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Reviewed by Stefan Vucak for Readers' Favorite
Victor Selan and the Savannah Republic Navy are powerless to repel the invasion of Savannah by Lysandran Empire forces. His ship destroyed, a prisoner, Selan watches as Emperor Magnus bombards his home world and is then cast adrift. When he wakes, he is confronted by an AI hologram that offers him command of a First Civilization battle cruiser, the ‘Excalibur’. His mission: save other planets from destruction in endless wars. Bent on revenge and not interested in saving the galaxy, Selan refuses. The AI sends him to the Free Worlds planet Mustang, where he joins a mercenary ship escorting merchants against pirate raiders.
On a mission to infiltrate a raider stronghold, Selan and his team free many prisoners, destroy the base, and walk away with booty. The price of victory was the loss of an arm. On his return to Mustang, the High Councilor gives him a prosthetic arm and a promise by the Free Worlds to annihilate the Lysandran Empire. In a fated encounter, the Lysandran fleet is defeated and Emperor Magnus is dead. When Selan learns that the Free Worlds plan to destroy Lysander, he embarks on a plan to stop them, wanting to put an end to further bloodshed. With everything looking hopeless, the battle cruiser ‘Excalibur’ shows up, leading to an unexpected climax.
Packed with non-stop action, Refusing Excalibur will appeal to devoted space opera fans. The writing is simple with a minimum of characterization and plotting. Events move too fast for depth and thoughtful discourse from this novel. What Zachary Jones does is give readers a memorable space adventure that generates powerful imagery, with enough humanity sprinkled between scenes of racing warships and flying missiles to keep the novel from being sterile. Victor Selan is a typical hard-bitten commander who doesn’t say much, letting his actions speak for him. Traditional space opera fans should find Refusing Excalibur a treat.
