Space Academy Dropouts by C.T. Phipps, Michael Suttkus Narrator: Jeffrey Kafer
Series: Space Academy #2
Published by Podium Audio on May 31 2022
Genres: Space Opera
Length: 8 hours and 6 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
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"Where no one has been dumb enough to have gone before."
Vance Turbo, HERO OF SPACE, has spent most of his hard-won officer's career helping refugees. This ends when a star gets blown up and he accidentally ends up saving everyone. Now the captain of the E.S.S Ares, he is on a goodwill mission to Contested Space. Unfortunately, his crew is made up of people who couldn't qualify for Space Academy but are now in thanks to lowered enlistment standards. Captain Turbo has also been charged by the Elder Races to find out who blew up the star or they're going to destroy humanity. Did we mention the evil Notha Emperor wants to be his best friend? All in a day's work for the galaxy's most questionably qualified explorer.
Space Academy is an all-new series from the hilarious duo of C.T. Phipps (Supervillainy Saga, Agent G) and Michael Suttkus (I Was a Teenage Weredeer, Lucifer's Star) that lampoons the space opera as well as military science fiction genres.
Sorry, this might not be the best review I’ve ever written. I have been crazy busy with work and had COVID a few weeks ago, plus my mother was in town for a week and a half (which is how I got COVID, the one time I dropped my guard the few days we went out into the world). Anyway, I listened to this book probably a month ago and didn’t write my review. I usually don’t let myself get this far behind on reviews and I have three others I need to write really soon. Okay, I will quit my pity party now.
Phipps is an author I can always look forward to making me smile, no matter if I’m having a bad day or not. I always find his books so humorous. I don’t think I’ve read (or well, listened) to everything he’s written, but probably more than half of it, for sure. I’m a reader who likes authors who write characters I can relate to and will make me laugh. Phipps does a great job of making me really like all of his characters. The plots are often a little over the top, but that is what makes them fun. And then the pop culture references (most of which are set in the 80s). I even get some of the jokes from movies I haven’t seen, well, most of the time. Oh and there are some shots taking into today’s political climate, which in my opinion were spot on and at times I wanted to laugh and cry at how accurate some of them were. And it isn’t preachy political stuff, mostly similarities to some things that are relevant today.
Space Academy Rejects is the sequel to Space Academy Dropouts. It follows Vance Turbo as he and his crew of not all humans create hi-jinks and somehow end up saving the day. You would think Phipps would surprise me with some of his hi-jinks, but yet, I’m still surprised. The cast of characters grows quite a bit in this book, lots of secondary characters I love. And there are also genetically engineered cyborg dinosaurs, I mean what else can you want? Maybe a captain that sometimes sleeps with his ship’s AI when she’s in a robotic shell?? Did I mention shenanigans? There are always shenanigans in Phipps/Suttkus books. They even have several genres to try. Not into space opera, try super villains, weredeer, cyberpunk and more, and all of them are so much fun. And that doesn’t even include the stuff I haven’t read yet.
Narration:
I’ve run out of great things to say about Jeffrey Kafer. There are a handful of narrators I’ve listened to so much and across multiple authors, that I just can’t say anything that hasn’t already been said multiple times. Kafer is one of a few narrators I will see the name list as the narrator and then look to see what is about and who is the author (great way to find new authors BTW, that is how I found C.T. Phipps in the first place, and I don’t regret it at all).
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Jeffrey Kafer
An award-winning, Los Angeles audiobook narrator, Jeffrey Kafer has performed over 375 titles in all genres from indie authors to bestsellers.
About C.T. Phipps
C.T. Phipps is a lifelong student of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. An avid tabletop gamer, he discovered this passion led him to write and turned him into a lifelong geek. He is a regular reviewer at The United Federation of Charles and the author of Agent G, Cthulhu Armageddon, The Red Room series, Lucifer’s Star, Straight Outta Fangton, and The Supervillainy Saga.
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I started listening to audiobooks when a new book in a series was coming out and I wanted to get a refresher, but didn’t have time to read all the books (I think it was Anita Blake). I fell in love. I stayed with strictly re-reading books that I’d already read for a long time. I eventually tried an audiobook for something that I hadn’t read first and was hooked there too. Now, I listen to audio for both re-reads and first time. I have some series that I’ve given up reading and only listen. I try to get any many books/audiobooks from the library to help save on my budget. Books on CD and the newer digital downloads from the library really allow me to listen more. I then purchase my favorites (because who can wait in line for your favorite book??) and less mainstream books from Audible or some other online retailer.
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Thank you very much for the review. Though there’s nothing political in my books at all! 😀 But I’m glad you enjoyed it, I just want to tell big epic scifi stories.
I’ve only read one book by Phipps and I clearly have a lot of catching up to do! This sounds like so much fun😁
Great review! This definitely sounds like a fun one!
I had no idea you were going through Covid so I’m glad your seeing the back of it, at least enough, to work on your reviews. Hope the visit was enjoyable (other than Covid).
I am so glad this author/series gives you so much happy and a good place to escape when you need it. I do like the sound of this particular series.
Sorry you got Covid! I hope you’re feeling back to normal. And this series sounds like so much fun! Everything about it makes me smile. I definitely have to read it. 😀
I’m so sorry you got COVID and I hope you feel much better soon. Nice review!
This was the perfect sequel book! It had all of the elements from book one that made it so good, while still adding a lot of new, fresh material to keep it from feeling stale.
I enjoyed the first book in the series and hope to get to this one at some point. I do love this author’s sense of humor.
How fun!