Distant Thunders

Destroyermen, Book 4

By: Taylor Anderson

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

After the battle in which the men of the destroyer Walker and their Lemurian allies repelled the savage Grik, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy is shocked by the arrival of a strange ship captained by one Commaner Jenks of the New Britain Imperial Navy - an island-nation populated by the descendants of British East Indiamen swept through the rift centuries before.

With the Walker undergoing repairs, Reddy already has a great deal on his hands. For the Grik will return, and Reddy will need all hands on deck to fight them off when they next attack. But Jenks's uncertain loyalties make Reddy question whether he can trust the man. As tension between the Allies and the Imperials mount, Reddy will come to realize that his suspicions are not misplaced - and that a greater danger than the Grik is closer than he ever suspected.

Battle stations! Listen to more in the Destroyermen series.

©2010 Taylor Anderson (P)2010 Tantor

Great Sequal

Another great story. I am enjoying the series and the development of the characters. The naration is still excellent.

Another superb Destroyermen novel

This series is great and somehow just keeps getting even better.

The characters are exceptionally interesting and I just like hearing what they have been up to. The overall story arc is great and the individual stories are fascinating. I wish all novels could be this engaging!

I'm amused to see that other reviewers say how both Destroyermen and Lost Fleet are their favorite series; I thought it was just me. I have even built a model of the USS Walker, which is my first model in over ten years.

William Dufris is a great narrator and shines with his work in this series.

The Story Continues...and well

I got to Taylor Anderson by way of David Weber and Larry Correia, and I am glad I made the trip. It can be a daunting thing to create a coherent alternate world with depth, and Anderson continues to flesh out this dangerous world where the crew of a transported World War II US Navy destroyer and her crew have found both fast friends and enemies savage and treacherous. The savage ones, the reptilian Grik, feature less prominently than in the first three books but the treacherous ones take center stage in this episode.

The crash Industrial Revolution (similar to Weber's Safehold series) is in full swing with aircraft and aircraft carriers making moves toward relevance in the story, and the USS Walker is refloated and repaired to continue to be the center of action. The mysterious New Britons share the spotlight in both good and evil guises.

The production continues to be high quality with the narrator providing identifiable accents and voices for the various characters, human and not. The story is advanced and I am eagerly anticipating the fifth book.

Certainly worth your time if you have done the first three books. If you haven't you will be caught up with details during the story, but you have missed a lot. Listen to the first three books and you will enjoy it more.

Great Follow-Up to the Series

4th in series. This book was a little different than the prior three, in that unlike the first three, Book 4 leaves a lot of plots unresolved. Fear not though as Book 5 will resolve those issues, in other words treat book 4 and book 5 as one volume. William Dufris' narration is perfect for these books (though as noted elsewhere William Dufris could read the phone book and make it sound like a classic).

Incredibly Detailed

Throughout this series I have thought the details provided by the author regarding all manner of things have alternated between overly tedious to wonderfully enlightening. He gives a complete background on minor characters and gadgets the characters have invented. However, I have come to really appreciate the details. In this installment of the series the destroyermens' relationship with the 18th century Brits is developing into a story of its own. I have written in previous reviews that Audible should make the illustrations and maps that are in the printed books available as PDF files for audio book fans. I went to the Audible website's chat site and made that suggestion to an Audible rep who said he would pass it along. I hope that the suggestion is acted upon for this series and all the other books that Audible sells. But back to this story. I am happy to note that the quality of the writing is just as high in this fourth book as it was in the first. The characters remain a source of inspiration for their courage and ingenuity. The author is now delving into one of life's great questions - what makes us human? This question is reflected certainly in the author's presentation of the Lemurian "people", but now he has opened that box regarding the Grik and other reptilian species as well. I am anxious to see how this plays out.

Another great read

These great books just keep coming and I am always looking toward the next book

With three minutes of tedium.

Great wet navy fiction as always. But, why on earth would you write a three minute (audio) log about the crew manifest and et cetera? It's something you would have skipped over without thought as reader. As a listener you are begging for it to end. What's in store for the next book? A four minute log on the bowel movements of the crew?

distant thunders

keeps your attention to the end, good character development. narrator is excellent. can't wait for next book

Keeps moving on

Taylor Anderson continues to deliver in the Destroymen series.The concept of the obsolete Pacific fleet destroyer that were basically target practice in WWII being such a huge force for good in this parallel world that it gets sucked into is quite interesting. With the world there much more hostile than the world we are from, with the Grik on one side, a world that seems intent on eating you (the pirannah-like fish and the larger mountain fish) and only one real ally, the Lemurians you would think that the prospects for the Americans to be pretty grim.

But Captain Reddy and his crew continue to persevere. Even in the face of interaction with the New Britain Imperial Navy and the increasing threat of the Grik don't seem to keep them down. The action is pretty non-stop, with a lot of story lines going on at the same time. The main focus is on the developing relationship and exploration of the New Britain (and the associated "Company" (Far East India Trading Company basically) which is the power that is manipulating the throne) given that they have the Princess Rebecca in their protection. While CPT Reddy is away an agent of the Company kidnaps Rebecca, her protector Dennis Silva as well as Reddy's fiance are kidnapped.

A lot of this book was build-up. Exploring the development of additional technologies and critical repairs that hopefully will pay off in the future novels. In addition to the Grik menace, the less than friendly Imperials there is also hints of another set of humans located in the America's that may present another threat in the future. Lots of space for these threads to continue to develop. I already picked up the next book in the series because I am excited to see how it develops.

Silva FTW

I love these books. I wish there were more in the series. I will be watching for more.