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Written by Patrick
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Tuesday, 28 July 2009 11:31 |
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A couple months back I reviewed the first two books in the Destroymen Series by Taylor Anderson. The library system finally coughed up a copy so now I bring you the new review.
Bringing all guns to bear, Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Reddy (now Supreme Commander by acclamation after the events of 2008's Crusade), trapped in an alternate dimension with the crew of the WWII destroyer USS Walker, must unite and lead a coalition of displaced American sailors and native, pacifist Lemurians against the raptorlike Grik and their Japanese allies, who possess a more modern battle cruiser. To defeat the Invincible Swarm, the Walker braves the perils of the deep seas, where mountain fish threaten to swallow the ship whole. Anderson adds friendly Grik and the descendants of previously displaced humans to the mix of tense battles against impossible odds and close observations of how warriors and weapons perform under stress. Experienced military SF readers will enjoy the attention to technical and historical detail while likely forgiving the occasional bout of melodrama.
I thought the first book good. Then the sequel Crusade upped the ante. Maelstrom just continues that trend. Some reviewers complain about "melodrama", but if you removed that element you'd be left with empty technical details and battle scenes. This is not soap oprah material, or extremely long death scenes like with Metal Gear Solid, this is characterization. But if you don't like that sort of stuff...well.
Certain events were foreshadowed in the last two books, yet the ending of Maelstrom was surprising to me. Why the surprise? At the time I thought the series would be a trilogy ending with Maelstrom, but apparently that's not so. I won't give anything away except to say that the scope of the story is being expanded greatly to encompass more of the globe, with more conflicting cultures and surprises in store.
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