A great fictional book that weaves Biblical interpretation of end times events into a story making it engaging and easy to understand.

Everything that I reviewed as negative in "Maelstrom" (book 3) was corrected in this book (book 4)

Yes there is the occasional flashback there sort of has to be such as there are a lot of characters to remembers but instead of pages of rehash there are only a concise one or two lines to jog your memory.

The story goes in several directions at once:

- the search to find the submarine again and attempts at salvage
- The issues between the Alliance and the British East English over Rebecca
- The development of new weapons as well as finding of a Military treasure trove.
- The conversion of Jenkins the British East English commodore to the side of the Alliance.
- a Grik battle in Singapore
- the treachery Billingsly/Truelove - the British East English secret service in taking hostage Sister Aubry, Lieutenant Karen, Rebecca, Lawrence (Rebecca's lizard friend and quite a fighter), Dennis Silva and others and fleeing back to their homeland.
- the rising of the WALKER and pursuit.
- and much more

All stories interact with each other very well. Not all issues are resolved completely making reading of the next in the series a high priority for me..... an excellent 5 star read ( )

I enjoyed this, with the following caveats;

1) So much techno-babble made my eyes glaze over
2) it is OLD technobabble-made my eyes glaze over even more
3) introducing the split in the british" empire, the existence of the Dominion, the existence of lots of non-grik Grik and the continued expanding threat of the Grik, it was all too much for one book.
4) step by step repairs-BORING.

But other than that, good stuff :)" ( )

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. ( )

3.5 stars. Originally reviewed at FanLit: http://www.fantasyliterature.com

The 100 remaining American destroyermen have now been in their strange new world for 16 months. Theyƒ??ve just had a major victory against the evil Grik, but they know their respite will be short, for the Grik seem to have an unending supply of soldiers.

Thereƒ??s a lot to get done before they face their enemies again, so the destroyermen are spread out thin. Theyƒ??re building ships, planes, weapons (but not gas weapons), and a dry dock. Theyƒ??re refining fuel and recycling metal scrap. Theyƒ??re training their Lemurian allies to do all these jobs and to be sailors, pilots, and infantry men. The Americans have started an industrial revolution ƒ?? the old ways of specialized craft guilds and apprenticeships are giving way to cold precise machinery. Captain Matthew Reddy feels guilty about the cultural changes theyƒ??ve caused, but he knows itƒ??s the only way to win the war against the evil Grik.

He also hopes to gain some new allies when he returns Princess Rebecca to her people, but first he needs to convince them that the Grik are their enemies, too. Yet heƒ??s not sure how Rebecca and the Americans will be received because thereƒ??s some sort of political intrigue, and maybe some treachery, going on.

If youƒ??ve enjoyed Taylor Andersonƒ??s DESTROYERMEN series so far, youƒ??ll most likely be pleased with Distant Thunders. Thereƒ??s still a lot of repetition of facts and jokes (i.e., Juanƒ??s coffee, Vienna sausages, the Coke machine, Bradfordƒ??s reckless enthusiasm) with few fresh ones to replace them, but perhaps these serve to remind us of more carefree times. The villains continue to be over-the-top and itƒ??s hard to take them seriously when they patiently wait their turn to recite their evil monologues, but the story progresses sufficiently and there are some humorous and some dreadful scenes, and one or two which are both humorous and dreadful at the same time ƒ?? something Taylor Anderson does really well. There are also some thoughtful discussions, such as Courtney Bradfordƒ??s explanation of how the theory of evolution is not, contrary to popular opinion, antithetical to a creator God. He also has some ideas about how the strange storm that brought the destroyermen to their new world may have worked. I look forward to learning more about this in a future installment.

Taylor Anderson leaves us with a couple of cliffhangers and gives us plenty of reason to read the next volume, Rising Tides. Iƒ??m enjoying the audio versions narrated by William Dufris, so Iƒ??ll be looking for Rising Tides on sale at Audible or Tantor.com. I donƒ??t feel like I have to read it immediately, but this series is interesting enough to be on my TBR list. ( )