Firestorm

Destroyermen, Book 6

By: Taylor Anderson

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 17 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy and the crew of the USS Walker find themselves caught between the nation they swore to defend and the allies they promised to protect. For even as the Allies and the Empire of New Britain Isles stand united against the attacks of both the savage Grik and the tenacious Japanese, the "Holy Dominion" - a warped mixture of human cultures whose lust for power overshadows even the Grik - is threatening to destroy them both with a devastating weapon neither can withstand.

Battle stations! Listen to more in the Destroyermen series.

©2010 Taylor Anderson. (P)2011 Tantor

Just keeps getting better.

This series has definitely found its stride! It's a bit of Star Tek, Lost, Baa Baa Black Sheep (for the few who might remember") , and "Land of the Lost" ....in a technologically detailed and expertly narrated battle for the fate of the world.

Love the whole of this series.

Not my usual genre as I prefer military. Bought the first of these not knowing it was set on an alternate world.

Got sucked into the story half way through the first book. Have listened to all 8 now and can;t wait for the next one!

Another link in a good chain of a story

Where does Firestorm rank among all the audiobooks you???ve listened to so far?

It's entertaining. I find myself not wanting to stop listening when life invades my listening. It keeps me wanting to hear more.

Would you be willing to try another book from Taylor Anderson? Why or why not?

Yes. His stories keep my interest. It doesn't always go as I thought it would.

What about William Dufris???s performance did you like?

He's very good. You forget you are listening to a story. He really brings it alive.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It kept me wanting more. A smile or 2 might have escaped during the story.

Any additional comments?

I understand the need to recap in every book, but it gets exhausting. i would prefer that the author spent more time telling the current story and less time retelling the previous books.

Good read

The story continues. Another captivating book that captures the imagination and keeps you wanting more.

Loved Previous Books

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I don't know what happened but this book completely lost its way. Their is absolutely no plot or organized story anymore. Its just a bunch of micro stories that don't fit together. I was confused thru the whole thing.

Would you ever listen to anything by Taylor Anderson again?

Yes

Firestorm

Originally published at Fantasy Literature.

Firestorm is the sixth book in Taylor Anderson’s DESTROYERMEN series about the WWII navy warship USS Walker that was hurled into an alternate Earth during an electrical storm. (If you didn’t know that, you should probably stop here and go back to read the first book, Into the Storm, and the subsequent volumes before continuing on.)

In Firestorm, our heroes are spread out across the world trying to stop evil in its several guises. There are the Grik — the lizard-like horde that eats people — who seem like the most natural enemy. But then there are the “bad Japs” who also came through the storm and who were enemies back when everyone was on the “real” Earth. And there’s also the Dominion, a society of humans who adhere to a warped version of Christianity and who enslave women. The Destroyermen and their Lemurian allies are fighting on all these fronts with Walker and the ships and planes they have salvaged, captured, or built since arriving.

There are a few new twists in Firestorm. The Grik, with the help of the bad Japanese, are beginning to genetically engineer their soldiers so that they now fight smarter — not so much with the hive-mind mentality they had before. They’ve also created a surprise weapon which, for any sighted reader, turns out not to be a surprise because it’s clearly displayed in all its glory on the cover of the book. There are a couple of other minor twists involving new ships and personnel (along with news from the real world), but mostly the plot continues as it did in the previous book, Rising Tides.

In my previous reviews of the DESTROYERMEN series I’ve mentioned that it’s a lot like Robert Jordan’s WHEEL OF TIME — a slow-moving plot and a huge cast of characters spread out over an entire world. At this point in the series, this description seems even more appropriate and I think I can predict that readers who loved WOT all the way through will probably love DESTROYERMEN and vice versa. The plot does not advance very far in Firestorm (similar to some of those middle WOT books) and I almost feel like it could be skipped. Anything significant that happens will probably be recapped in the next installment, since that’s been Anderson’s habit from the beginning. However, if you just love spending time with Anderson’s amiable characters (and they are great characters), you’ll probably enjoy Firestorm more than I did.

I’m reading the DESTROYERMEN series in audio format. They’re produced by Tantor Audio and read by William Dufris. Dufris is usually a great narrator, and he is here, too, but his voices for the Lemurians can get annoying, especially in this book, since they do a lot of the talking. I wonder: if Dufris had realized that the Lemurians would be talking so much in future installments, would he have given them those voices in the beginning? Probably not.

Average, and the fight continues

A continuation of the "Destroyermen" series. Some characters in the plethora of characters, developed more fully as the story moved on--slowly. At one point three battles raged simultaneously and it was difficult to track progress in all of them or to understand the strategic import as the gore continued. No plot limes concluded and the author might as well have cut out some text and combined a few books. Nevertheless, I read/listened to all of it.

Too complex...

I really enjoyed earlier books in the series, but this one moves too slowly, has too many characters, too many ships, too many locations. I find it difficult to follow, way too much dialogue and not enough character interaction or development. Much of the story revolves around discussing tactics. The actual action sequences, as usual, are engaging and enjoyable, but there is not enough action and too much blather. I don't like this one as well as the previous books. Pity.

Tired

Tired story line, why did I listen I keep asking myself. I guess the first 3 in the series kept me in up to this point but never again.