THE DESTROYERMEN SERIES: INTO THE STORM (A BOOK REVIEW)

November 9, 2018 Pearl Leave a comment

Author

Anderson, Taylor

Original Publication Date

2008

Main Characters

Capt Matthew Reddy, Lt Sandra Tucker, Chack-Sab-At, Keje

Roger’s Review

This excellent book is the first of now 14 books in this series still being written by author Tayler Anderson. It involves a parallel/alternate universe premise – not specifically time travel – although the participants have in fact traveled back in time as well.

I discovered this book during my research and subsequent listing of books relating to one of my favorite subjects – Time Travel. A complete list of the over 200 books I have currently identified, written by over 100 different authors, can be found elsewhere on this blog. They can be found in two areas of the flyout menus located near the top of the left sidebar on the blog Home Page.

ALL THINGS TIME TRAVEL > TIME TRAVEL BOOK AND MOVIE REVIEWS
LITERATURE > TIME TRAVEL

I have included information about other blog posts I have made, and their location, in a section at the end of this post entitled …

More about Time Travel Elsewhere on This Blog

I found the first two books in the series in paperback at my local library. I look forward to reading the hardcover versions of later books because I found the paperbacks a bit more difficult to read, particularly since this author does not appear to be a fan of short chapters, which I greatly prefer when reading. The long chapters (some as long as 80 pages or more) along with the small print of paperbacks, make reading a bit more laborsome for an old geezer like me. But I certainly was rewarded for the effort.

Anderson develops his characters quite well. In this first book, not only are the conflicts and struggles explored between the Americans and the Lemurians but there is also an interesting side story revolving around a Japanese officer who was rescued just before the Walker was swept into the effects of the squall. His value to the Walker is contrasted with the intense hatred that most crew members feel for him having the recent memory of Pearl Harbor so vividly in their consciousness.

Anderson’s interesting solution to the problem of communication between the two vastly different races of the two universes is rather believably constructed.

You can certainly sense some echoes to other elements of Time Travel and alternate universe sagas while reading this book. Anderson pays homage certainly to H.G. Wells but also to Gene Roddenberry and his Star Trek franchise. There is also the quite obvious similarity, at least in the beginning, to the 1980 sci-fi feature film The Final Countdown, starring Kirk Douglas.

In summary, notwithstanding a bit of the difficulty I had in reading the paperback version, I greatly enjoyed this book. I have already begun reading the second book in the series, Crusade, and I look forward to it and to the other books in this continuing series by Taylor Anderson.

Plot Synopsis

The book begins in the Asian Pacific two months after Pearl Harbor in 1942. Capt Matthew Reddy commands the USS Walker, a “four stacker” destroyer which had been built for World War I. Along with the USS Mahan and a number of other aging members of the US fleet at that time, they were sent to fight against a vastly superior Japanese fleet in the Pacific at the beginning of the Second World War. As Walker & Mahan’s group is being badly beaten, they retreat into a storm squall for cover. Something happens while they are in the squall and, when they emerge, they find themselves in a world that looks physically like the one they know, but otherwise is totally different.

They appear to be alone, no longer surrounded by the Japanese fleet. The waters contain huge, voracious sea animals. When they pass land, they see prehistoric looking creatures, some of which resemble smaller dinosaurs.

The Walker and Mahan eventually become separated. Reddy and his crew stumble upon living beings whom they eventually refer to as Lemurians – named because they appear to most closely resemble large Lemurs from the world that they knew. They slowly develop an alliance and friendship as the Walker chooses sides to help the Lemurians when they are attacked by their Ancient Enemy – the Grik – a lizard-like, warrior race. (Think of the Gorn from the 1967 episode of Star Trek (TOS) – “Arena”.)

This first book continues to tell the story of how the relationship between the crew of the Walker and the Lemurians evolves and how they learn more about the tremendous threat that the Grik represent.

I looked on the internet and while lots of folks have created their own You Tube reviews of some of Anderson’s books, I was only able to find a group interview from the New York Comicon Conference in 2011, which was attended by Taylor Anderson. The panel discussion is in three parts.

Part I (19m56s)

Part II (20s33s)

Part III (22m14s)

More about Time Travel Elsewhere on This Blog

As mentioned previously, elsewhere on my personal blog, I will be maintaining alphabetical lists, by author and title, of books I have either read, or of which I am aware, which involve time travel in some fashion.

