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The High Crusade

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The High Crusade

Written by: Poul Anderson
Narrated by: Oliver Hembrough
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About this listen

 In the year of grace 1345, as Sir Roger Baron de Tourneville is gathering an army to join King Edward III in the war against France, a most astonishing event occurs: a huge silver ship descends through the sky and lands in a pasture beside the little village of Ansby in North East Lincolnshire.

The Wersgorix, whose scouting ship it is, are quite expert at taking conquering planets, and having determined from orbit that this one is suitable, they initiate standard procedure. Their ship carries guided missiles and nuclear weaponry - but they have long since lost the art (and weapons) of hand-to-hand fighting. And this time it's no mere primitives the Wersgorix seek to enslave - they've launched their invasion against Englishmen!

In the end, only one alien is left alive - and Sir Roger's grand vision is born. He intends for the creature to fly the ship first to France to aid his King, then on to the Holy Land to vanquish the infidel. And then . . . ?©1960 Poul Anderson (P)2025 W.F. Howes Ltd. Adventure Historical Medieval Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Space Exploration Time Travel
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Ever imagined what would happen if you catapult a nuke, me neither but this book discusses it along with other fun ideas. It explores what might happen if the expansionist English troops during early mediaeval period got an interstellar spaceship.

There's not much to story once the initial novelty wears off, some humor, some gallantry, some backstabbing and some thought provoking questions which explore how does one know when to break fast if they forgot to keep time using glasshours while being in entirely different star system. Following the church's rule must be priority, surely even when lost in space. Book quite amusingly nagivates such topics.

One thing which bothered me a bit was the narrator's choice of speaking. It's mostly narrated by a clergymen who happens to speak in short bursts of 5 to 8 words followed by a pause even when the sentence is incomplete. It breaks immersion a lot in bright side helps you fall asleep or focus on what's happening in real life.

Overall it's a fun concept but hard to keep up with due to words taken from older centuries.

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