This is the first of a series of short reviews for military SF and mecha SF. You will not see a review of something I don't like as it isn't worth writing about in that case, but I will tell you what works for me and what doesn't about the stories I did like. When I was writing my Exocrisis Blue stories and trying to find places to post about it or reviews of other mecha SF I was unable to find any, so I'm creating my own hub. I'm going to start with the stuff I have read in the past, and on the review list are The Lost Fleet series, Mecha Corps, Posleen War Series, Gear School, Bolo, Starship Troopers, Old Man's War, and Germline. Now onto the review. For the master list of reviews, click here.
The Destroyermen book series is about a WWII American destroyer (USS Walker DD-163) that finds itself sucked into an alternate universe where they become involved with an intelligent lemur-like/cat species that is fighting an invasion of lizard-like creatures that treats everyone else as edible prey. The author, Taylor Anderson, has made the USS Walker a high-tech wildcard in a bronze age world.
The series starts with some good naval duels in the early days of the Pacific War after the battle for the Philippines. The fleeing USS Walker is sucked through a terrible trans-dimensional storm along with a Japanese cruiser. The Japanese of course join the bad guys who are the man-eating Grik. These Grik turn out to be smarter than the average savage lizard with weapons. The crew of the Walker befriends the Lemurians and builds a grand alliance with them. Many adventures follow to explore this strange new Earth with its wonderful set of very vicious beasts and mysterious landscapes. Later on, new characters, races, and other humans are introduced into the story and the war against the Grik changes from a Southeast Asian conflict into more of a global conflict.
When I first picked up "Into The Storm" (volume 1) I kind of thought this could be entertaining and it was. The whole idea of an alien world with these lemur-like natives was actually done really well. The story kind of grabs you and drags you along for the ride to see what happens next. There was plenty of exploration of this new world and industry building to keep the old destroyer running for fuel and ammo.
In the latest book, "Iron Gray Sea" (volume 7) the grand crusade against the Grik and other enemies continues. The war has been pretty vast for the last 4 volumes so that you have many sub-stories going on. This means that it takes many books to resolve events as there is a great deal of cutting back and forth. Like many other epic books series, such as Harry Turtledove's World War books or the Wheel of Time, you will have an opinion on this that ranges from keep it coming to okay to this sucks. My own opinion on this is closer to the lower end of okay as everything just drags out with the huge story, but he does have many interesting things happening.
So in the end, I recommend this very readable series that looks like it will run for some time to come. I'm still reading the series, but due to the crazy pricing on ebooks (THAT SHOULD BE CHEAPER than the printed book), I'm using the public library to do so. The first three books are also a fairly well contained story arc.
Does it have a cast of characters listing?
Yes. This is good or bad depending on your preferences.
What is the scope / scale of the story?
More intimate and small scale with the first books than it grows to become epic in size as the war spans the globe. This is a good and bad sign as the story keeps growing, but overall Taylor Anderson has done a good job with the number of characters and the ever-expanding story.
Does it have likeable characters?
Yes. Many good leader types, tough guys, misfits, and just lovable characters (especially the little princess that is introduced later). Good guys seem to be very flexible/modern in their thinking overall (women's rights and rights of other sentients comes to mind first), and the bad guys are not - until they have to up the ante against the good guys.
Does it have an entertaining storyline?
Good. Very nasty enemies, fairly clear distinction between good and evil for the most part. You can sink your teeth into the story and your enemies.
How is the internal consistency / plausibility?
Good. World building has been very good to excellent. USS Walker is very fortunate to have all the skills to build a modern military industrial complex handy.
What cool bonus features are there?
The Lemurians have giant wooden seagoing home ships that are the size of WWII aircraft carriers. The destroyer versus cruiser scenario that eventually plays out is good. BIG Fish.
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