Light Sci-fi with the expected characters. Writing isn't the best but still enjoyable. I'd give it a half star if I could. ( )

It's a good fun quick read. It seemed to stumble in a few places, the pacing was a little off, and I found myself skimming through a few times. For the most part the characters have more dimensions than I anticipated - except for the few female characters. They fell a little flat. But the working comraderie of the fighting crew was played out well.

That was the books strength. It's weakness was in a plot that never seemed to rise above sci fi cliches held together with chicken wire and chewing gum. (spoilers) battleships and freak storms that transport them into a parallel universe. Friendly cat-monkey (or monkey cat?) people and evil Lizard people. The kick ass Americans train the otherwise peaceful monkey people into fierce warriors to stand against the pure evilnof the Lizard people. There are, of course, rousing speeches given by the US captain that propelled them into unheard of feats of monkey-cat bravery.

That's not an all bad thing. If you want a delicious sandwich, you open up your fridge and squish everything that makes your mouth water between 2 pieces of bread. But the book never really rises above. ... and I'm being told that's not really the best way to make a sandwich - i was just guessing to be honest.

If I can find the next one used, i'll pick it up as a "vacation book". It was enjoyable enough for that. And if you're looking for some light naval/sci fi reading, this is the way to go.

But if you really want a taste of what that military snap crossed with sci fi can do, I would humbly recommend the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson. Starting with 'Gardens of the Moon'. It's like 'Into the Storm' only better. Having finished this book I have the nearly overwhelmed urge to reread that series. ( )

The story and the characters:

As promising as the story sounded and as well as it has been executed by Taylor Anderson, his characters didn't nearly keep up with this level. From an objective viewpoint, the story was riveting and suspenseful, introducing a lot of interesting twists and several exciting battle confrontations. Taylor Anderson spent a lot of time on the world building in this alternate Earth, as Captain Reddy (the main protagonist) and his crew entered 'another world, another war' through a squall after a naval battle with a Japanese destroyer. Two unknown creatures were established in the course of the story, the first being the Lemurians, nicknamed 'cat-monkeys' by some members of the crew and represented with a complex social background, the second being the Grik, reptil-like predators who remained mainly unknown to the protagonists and the readers due to their illustration as relentlessly and unscrupulously acting villains. Apart from this entire new world Taylor Anderson made the reader comfortable with, he didn't invest a lot of writing time into characterising his protagonists. Captain Matthew Reddy was simply the captain, confronted with life-changing choices and difficult situations, but still only the captain. A lot of minor characters, e.g. Sandra Tucker, Dennis Silva, Mr. Bradford or Jim Ellis, were one-dimensional and fairly uninteresting characters with no background and no character traits they could be reminded for. Two viewpoints were introduced in order to give further insight into the Lemurian society, which were some of the most interesting parts of the story.

The cover:

The cover is gorgeous! A lot of different colours, yet dark and gloomy. If not for the story and the characters, it is already worthwhile to just look at it.

My reading experience:

This was hard to read, as it took me nearly one month to get through this book. The font size in the edition I own is diminutive, and the scenes were described in such a detailed way it sometimes became hard to continue reading because boredom was easily arised. As the story continued, it became apparent that Taylor Anderson is a master of writing battle scenes and making the atmosphere dominating in the military feel realistic. Finally, two major plot twists smoothed the way for the second installment in the series, [b:Crusade|3698340|Crusade (Destroyermen, #2)|Taylor Anderson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1441388738s/3698340.jpg|3741852]. One thing I might want to add: Taylor Anderson should write military science fiction, not romance. Romance was present in this story as well, if only for a minor part, but it remained one of the most predictable things about this book and felt rushed at the end, although the tension between those two characters was clearly visible from the very beginning. I chose to rate the book with four stars because of its plot and its intriguing worldbuilding, although it is more like 3.5 stars.

I don't know yet whether or not I'll read "Crusade". This opening for the series Destroyermen was interesting and investing, but I usually want to read a book because I'm curious about the fates of its characters, which I am not the least after this book. Maybe I will read it one day, but at the moment I will allow the book to rest on my shelves without another companion from Taylor Anderson. ( )

The author takes a real historical event, the Battle of the Java Sea, in WWIi and adds to it 2 old, WWI-era destroyers, the Walker and the Mahan, without altering the actual battle action. Severely damaged, both ships flee into a powerful squall and end up on another Earth! The geography is almost identical to 'our' Earth, but instead of humans, there are intelligent bipedal dinosaurs/lizards and human-sized intelligent lemurs. Both have technology roughly of the 1200's level, but without gunpowder.

The lemurians are friendly but the lizard people are berserk hostile carnivores. The ship's captain, Matthew Reddy and his crew of now castaways must try to stay alive, keep the Walker afloat and find a way home! ( )

accidental travel from our world to a similar but different earth full of enemies and danger - WW2 Americans save the local natives in familiar imperial fashion but still entertains - I admit guiltily to reading on in the series ( )