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

Not bad, not great but not bad. Worth the Credit

Where does Distant Thunders rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I'm more of a Tom Clancy type of reader but this caught my eye. It's an interesting story line in a twisted mind sort of way.

What did you like best about this story?

At first this series was pretty interesting. Folks started getting killed off rather fast for my liking. At this rate, the author better find some new friends for his characters quickly or he'll the few main characters will be by themselves.
I am beginning to the different layers in the story line, he obviously did his homework and developed almost a flowchart story line. I agree with an earlier comment that access to the maps and other illustrations that are in the printed versions of the books would be nice to see here an option. The narrator is very talented. I have no idea how he keeps the different voices right.

Action Packed

Book 4 in the Destroyermen series continues to engage the reader. New characters emerge and a few of the old characters are enhanced. Silva, for example, becomes a central character who impacts events. New alliances and antagonists emerge while the old "Grik" bad guys continue in the background. Can't wait for Book 5.

Another Chapter...

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 #8). 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.

worst book in series

skip this book Halfway through, it gets derailed by a stupid hostage situation. Trope and it's the dumbest thing in the world. Writers really need to stop putting hostage situations in their stores because it's an example of bad writing. There are more intelligent ways you can create conflict And more interesting ways, too. The hostage Trope is in literally everything, and it bothers me so much. Just kill the person, just kill them. Just kill them, and there's no problem. I'm so sick and tired of writers having to manufacture so much made up and stuff. That would never realistically happen with people who have brains in order for these situations to happen in the first place. Like no I don't care. They are not going to successfully kidnap 3 of the main characters. Because of a writer wants to create some drama with the characters instead of actually advancing the plot forward, it's dumb It wastes time and contributes nothing to the overall plot. I genuinely don't even want to read the rest of these books. Because I know at least the next entire book is going to be useless and worthless. Because the entire book is going to be them getting the hostages back because they couldn't somehow do that in the last 4 hours of this one. Stop doing hostage situations It is an overused boring trope It's just a way for lazy writers to stretch a conflict That should have been resolved in 2 pages into something that somehow is a problem that takes a whole book to deal with is nonsense.

Boreing

Starts off slow and does not get any faster. Some how they missed the most impelling reason to keep reading. That would be the good battle scenes.
Well there is always the next one

Destroyermen - Book 4 not up to par

The first two were good, plot moved along very good, character development was good, battle scene were compact and well carried out, Book three was a little more contrived and forced. Book 4, to wordy and contrived, could not finish the books.

this tale is startind to become boring...

I bought this book, because i enjoyed the previous 3, now frankly i am starting to get boring. It is like reading the previous 3 books, but with a lot less action. Also, it becoming tedious in developing and i think the author is losing the scope of the story and he is more worried about introducing more characters/races/species so he can continue writing the same tale. I think this is the last one for me.

I like this series alot!

I bought this book because books 1-3 were great! However, #4 was slow compared to other 3 books and some parts almost put me to sleep. Still, it wasn't a bad book. Just not Anderson's best

Enjoyable but..goes nowhere.

This is the 4th book in this series I've listen to, and although I have my complaints (very repetitive dialogue, somewhat silly story) they have been a fun listen. Distant Thunders: Destroyermen however was a bit of a disappointment. The previous 3 books build up to the climax, the climax happens, and finally wrap things up while setting the scene for the next book. Distant Thunder however, is all build up, with a side show attached, and it doesn't even wrap up the side show. I am still looking forward to the next book, but I really wish this one had a good story arch in of itself like the previous three installments.

The Destroyermen story continues to unfold!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would change how the chapters are arranged. There are many breaks in the story that appear to be natural chapters ends. the author chooses to continue with the story by changing setting, for example. As a listener, I would be nice to have some of those 'natural breaks' as good pausing points.

What other book might you compare Distant Thunders to and why?

There are strong shades of the Master and Commander, Horatio Hornblower, and Honor Harrington series. It has all to do with the similarities in naval command themes.

Which scene was your favorite?

When the Walker was raised and repaired.

Could you see Distant Thunders being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes, it would make an interesting visual feature. The Lemurians would be great if played by Sacha Cohen and Cedric the Entertainer. As fas as the humans, it doesn't really matter who plays them since the visual attraction is based on the strange world.