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inverarityBook six in the Destroyermen series.
Ace, 2011, 422 pages
Destroyermen is like a TV series that has enough staying power to last for years, even though the basic story never changes. Captain Reddy and his old WWII destroyer, arriving on an alternate Earth inhabited by sapient lemur-people and dinosaur-people, has changed the geopolitics of the world. Six books in, and we've learned that not only have previous visitors from Earth arrived here and formed new empires, but people are still coming, meaning there are several Allied and Japanese ships being yanked out of our world's ongoing Second World War and landing in this world, where some of them take sides with the Grand Alliance and some fall in with the evil Japanese-Grik empire.
The first couple of books felt like a Burroughs-style Lost World adventure, destroyermen vs. sentient dinosaurs. It's increasingly becoming a global alternate world war.
Besides the Grand Alliance (the Destroyermen from Earth, the Lemurians, the descendants of a British/East-India company coalition, and an oddball assortment of "good" Grik and Japanese) and the Great Hive (the multi-continent Grik empire and the Japanese led by the insane battleship captain Kurokawa), there is also a Dominion run by a syncretic Catholic/Aztec religion ruled by torture and blood sacrifice. One breakaway group of Japanese sailors created a little mini-Lemurian/human Shogunate.
So there are a lot of factions in play now, and the story spans a growing cast of characters, both the guys who've been around since the beginning like Matthew Reddy and Dennis DaSilva, and new characters from the Empire and the Dominion. The war is taking place around the world, so we see battles and strategic planning from Africa to Ceylon, India, Hawaii, and the Americas. There are chapters from the POV of the Destroyermen and their allies, and from the POV of the Japanese and the Grik. In some ways it feels episodic, and the number of POV characters has grown large enough to make it difficult to remember them all.
This is basically a continuation of the last five books, and it will be continued in the next. Taylor Anderson is writing a somewhat formulaic story; a few things change and a few characters die and the war progresses (each side is now starting to tech up, which puts more pressure on the Alliance since their main advantage against the numerically superior Grik has always been superior technology and planning) but you could drop into any book in the series and see the same familiar characters doing roughly the same thing. In this book, the Grik spring a surprise (there is a spoiler on the cover).
This is not a bad thing if you enjoy war stories, and I'd call Destroyermen comfort reading for when you just want a war yarn. Part of what makes it comfort reading is that the lines are sharply drawn; there is a level of righteousness in the good guys that makes it clear they are the "good guys." More personality has been added to the Grik; they are no longer just mindless murderous hordes. And we've likewise gotten to know some Japanese, even on the enemy side, who are sympathetic. So it's not entirely black and white. But we can always be sure that Captain Matthew Reddy will live up to the glorious ideal of a red-blooded American naval officer, his sailors will follow him to hell, the Lemurians remain fierce, friendly, funny, and loyal, and the good guys will always do the right thing and win in the end. It's like a fantasy World War II with greatly reduced moral complexity. The lack of cynicism and playing everything straight is actually kind of refreshing if you're sick of books that always have deconstruct everything good and noble.
I'm not saying this is great literature, and I'm also not saying it's a children's good-vs-evil story. It's just fun and familiar and while at first I was getting kind of tired of book after book just continuing the story, now I am in for the long haul. I'd kind of like to see an end eventually, but I know what I'm getting with a Destroyermen book; a big helping of escapism and adventure.
Also by Taylor Anderson: My reviews of Into the Storm, Crusade, Maelstrom, Distant Thunders, and Rising Tides.
My complete list of book reviews.
Ace, 2011, 422 pages
Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy and the crew of the USS Walker find themselves caught between the nation they swore to defend and the allies they promised to protect. For even as the Allies and the Empire of New Britain Isles stand united against the attacks of both the savage Grik and the tenacious Japanese, the "Holy Dominion" - a warped mixture of human cultures whose lust for power overshadows even the Grik - is threatening to destroy them both with a devastating weapon neither can withstand.
Destroyermen is like a TV series that has enough staying power to last for years, even though the basic story never changes. Captain Reddy and his old WWII destroyer, arriving on an alternate Earth inhabited by sapient lemur-people and dinosaur-people, has changed the geopolitics of the world. Six books in, and we've learned that not only have previous visitors from Earth arrived here and formed new empires, but people are still coming, meaning there are several Allied and Japanese ships being yanked out of our world's ongoing Second World War and landing in this world, where some of them take sides with the Grand Alliance and some fall in with the evil Japanese-Grik empire.
The first couple of books felt like a Burroughs-style Lost World adventure, destroyermen vs. sentient dinosaurs. It's increasingly becoming a global alternate world war.
Besides the Grand Alliance (the Destroyermen from Earth, the Lemurians, the descendants of a British/East-India company coalition, and an oddball assortment of "good" Grik and Japanese) and the Great Hive (the multi-continent Grik empire and the Japanese led by the insane battleship captain Kurokawa), there is also a Dominion run by a syncretic Catholic/Aztec religion ruled by torture and blood sacrifice. One breakaway group of Japanese sailors created a little mini-Lemurian/human Shogunate.
So there are a lot of factions in play now, and the story spans a growing cast of characters, both the guys who've been around since the beginning like Matthew Reddy and Dennis DaSilva, and new characters from the Empire and the Dominion. The war is taking place around the world, so we see battles and strategic planning from Africa to Ceylon, India, Hawaii, and the Americas. There are chapters from the POV of the Destroyermen and their allies, and from the POV of the Japanese and the Grik. In some ways it feels episodic, and the number of POV characters has grown large enough to make it difficult to remember them all.
This is basically a continuation of the last five books, and it will be continued in the next. Taylor Anderson is writing a somewhat formulaic story; a few things change and a few characters die and the war progresses (each side is now starting to tech up, which puts more pressure on the Alliance since their main advantage against the numerically superior Grik has always been superior technology and planning) but you could drop into any book in the series and see the same familiar characters doing roughly the same thing. In this book, the Grik spring a surprise (there is a spoiler on the cover).
This is not a bad thing if you enjoy war stories, and I'd call Destroyermen comfort reading for when you just want a war yarn. Part of what makes it comfort reading is that the lines are sharply drawn; there is a level of righteousness in the good guys that makes it clear they are the "good guys." More personality has been added to the Grik; they are no longer just mindless murderous hordes. And we've likewise gotten to know some Japanese, even on the enemy side, who are sympathetic. So it's not entirely black and white. But we can always be sure that Captain Matthew Reddy will live up to the glorious ideal of a red-blooded American naval officer, his sailors will follow him to hell, the Lemurians remain fierce, friendly, funny, and loyal, and the good guys will always do the right thing and win in the end. It's like a fantasy World War II with greatly reduced moral complexity. The lack of cynicism and playing everything straight is actually kind of refreshing if you're sick of books that always have deconstruct everything good and noble.
I'm not saying this is great literature, and I'm also not saying it's a children's good-vs-evil story. It's just fun and familiar and while at first I was getting kind of tired of book after book just continuing the story, now I am in for the long haul. I'd kind of like to see an end eventually, but I know what I'm getting with a Destroyermen book; a big helping of escapism and adventure.
Also by Taylor Anderson: My reviews of Into the Storm, Crusade, Maelstrom, Distant Thunders, and Rising Tides.
My complete list of book reviews.
