The Excalibur Audiobook By Chris Dietzel cover art

The Excalibur

Space Lore, Book 2

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The Excalibur

By: Chris Dietzel
Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
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Six years ago, two fleets met in a battle that changed the course of the galaxy. In the time since, the CasterLan Kingdom and the Vonnegan Empire have been rebuilding their forces. The clock is ticking down to another inevitable confrontation.

In the face of insurmountable odds, Vere CasterLan’s only hope lies in freeing a legendary weapon from the stone that encases it.

It has been said that whoever can free the Excalibur will possess unimaginable power. The only problem, as certain death approaches, is that for thousands of years, no one has been able to figure out how to release the Excalibur from the asteroid surrounding it.

In this second volume of the Space Lore trilogy, lives will be lost, kingdoms will be redrawn, and the galaxy will never be the same.

©2016 Chris Dietzel (P)2020 Aethon Audio Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera Arthurian
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The only two saving grace of this series is the narrator, who somehow turns this Mary Sue tale into something worth listening to, and the actual main character of this story; the basilisk named trrask, whom I probably buthered the name of. At any rate it is abundantly clear just how stupid Veer is and how gifted she becomes in that stupidity. Each logical decision is overpowered by the novelistic tendencies of writers to empower their Mary Sue characters with some purpose. of which Veer has none.

There could of been many logical ways to conduct this story; a romance between the basilisk and veer for the the sake of purpose, actual real struggle that defined a realistic character, something more men palpable. In any event, its abundantly clear the writer introduces each event not to produce novel fantasy but to empower purpose into their useless Mary Sue, which makes the purpose of this review all the more sobering.

Normally I don't write reviews. However the only reason I kept listening to part one of this series and this one was the narrator, who is excellent in their perfomance, and the basilisk. Thrrask is treated like shit at the end of this book and used as another plot device for the heaven forsaken Mary Sue that is Veer. And don't get me started on Morgan, who in themselves is abundantly clear to be only in existence to provide such purpose to the Mary Sue, and should really just fucking die.

Harsh review aside, the narrator makes this book and if you like me appreciate such good narration, grab this. However if you, like me, only liked this series because of Thrrask then I warn you of the coming let down. The Mary Sue and her prodigy Morgan ruin fucking everything with bad decisions and horrible intelligence.

The Narrator and the Basilisk, Part Two

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Compelling writing and great characters. To me, this is what Star Wars could be. Keep them coming!

A better Star Wars

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This story continues 6 years after the first book. A new fleet (not a lot of details here don’t want to spoil first book) is preparing to attack Edsel Dark. It isn’t using the portals but crawling across space to allow other ships to be built and use portals to join them. Edsel Dark will be outnumbered by more than 3 to 1. Military meetings but the leader is not showing up to them. There is one outside chance to free the legendary fleet of advanced war ships called the Excalibur fleet. It is in a meteor flinging across a set path through the galaxy. Leaders and philosophers have tried for years to free the fleet, but all who have tried have failed. Most of the time, the ships explode killing those trying to free them.

The Space Sword Story Continues

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Time to recover, but not enough... Double dealing and betrayal. Old friends lost and a chance for some answers. Mistake are made. A price to pay. What a great book! I can wait for the next one.

Awesome second book in the series!

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Chris Dietzel has written an entertaining action filled adventure with heroic and science fiction features including spaceships and space battles. Many of the characters and their backstory were developed in the first book of the series; additional characters have been added giving the story more of an epic impression. There are multiple fast moving plot twists and turns as well as a cliffhanger at the end. Greg Tremblay did an excellent job with a variety of tones and inflections that complimented the characters and story. I was provided a free review copy of this audio book and am voluntarily leaving this review.

Fantasy With Sci-fi Elements

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The Excalibur is a well-done continuation of the Space Lore saga, a sci-fi reimagining of the Arthurian legend. I would highly recommend listening to the first book before going through the second, although it is not 100% necessary. Even more so than the first book, The Excalibur expands to include fables, folklore, and parables from other sources into the worldbuilding and story narrative, so don't simply expect "King Arthur in Space." There are a number of unexpected twists and turns to the story and (pseudo-cliffhanger aside) it definitely does not end the way that most would expect. The ending is somewhat of a cliffhanger, not in the sense of the immediate plot and challenges facing the protagonists is unresolved, but that the resolution is such that the immediate consequences of those resolutions thrust the characters and world into the middle of their next problem and leave them there for the next book to explore. If you can't stand books in the middle of a series not wrapping up neatly, then the ending will frustrate you Otherwise, I say Listen and Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I was given this a free review copy audiobook and have voluntarily left this review.

Not What You Expect

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