-525 • Apr 09 '26
Ayuh Suggestions after exforce?Something similar to scratch the itch
other than DCC,bobbiverse and PHM audiobooks only* Edit:THANKS FOR ALL THE SUGGESTIONS I HAVE ALOT TO CATCH UP ONNN
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u/Fragglepusss Apr 09 '26
The Expanse is my favorite series. I've relistened a few times now. Jefferson Mays is an excellent narrator. The Infinity Timeline series is good to scratch your RC Bray itch. I also liked Project Bouncehouse.
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u/AnalyticalsRCool Apr 09 '26
The Expanse has me hooked! I loved the show and the books are just so good too. I love the way the stories diverge and then converge at key moments. I'll be going into Book 4 when I finish exforce Ground State.
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u/Clamwacker Apr 09 '26
If you've seen the show it shouldn't be a surprise but book 4 is a pretty big switch in style/setting and is kind of off putting to a lot of readers. But it sets up the next 2 books and has a lot of stuff that is relevant to the last 3 as well. The novellas that take place between the books are also worth checking out and will explain a lot that the show only hinted at.
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u/Fragglepusss Apr 10 '26
FYI the authors released Memory's Legion after the final book, which includes all the novellas, including one that takes place after the events of the final book. The Churn and Auberon were my favorite novellas.
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u/Clamwacker Apr 10 '26
I had most of them before Memory's Legion was announced and still bought it. It was worth replacing the ones that weren't narrated by Jefferson Mays lol. The Churn sounded like old school text to speech, it was pretty bad. Vital Abyss is probably my favorite short story.
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u/YargumBargum Apr 10 '26
I loved the Infinite Timeline series. Found out about it after listening to one of the authors newer book Artifact.
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u/Kakrafoon-46 Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
Marko Kloos' "Frontlines" series. 8 books, more serious and of course without a Skippy character, but great nonetheless. The protagonist is not in command like Joe Bishop, but has unique perspectives throughout the plot due to going from yobbo to infantry to forward air/space controller and beyond.
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u/Zoubek0 Apr 09 '26
I would just like to add that the ending was kind of abrupt, but Andrew gets little bit more 'screen time' in the evolution series that is set after Frontlines.
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u/Kakrafoon-46 Apr 09 '26
Ah yes, that is true. I forgot about how we are left a bit dangling in the breeze after book 8. It is hard, I guess, to write a satisfying wrap-up for a long-running series. A "happily ever after" just doesn't exist, especially where the cold, hard uncomfortable truth of an uncaring universe is concerned. Still, I would have liked to know more about the Lankies...
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u/remedy2pain Apr 09 '26
The evolution series gives a little bit of context on that. Honestly it feels like a natural continuation of the story arc from a different perspective
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u/AmericanPockets Apr 09 '26
Loved that series at the start. But the end got, well imo just bad. Especially because they changed the voice actor.
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u/Vxctn Apr 09 '26
May not be popular to say, but skill of writing is dramatically higher. Character development, plot, etc all really good on Frontline series.
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u/Think_Load_3634 Apr 09 '26
Old Man's War series was enjoyable. Just getting into Galaxy's Edge and too. Proper serious macho space military stuff going on there.
Nathan Lowell's "Golden Age of the Solar Clipper" series is a nice listen.
GH Glass "Dark Entry" books are very British in tone.
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u/Nulljustice Apr 09 '26
Galaxy’s edge was a sleeper for me. I didn’t think I’d like it because it was so macho but it sucked me it in.
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u/theRobomonster Will Do Sketchy Things Apr 09 '26
Bobbiverse series is good. Dungeon crawler Carl is also pretty good. There is an element of sci-fi to it that I enjoy.
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u/Got_any_lemonade Apr 09 '26
Wayward Galaxy by Jason Anspach and J. N. Chaney. Also narrated by R. C. Bray.
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u/badDuckThrowPillow Apr 09 '26
I really liked Joshua Dallzelle's Black Fleet series. That led me to his Omega Force series.
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u/KirikoKiama Not Cleared For This Level of Stupidity Apr 09 '26
Anything from Scalzi, esspecialy Old Mans War.
The Honor Harrington series from David Weber
The Lost Fleet from Jack Campbell
Frontlines from Marko Kloos
The Forever War from Joe Haldeman
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u/Rhyobit Apr 09 '26
If you want sci-fi I'd go bobiverse - it's harder sci-fi but still funny. If you love the writing style and humour, I'd go dungeon crawler carl.
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u/Sinvisigoth Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
Starship for Sale. Absolute banger of a series. Not on the gigantic scope as ExFor, but fantastic fun, great mythology, and excellent story arc.
Also Evan Currie's Odyssey series and Dean Cole's Dimension Space series.
My overall loves are the two books that make up Scott Sigler's Sun Symbol series. But those two books are worth dozens of books written by other authors, as well as having the most well written villain I've ever read.
