Crusade

Destroyermen, Book 2

By: Taylor Anderson

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy, along with the men and women of the USS Walker, have chosen sides in a war not of their making. They have allied with the Lemurians - a mammalian race whose peaceful existence is under attack from the warlike, reptilian Grik.

The Lemurians are vastly outnumbered and ignorant of warfare, and even the guns and technology of Walker cannot turn the tide of battle. Luckily, they are not alone. Reddy finally finds Mahan, the other destroyer that passed through the rift. Together, the two American ships will teach the Lemurians to fight and stand against the bloodthirsty Grik - or so they think.

For there is another vessel that does not belong on these strange seas - the massive Japanese battle cruiser Amagi, the very ship that Walker was fleeing from when the rift took them. Like Mahan, it followed them through. And now Amagi is in the hands of the Grik.

Battle stations! Listen to more in the Destroyermen series.

©2008 Taylor Anderson (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Dramatic.... At heart this novel is about how honor and ideals can bend or break under the stressful, life-and-death conditions of total war." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Even better than the excellent Into the Storm." --( Booklist Starred Review)

fantastic book

great original story. I love the military detail and historical accuracy. cant wait to start the next.

The novelty is gone. Drags on.

The first book is novel and one does not know which direction it will go. Unfortunately, it did not have any conclusion but left one having to get book 2. Still I thought the originality of the book 1 was well worth it, enough to try book 2. Bad move. Unless you really get into the new inhabitants and their personalities, the book drags on. A lot of filler sequences that made one think that this book is going to be one of many. The action scenes are repetitive and now strung out, again to fill space. And as in the first book, no concluding end. Again, ending in a way that tries to make you buy book 3. This though is where I jump ship. The novelty is gone and no final book is in sight. In fact, I feel that no final book is even planned. You must get into the characters to stick with this series. The narration though is great and is the only reason I did not give this one star.

Destroyermen: Crusade

Oh, my goodness.... I was so bored with this story and the reader's voices drove me crazy. I did not make it very far at all with this book.

Chapter 2

I love war and time travel / alternate history stories so this series is right up my ally. Taylor Anderson does a good job sucking you into the storyline in book one. When I got finished with this book (while I was not happy with the "buy the next book to see how this book ends" ending, I did buy book 3. Then I bought book 4, 5, 6, and 7. After each book I got more frustrated with the writing style. This ARE NOT stand alone books and could be best described as chapters. After book 7 I have stopped. My honest recommendation is just not to start the series, I wish I had not. Below is my book 7 review (no spoilers):

This IS NOT a "normal" book series. On most series, each book is stand alone with a small tread running trough each. So while it is always better to read in order, each book is satisfying on it's own. that IS NOT the case with the Destroyerman books. Each of these books would be better described as chapters. They DO NOT stand on their own and there is no conclusion at the end of each book, just the set up for the next.

Because of the continuing story, nothing every gets settled and you never feel satisfied at the end. I think there are at least 15 books in this series and I just cannot see myself going much further (after finishing #7). I would feel differently if these were more in the style of say the "Bosch" series, same characters (plus or minus) different situation and each book stands on it's own. If that were the case, I am sure I would listen to all of the books. As it stands now, while I (in some ways) want to continue, it seems like more of a chore than excitement for the next book.

As for me, even though I am interested in the characters, I am jumping off this boat since there is absolutely no conclusion in site.

3.5 stars

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.

The men and two women of the USS Walker are worn out and homesick. They???re resigned to being stuck on a parallel world, but they at least hope to find some more humans. There???s a severe ???dame shortage??? so, though Commander Matthew Reddy and Nurse Sandra Tucker are in love with each other, they know they must not indulge their feelings because it might lower the morale of the rest of the destroyermen.

There???s plenty to keep them occupied meanwhile ??? they???ve recovered Mahan and a reconnaissance airplane, and both need a lot of work. They???ve also discovered that the threat from the reptilian Grik is much worse than they had imagined. The Grik have hundreds of sailing ships and are intent on wiping out the Lemurians and their new American allies. The worst news of all is that the Japanese battlecruiser Amagi is with them, but the destroyermen don???t know if ???the Japs??? are fighting with the Grik or if their ship has simply been taken.

