16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent science fiction thriller, June 2, 2010
This review is from: Distant Thunders: Destroyermen (Hardcover)
The reptilian Grik continue their assault using any sort of mass weapons of destruction against the Lemurians whose strongest supporter are the dimensionally displaced U.S. Navy Captain Matt Reddy and the crew of the USS Walker. The American navy desperately is trying to move forward the Bronze Age Lemurians into at least an Industrial Age and preferably past that too especially with their ship badly devastated in the last encounter (see Maelstrom). That is the only hope for the allies against the overwhelming superiority of the invading Grik.
Reddy and his unit make some progress using paddle-wheel steam frigates developed in New Britain as the Americans free cities in the west from the previously invincible conquerors and give new hope to their allies. However when word reaches Reddy that the enemy has captured New British Princess Rebecca Anne McDonald, he rushes back east on the renovated USS Walker to mount a rescue of a key symbol.
The latest Destroyermen science fiction thriller, Distant Thunders, is an action-packed entry with strong relevant moral questions about the rules of combat engagement running throughout the adrenalin pumping story line. Reddy ponders whether negotiations with a species apparently seeking genocide are feasible as the enemy seems resistant to a peaceful solution although the displaced hero recognizes some of the beliefs on both sides may be bogeyman propaganda. He also wonders whether are any weapons of mass destruction include biological, chemical or nuclear in their arsenal that will be used especially on the brink of perhaps extinction acceptable? Taylor Anderson is one of the best at military science fiction as his plots combine cerebral thought provoking issues within a great adventure tale; the alternate realm of the Destroyermen saga is worth the journey.
Harriet Klausner
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Sequel Demanding More Sequels, June 7, 2010
This review is from: Distant Thunders: Destroyermen (Hardcover)
I haven't any idea how long this series was initially intended on going on, but I thought it was a trilogy based on the tone and pace of volume one. Now we're on to volume four with as much in front of us as behind.
In addition, the author is caught in a trap that befalls any multi-book series. He can either assume the reader in the later books has read the previous books and is up to date on them or he needs to constantly insert flashbacks. Here Anderson uses flashbacks and uses them quite a bit so if someone were to have read volume one months or years ago they'd be refreshed as to the tensions and relationships. The downside is if one were to find this series and consume them in rather rapid order, the flashbacks become irritating and slow the narrative down. This book is replete with sentences like, "X looked with annoyance at Y remembering that in the battle of Z, Y failed to perform some task or another." That's fine unless you just read about the battle of Z a few days ago as I had. It seemed to this reviewer that we couldn't get a page or two without yet another flashback.
I understand the need for this so I'm not knocking the book down but thought to mention it as a heads up for readers who may be more annoyed at this than I was.
What has me annoyed is that, like Robert Jordan, Taylor Anderson has found a world which immerses many readers. Rather than have a neat, tight trilogy or two book series, he or his publisher or someone has decided to streeeeeetch this thing out. To me, this would be stronger if the stretching included many more details of the alien societies which are still superficially treated now four books in. Instead, most of the action is among the few humans (two threads of humans, but all human) and the aliens do very little unless they are acting in concert with or in reaction to, humans.
I enjoyed this book as I enjoyed the series but I'm bothered by the prospect that it'll be years before the series finishes dealing with the issues facing it now. In addition, there is a whole new world to explore which could have been and may be in the offing.
I gave up on Jordan's Wheel of Time series when the mid volumes slowed down to glacially narrated office politics. I hope this doesn't occur with Anderson's series, but as of the slowdown in volume four, I'm seeing similar symptoms.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No B.S. It is that Good!, September 24, 2010
This review is from: Distant Thunders: Destroyermen (Hardcover)
This my fouth review of this series and I can honestly say it is getting better. Taylor Anderson is a man with a plan. This series seems to have a definite idea where it is going and I am can't wait to see where. Malestrom was one bloody action packed book. So Mr. Anderson wisely has given us a somewhat of lull in the action. He does stint on his characters and their emotions. The girl queen is beginning to round out in charcter. The new air force personel are introduced and promise to be players in the future. Jenks, British stuff shirt, moves from a cartoon to a real person. We have the raising of the Walker, the trials of the begining air force, and the really "neat" surprise in the newly found cargo ship. There is a kidnapping and a "rescue" of sorts which lead the ending of this book and the possible revenge by Capt Reddy.
While all of the above is well and good, it is some the lesser parts that intrigue me and give me hope for some crazy story lines in the future. The first one is the Catholic religion aspect in Reddy's camp and the British hate of anything Catholic. The "new" Indian lizards that Silva befriends is another. The last one is one I am really looking forward to, the idea that the storm that caused all this has been happening for a long time and ..wait for it...it is possible that there are other like storms doing the very same thing in DEFFERENT parts of the real world. So could a German ship or whatever be in the future? Like I said I can't wait.
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