Mavericks is Craig Alanson's spinoff series set in the Expeditionary Force universe — following a different crew operating in the same galaxy that Bishop and Skippy spent thirteen volumes making simultaneously safer and stranger. The spinoff picks up threads from the main series and runs them through a new lens: different characters, different operational problems, but the same Alanson voice — tactical ingenuity, real team dynamics, and a universe that operates according to rules even when those rules are deeply inconvenient.
Readers should complete the main Expeditionary Force series before beginning Mavericks — the spinoff rewards knowledge of the larger world in ways that would be lost on a cold entry. For those who have finished the main arc and are not ready to leave the galaxy, Mavericks is the obvious next step.
Set in the Expeditionary Force universe. Read the main series first.
READING ORDER
The Mavericks series is set in the Expeditionary Force universe. Reading the main Expeditionary Force series first is strongly recommended — Mavericks assumes familiarity with the world, the factions, and the Skippy dynamic. For readers who've finished ExFor, Mavericks works as a companion series that can be read alongside or after.
CATCH-UP GUIDES IN PROGRESS
We're doing a full re-read of this series. Detailed catch-up summaries — key events, character status, world state — will be added book by book as we work through it.
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