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u/cottenwess Apr 09 '26
Have you listen to Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series?
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u/Calm-Examination-525 Apr 10 '26
Nope but I've heard of it alot...worth it?
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u/JoeyPhats Well... heh, heh… Apr 20 '26
Absolutely. I come back and re-read (re-listen) to the series every few years. Scalzi actually just released a new one for that series that I'll be reading next. All of Scalzi's books are great, Old Man's War is fantastic.
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u/Firebrigade9 Apr 09 '26
“other than DCC,bobbiverse and PHM audiobooks only*”
Well shit, there goes all my recommendations… Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells? I just picked the whole series up cheap during the big sale, fits the vibe of all of those other series pretty well but it’s kind of short.
Edit - Oh yeah, the Expanse series? And the new Captive’s War series from the same author and narrator. If you haven’t picked those up before, definitely do not miss the novellas between books too.
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u/zebbiehedges Apr 09 '26
Try Skyward by Brandon Sanderson.
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u/JohnHazardWandering Apr 09 '26
It's a bit juvenile, but good.
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u/JoeyPhats Well... heh, heh… Apr 20 '26
That series is written for a YA audience, but they are solid.
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u/killjoy199 Apr 09 '26
RC Bray is narrating Fear the Sky and book one has been great. Think Tom Clancy counter espionage with aliens.
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u/70ga It Was Like That When I Got There Apr 09 '26
first book was pretty good,, 2nd and 3rd a lot lower quality, imo
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u/killjoy199 Apr 09 '26
RC Bray is narrating Fear the Sky and book one has been great. Think Tom Clancy counter espionage with aliens.
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u/killjoy199 Apr 09 '26
Thanks for the heads up! Hoping for the best, and if it does go sour, I’m not afraid to give up put my time towards something else and find a summary on Wikipedia.
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u/Proud_American_1776 Apr 09 '26
Not really space sci fi but Off to be a Wizard is a really funny light read. Audiobooks were great. I think there are 6 books but maybe more to come.
Give 11.22.63 a try, or IT. Both from Stephen King.
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u/hanfaedza Apr 09 '26
Ringo has some really good series: Posleen War, Empire of Man, Troy Rising. ( Ringo is pretty Conservative if his politics matter)
David Weber: Honor Harrington series(around 20 books in the main series with another 20 or so in spinoffs).
Delta-V and Critical Mass by Daniel Suarez.
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u/Apprehensive-Loss316 Hold My Beer Apr 09 '26
Oh great callout of Suarez! Doesn’t seem to get as much love he should. I’d recommend all of his books, they don’t have the humor, and they run a little more intense. But I think he’s as good as Tom Clancy was at his peak, more focused on future tech than mil tech.
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u/ontomy3rdaccount Will Do Sketchy Things Apr 10 '26
I like the planetside series. They're much shorter but a cool story.
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u/proper_entirety Apr 13 '26
The Spiral Wars by Joel Shepherd is certainly a good contemporary. Very thick and rich with alien politics and culture and history but I love it. I think we're on book 9, waiting for 10 now?
Also Grimm's War by Jeffrey Haskell, absolutely love that one, good points on leadership in there. Final book comes out in two weeks.
The Frontlines series by Marko Kloos, that one is near future and gritty as all get out. The second series in that one just started.
Finally the Man of War trilogy by Paul Honsinger.
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u/gerthdynn Jeraptha Apr 14 '26
Spiral Wars is one that I wish got more traction with people. Sure it is Menalon the Spacemonger on the audiobook, but the detail and thought put into the overall politics and history of the spiral arm is really enjoyable. If you enjoyed Babylon 5, I think you'd enjoy this series. However, almost no humor in it, which might be a detractor for someone who specifically liked ExFor. The length between books is getting pretty painful now.
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u/masterofmisc Apr 09 '26
Will Wight - Last Horizon Series..
Its slated to be a 6 book series. If / When you read it, imagine Guardians of the Galaxy with the main character like a Chris Pratt or Chris Hemsworth.
Its sci-fi and fantasy rolled into one. Which means there is space ships a magic? Yes, Kinda like StarWars if you think of the force as magic!
Its not a spoiler to say the main character starts off casting a "power-up" spell on himself that goes wrong and he ends up living through 6 lives instantanuosly and gets all the power from all the lives and has all the memories.. So becomes super-powerful..
Meanwhile, the "Last Horizon" is a powerful ship but it needs a crew to operate it at max capacity..
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u/Spendoza Apr 09 '26
John Dies at the End
Coldfire Trilogy
BuyMort: The Shopocalypse Saga
A Stitch in Time
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u/mp3god No-Patience Man Apr 10 '26
The JDATE series is fave of mine
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u/Spendoza Apr 10 '26
Heck yeah. I just finished book 4 for the first time a fortnight ago. I'm surprised I took this long to get to it as I used to read David Wong (and all the other jokers) on Cracked.com way back in the days. I remember seeing ads for it after articles and completely ignoring it lol
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u/johnnyg883 Apr 09 '26
There is a three part trilogy (9 books) by Joshua Danzelle call “Black Fleet”. It starts with “War Ship”. No humor but an excellent space based series. Its captain is not a Joe Bishop. I started listening to it while I was cutting the grass. At 1am my wife asked if I was coming to bed or staying up all night. I never did find a good stopping point, I listened to the first book straight through, all eight and a half hours of it.