Many of the passive Lemurians just want to run away, but the only way to defeat the Grik is to band together and fight. Thus, some of the destroyermen and their new friends are visiting Lemurian colonies to try to muster up an army while others are training troops, building defenses, drilling for oil, and producing weapons.

Crusade, the second in Taylor Anderson???s DESTROYERMEN series, is even more exciting than Into the Storm. The action is non-stop and the allies are working harder than ever to try to stay alive and make the most of their bad situation. The struggle is relentless and stressful, but Anderson works in some appealing shipboard humor to ease the tension.

Anderson continues to develop his characters. Captain Reddy is hard-working, conscientious and completely overwhelmed by the need to keep his people safe and sane in their new world and he worries about the impact the destroyermen are having there. He???s good-natured and merciful, but ruthless when necessary. Sandra Tucker, who is soft-hearted and highly competent, is now in charge of everything medical. Dennis Silva, the big rowdy Gunner???s Mate, is finally beginning to live up to expectation and we discover that he???s really a softie at heart. Shinya, the Japanese prisoner who has given Reddy his parole, has been a valuable asset on Walker but he now struggles with his honor because of the presence of Amagi. Several of the Lemurians are main characters, too.

One small issue that continues is that Anderson???s good guys tend to be a little too good while his bad guys are a little too bad. The Grik are a mindless swarm who hiss when they speak and eat their enemies. Similarly, most (but not all) of the Japanese are portrayed as loyally but blindly obeying their leader, even when he???s wrong. It???s explained that in the Japanese society, obedience is the highest virtue while Americans work individually to hold up the morals which society has collectively agreed upon. Thus, with only a few exceptions on each side, ???the Japs??? are willing to fight for the Grik because their leader tells them to, while the Americans are nobly fighting for liberty and justice for all. Maybe it really would have been this way, and maybe the Japanese will come around later ??? I don???t know ??? I just wanted to mention this slightly uncomfortable aspect of the plot for those who may care.

Even though the situation seems a little too black and white, it???s still easy to get caught up in the heroic deeds and the fight for freedom. I???m listening to William Dufris narrate the audioversion of Crusade. He does a good job with the human voices, but he makes some of the heroic speeches of the Lemurian allies sound corny and trite (some of them are corny and trite, but he makes it worse) and the hissing speech for the Grik is over the top. Still, those are minor parts, so overall I???m enjoying this version and I???m starting on book 3: Maelstrom.

This is not a book!

This is a looong chapter in what looks to be a VERY long book "series". My fears after the first book came true, I'm sorry to say. This has all the worst qualities of "series writing". No conclusions to story lines. Relations that don't change. Story line that drags on and on. We learn that the enemy is evil. The Americans and their allies are noble. War is hell. And in war people die (a lot in this case). 16 hours of filler mayhem.

This is akin to watching episode two of a long TV-series with unconcluded episodes. Anderson is a technically gifted writer, no doubt. But I hope he respects his readers enough to write a "BOOK" next time.

Excellent narration by Dufris as usual.

Lost Regiment fights WWII

Have to dock story points for being nearly a total imitation of Fortschens crossover Civil War series- at least through the first two books. Many characters and enemies are near carbon copies. A cut below the Lost Regiment but still entertaining through book two.

It was to gorery for me and to slow

What would have made Crusade better?

I don't know I just couldn't get into it. Maybe it wasn't what I was looking for. To many things to follow.

What could Taylor Anderson have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I don't know. I don't know if I was looking for more thrill but not gore, or more romance or mystery. It just didn't touch me.

How could the performance have been better?

The voice wasn't into the story enough. I couldn't see it as being part of what was going on, so I was concentrating more on the voice than the book.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Yes, I think there was a story line it was just too deeply embedded for me to get into the book.

I think I will stop here

Although many people swear by this series I will stop here. The author seems to slow things down by adding endless details and the plot just grinds to a halt. I looked at the number of books in this series and realized why. Usually I get to the third or forth book in a series before I feel this way. This series only took 2 books. I listened to the first one that was great. I started to lose interest in this one 3/4 the way through. If it was a 3 or 4 book series I would continue, but at 13 hours each, I realize that there are better books to use my monthly credits on. In summary, plan on a long voyage to make it through this series.

Wordy

Getting a little tiresome, but perhaps I should have taken a break after Book1. Ambivalent about downloading Book 3.