These will be living, growing lists going forward. I am fairly confident that my initial lists include most of the best known novels about time travel, and quite a few lesser known ones as well. But I am under no illusion that I have identified them all.

If you check the lists and don’t see a book about time travel that you know of, please do let me know and I would be happy to add it to my list. Just email the book title and the author’s name to rkoehler1952@gmail.com .

I have made blog posts with three versions of this Time Travel book list. You can find all of them by selecting flyout menus from near the top of the left sidebar on the Home Page of my blog – pearlsnmblog.wordpress.com.

An alphabetical list of Time Travel books by author
- ALL THINGS TIME TRAVEL > TIME TRAVEL BOOK LISTS > BOOKS RELATING TO TIME TRAVEL (ALPHABETICAL BY AUTHOR)

An alphabetical list of Time Travel books by book title.
- ALL THINGS TIME TRAVEL > TIME TRAVEL BOOK LISTS > BOOKS RELATING TO TIME TRAVEL (ALPHABETICAL BY BOOK TITLE)

An alphabetical list of Time Travel books by book title, including plot synopses.
- ALL THINGS TIME TRAVEL > TIME TRAVEL BOOKS > AN ALPHABETICAL LIST BY TITLE OF OVER 200 BOOKS RELATING TO TIME TRAVEL (INCL. A PLOT SYNOPSIS)

The third of those three posts may include a brief synopsis of the listed book so that you may decide whether or not the author’s particular take on time travel is something in which you may be interested. Even if you are a fan of Time Travel, as am I, I certainly don’t expect you to be interested in all of these books just because they deal with time travel in some way.

I certainly have my own preferences and these synopses enable me to sort through and find books that appeal to my specific areas of interest.
One thing I have found interesting in my research, and which I try to include in this list, are how books often cross-reference with other books in the genre.
For example, when researching the classic book, The Time Machine by the father of Time Travel books, H.G. Wells, I discovered that there were a number of other excellent books not only relating to Time Travel, but also some relating specifically to the world created by Wells.
- The foremost of those is a book titled The Time Ships, written by Stephen Baxter. That is a sequel to the original Time Machine, authorized by the Wells’ estate, of which I had been previously unaware.
I have also discovered that there were sequels written, also of which I unaware, to other Time Travel books I have enjoyed reading in the past.

If I am aware of, or may have discovered during research, some tidbits of information about the book, or about the author, I will include those in this post as well.

If no synopsis is included, then I am still in the process of researching it. If there is a more lengthy plot description, it is very likely because I have personally read the book.

If I include a full description of the book, including spoilers, I will clearly precede that description with the following icon …

More posts I have written about Time Travel may also be found by selecting the flyout menus in the top left sidebar on the Home Page of my personal blog.

ALL THINGS TIME TRAVEL > TIME TRAVEL BOOKS > TIME TRAVEL BOOK AND MOVIE REVIEWS
- These posts include often lengthy reviews of both books that I have read, and movies that I have seen, relating to Time Travel.
ALL THINGS TIME TRAVEL > TIME TRAVEL BOOKS > TIME TRAVEL MOVIES
- These posts include reviews specifically just for movies that I have seen, either in theaters, or on DVD, relating to Time Travel
LITERATURE > TIME TRAVEL
- These posts include reviews specifically just for books that I have read relating to Time Travel.

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As befitting of my all-time favorite movie – 1989’s Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner, there are already two other links here in the My Favorite Music section of this blog to the original soundtrack.

James Horner composed the music for this movie. Along with John Williams, he is my favorite composer. Horner went on to compose music for many of our best known films, such as An American Tail, Avatar and Titanic, to name just a few. Horner tragically died in June of 2015 at the age of just 61 in a private plane crash.

Near the end of this music section is a link to Horner’s original “A Catch With My Father“. The link I am providing now is to a wonderful, spot-on performance of that same, ending theme of Field of Dreams, which was performed at Fumicité – the Tenerife International Film Music Festival in 2012.

If you are a music nerd like me, please consider listening to “A Catch With My Father” first, and then listen to this link. I have never heard a more perfect rendition, even by the original composer.

This was conducted by Spanish composer Diego Navarro, and is performed by the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra.

Please feel free to add a Comment below if perhaps you too have enjoyed this movie as much as I have over the years, and what you think of this performance. You may also wish to scroll through and listen to some of my other Favorite Music clips. I would like to hear which of them you might also like, and perhaps you can suggest some others to me as well.