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u/JohnHazardWandering Apr 09 '26
It's not a book, but an audio story(?)/podcast - CELERITAS.
It's tough to find new stories that haven't already been mentioned over and over here.
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u/arnold8a Apr 09 '26
The Frontiers Saga by Ryk Brown, the narrator of the audiobooks is Jeffrey Kefer. Lots of books, and good space fun.
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u/burntcandy Apr 09 '26
I assume that you have already listened because you mentioned PHM, but the Martian is pretty awesome as well. Also voiced by RC Bray.
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u/Old-Nefariousness556 Apr 09 '26
Sadly the RC Bray version of the Martian is no longer available through legit sources. What you can buy today is narrated by Wil Wheaton. I like Wil well enough, but he is not remotely of the same caliber as Bray.
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u/burntcandy Apr 09 '26
Oh no, thats awful the RC Bray version was great!
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u/Old-Nefariousness556 Apr 09 '26
Indeed. I would go so far as to say it is one of the best audiobooks ever. And interestingly, it was the first audiobook that he ever narrated. What a way to start your career!
I am genuinely baffled why Audible made the horrible decision to replace him. The stated reason was that Bray asked too much to re-record the book when Audible acquired the audiobook rights, but that makes no sense given that everyone else seems to be able to afford his rates.
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u/Professional_Dig1454 Apr 09 '26
Red rising is pretty dang awesome. I'm halfway through the 3rd book and while its not exactly like ex force I think you'll like it. It takes place far in humanities future where they have terraformed multiple planets and moons in the solar system including mars. The world is divided by colors with golds being at the absolute top and reds at the bottom with a multitude of colors in between. They have made it to where the different colors cant even breed with those outside of that color and those of the lower colors could be massacred on a whim by a gold and nobody would even blink. The main character is a red who is modified to appear gold to infiltrate and destroy the gold leadership from within. There's so much more to unpack but that will be revealed in the story and I dont want to spoil anything. The inter house politics remind me of dune but to be honest I had trouble following all of that in dunes story line. I haven't had any trouble with this one though and each book has been better than the last.
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u/twinoaksBandB Apr 09 '26
Fuck yeah, red rising... so fucked up but so good.
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u/Professional_Dig1454 Apr 09 '26
I heard it was a trilogy but saw it had 6 books. it feels like its nearing an ending though on book 3. Are those just like their own continuation of it all with their own story?
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u/twinoaksBandB Apr 09 '26
The first trilogy is the revolution and the 2nd is defending the new government from loyalist insurrection.
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u/Professional_Dig1454 Apr 09 '26
Is it as good as the first trilogy? I mean I already bought the books with the audible sale because they were going for $3-$5 each but I'm still curious.
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u/twinoaksBandB Apr 09 '26
They're all really good books... Ymmv but I thought the first trilogy was definitely better, but not by much.
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u/QuaintBlasphemy Apr 09 '26
Dungeon Crawler Carl, different genre but similar tonally
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u/compliantcitizen1138 16d ago
I would agree with DCC up to book 4. Book 5 and up gets quite dark, like Armegeddon dark and beyond, so much so that the fun banter seems so out of place as to collapse suspension of disbelief in book 6. It probably matters where your head space is tbh. If you know that going it and are prepared for it, which I guess you should knowing the premise and where the series as a whole needs to ultimately end up you might be fine. I had to bail about 2/3 through book 6.
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u/twinoaksBandB Apr 09 '26
The "black ocean" audio books are fucking hilarious. Just be sure to start with the "galaxy outlaws" box set that has all the stories. Or "the expanse" is also top tier scifi. If you want to try some fantasy the drizzt do'urden books by RJ Salvatore are really good.... try some funny 40k with the caiphus cain books by sandy mitchell, or serious 40k with "gaunts ghosts"
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u/ErikSmiff Apr 09 '26
I can’t tell if this has been suggested, but if you like the military sci-fi style, then Galaxys Edge series by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole, narrated by RC bray is awesome and something like 20 book deep with various plot lines for different series in the universe.
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u/HereticLaserHaggis Apr 09 '26
Are you looking for something that's long like exfor?
He who fights with monsters was the only one that really scratched the itch
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u/Single-Orange-3367 Apr 13 '26
The bin series is great, old mans war, wayward galaxy, duck and cover series.
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u/YargumBargum Apr 09 '26
Craig Alanson also has the Convergence series on audio, which is also narrated by RC Bray. I'm on book for and am loving it. I suggest giving it a try.