I'm certain that not all Historians and Archeologists have the wonderful talent at storytelling that Taylor Anderson has. Over the roars of cannon, and the clash of shield spear and sword the images of Midway and Iwo Jima, the hammering of cannon and starshells over Fort McHenry, Hammering of destruction in London as the brave few pilots in their spitfires struggle to save the city as the Luffwafe batter it again and again. The desperate fight has never been more desperate.Īnd, wrapped up in the fight were the ghosts of Joshua Lawrence on Little Round top in Gettysburg, Hannibal at Canea and Jim Bouie with Davey Crockett at the battle of the Alamo. An archeologist, historian and, believe it or not, a ballistics expert Anderson has threaded the needle between realistic warfare that matches reports from the logs of Lord Admiral Thomas Chocrane and Admiral Banbridge on the USS Constitution. I've loved the war and battle scenes in this wonderful story, and this is the best one yet.
#MAELSTROM BAND RANK 3 SERIES#
Maelstrom, the third installment in the Destroyermen series started slower than the others, but maintained that ever building sense of dread growing like a slow burn. I kind of want to know what happens next however, I have other books to read before I get there. I can see myself reading that fourth book down the road somewhere. After reflection I just can't give this three stars. Two and a half stars rounded down to two. You just have to wade through a host of eye-rolling moments to get to the good stuff. The battles between the Grik and the Lemurians/Americans are fun. Still, author laziness aside and super-fast development aside, the book is still fun. And some of the Lemurians adapt so quickly to this new world that they more or less become Americans.
They went from basically semi-civilized tree people to smelting cannons in what feels like a blink of an eye. Layered on top of this is the extraordinary industrialization of the Lemurians. Every book I learn that someone else came through. Yes, I know that technically the PBY, the submarine, and the Japanese ship came through in that one transfer, but the author keeps doling out that information. Much better, I think is to build your world, admit some new people once and then you are done. I much prefer books of this vein where the door swings open only once (see Harry Turtledove's Videssos series for an example).
#MAELSTROM BAND RANK 3 FREE#
The author has free reign to willy-nilly pull in whatever he wants in order to strike whatever line he needs to. I'm being overly harsh, but this strikes me as being fundamentally lazy. I cant wait to discover that another vortex also somehow brought in an aircraft carrier! I bet that throughout the series the author continues to use this mechanism to shake up the story. Every time the author wants to do something or shake up the story line, the solution is "oh yeah, the vortex brought this too!" Case in point: the Catalina, the Japanese Battlecruiser, the American Sub. The mysterious vortex is the gift that keeps on giving. The solution to this terrible author's problem is simple: have the vortex bring in someone new.Īnd there is the problem. So far so good.īut what is an author to do? If the Walker remains unchallenged, the series will wrap up pretty quickly! The Grik's wooden hulled ships and primitive weapons (crossbows, etc) can't stand up to the powerful Walker and her explosive shells, her machine guns, and her crew armed with Browning Automatic Rifles, Thomson guns and other fire arms. Captain Reddy and the crew of the Walker, of course, side with the furry Lemurians and, thanks to their powerful ship, they turn the tide of war against the Grik. The Americans are plopped into the midst of an existential conflict between the voracious, raptor-like, carnivorous Grik (bad guys) and the peaceful, mammalian Lemurians. The premise of the Destroyermen series is that a mysterious vortex has pulled a decrepit WWII era destroyer, the USS Walker, into an alternative world where evolution has taken a different path. The author, I think, is ingeniously lazy.
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