THE EXCALIBUR ALTERNATIVE
by David Weber
In this stupefyingly adolescent battle fantasy, bestselling Weber (March to the Sea, p. 906, etc.) kicks off a new series casting English bowmen into battles overseen by aliens from the intergalactic Federation. Back in the 1340s, Sir George Wincaster finds himself in a ghastly storm at sea. Half the fleet sinks; then the black clouds overhead break open, and lightbeams from a vast spaceship pluck up the nine remaining vessels. Oversized, double-jointed, emotionless aliens with two mouths, three eyes, and no noses impress the very large English army still left alive into serving their purposes. Sir George’s men, superbly outfitted by Computer with unbelievably light but resistant plate armor and equipped with cloned horses, are ferried from one blood-soaked extraterrestrial battlefield to the next. Over the next 356 years, Sir George does not age, and his men remain physically at peak performance. But eventually the job of endlessly butchering natives for the starship Commander sickens Sir George, who is invaded by a dragon-man’s intelligence and persuaded to help the dragon-men and save mankind in the bargain by taking over the ship from the Commander.
Super-stupid, but gripping: Weber knows his audience.