Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson
Series: Destroyermen #1
Published by ROC on 3 June 2008
Genres: Type II - Hard/Soft
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Series Rating:

Premise – Point of Divergence (POD)

The dinosaurs aren't wiped out and the Earth continues to develop in new, and particularly vicious ways. The evolution of 'Mountain Fish' which prohibit travel in the deep oceans, and the 'Flasher Fish' that seem to resemble particularly nasty piranhas which occupy many of the shallow seas have resulted in significantly differing evolutionary developments on land. As the series develops it becomes clear that this world is a focus for other alternate realities, and not simply our own.

The Story

Pressed into service when World War II breaks out in the Pacific, the US Walker—a Great War-era destroyer—finds itself retreating from pursuing Japanese battleships. Its captain, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Patrick Reddy, desperately leads the Walker into a squall, hoping it will give them cover—only to emerge into an alternate world. A world where two species have evolved: the cat-like Lemurians and the reptilian Griks, and they are at war.

Series Review

While sometimes patchy the quality of each individual book never falls below 4 stars. Unfortunately I have become less inclined to pursue the series as Taylor progressively layers villain onto villain in a never ending series, and in Deadly Shores in fact stopped reading for a number of months.

Taylor writes particularly strong battle scenes, and he is not adverse to killing off significant characters to maintain interest/realism to what has developed over the series into a truly world war.

Specific Comments About This Specific Book

A strong beginning which certainly grabs your attention and won’t let it go.