Thank you for reading and listening.

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From Cold Cold Bones … A Kathy Reichs’ novel featuring Temperance Brennan (aka Bones)

Tempe is speaking with a medical examiner who is working on the body of a guy who had recently fallen from a zip line.

Tempe asks her what might be the possible cause of death?

She says, “Acute Numerical Assumption.”

Tempe looks at her quizzically

She responds, “His number was up.”

From Jack Reacher … A Lee Child novel made into a TV series on Amazon Prime

Reacher is surrounded by toughs in an alley. When they ask him what he thinks he’s gonna’ do, Reacher tells them that he is going to break the wrists of three guys.

One of them says, “But there are four of us?”

Reacher responds, “One of you has to be able to drive to the hospital.”

From The New Girl … A Gabriel Allon novel by Daniel Silva

An Israeli agent asks a doctor about the condition of a Russian oligarch who was just exposed to radiation used in an assassination attempt.

“How bad is he?”

“A little south of Hiroshima … but not much”

From Vanished … A novel by Joseph Finder

Nick Heller after speaking with the corrupt CEO of a private security company …

“Wash DC is to lying what Hershey PA is to chocolate.“

From Killing Season… A Peter Decker/Rina Lazurus novel by Faye Kellerman

(An old joke) “The difference between involvement and commitment is like the difference between bacon and eggs.

The chicken is involved.

The pig is committed.”

From Monday Mourning … A Temperance Brennan novel by Kathy Reichs.

A woman calls a man up at 5 in the morning.

“Did I wake you up?”, she asks. “Nahh. I had to get up anyway to answer the phone.“

From Terminal Freeze… A novel by Lincoln Child.

In the Arctic, the ratio of men to women is said to be 10 to 1.

It is also said that “If a woman is interested, the odds are good … but the goods are odd.“

From Lethal Agent … A Mitch Rapp CIA thriller by Kyle Mills.

Rapp’s mentor, Stan Hurley: “It’s not how you play the game, its whether or not your opponent ends up dismembered in some woods..

From The Lost Boys … A Peter Decker/Rina Lazurus novel by Faye Kellerman.

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

Fool me a third time, and someone is

a moronic dumbass. (Chris Donatti)

A woman in need of a liver transplant is told by her Russian boyfriend (who happens to be an assassin!) that he offered to donate part of his own liver to her, but was refused.

She told him, “Doesn’t matter. They say you should never accept a liver from a Russian.” (From the Mitch Rapp spy novel, Red War, by Kyle Mills.)

He was so dumb … “He couldn’t plan a fart after eating beans.” (from The Mercedes Coffin by Faye Kellerman)

Police Lieutenant Milo Sturgis gets a call from a murder suspect who says he wants to talk and he asks Milo if they can meet.

Milo looks at his friend, Alex Delaware, and says, “If I respond ‘Hell, yeah’, do you think that would sound too eager?”

“His hometown is so fuckin’ small, the Laundromat uses a clothesline.” (Author John Sandford, paraphrased slightly from his novel Golden Prey)

“Spank me, I’ve been a bad boy.” (The Donald, 2006, to Stormy Daniels)

After getting roughed up in a fight, Hawk asks Spenser what happened. “I cut myself shaving.” To which Hawk replies, “What, you shaving with a weed wacker now?”

Hawk to Spenser talking about two thugs they are tailing: “If those boys were any dumber, you’d have to water ’em.”

Capt. Marty Quirk to Spenser: “Shit happens. You should probably Just put that on your business cards.”

“Your mother was a vending machine and your father was a roto-rooter.” An annoyed Louise Baltimore speaking to her robot Sherman in the 1983 novel Millennium.

“I solve all my cases. They’re just not all solved yet.” Spenser, 1994

“Better here than Philadelphia” on WC Fields’ tombstone

“I’ll have what she’s having” from When Harry Met Sally, 1989

From the movie Absence of Malice starring Paul Newman and Sally Field, and with one of the recently passed Wilford Brimley’s best character performances.

A dirty, local district attorney tells Brimley, who is an Asst. Attorney General, that recent bad publicity for the justice department was due to a leak.

Brimley answers, “A leak? You call that a leak? The last time there was a leak like that, Noah built hisself a boat!”

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