DISTANT THUNDERS is the fourth installment in the
Destoyermen series by Taylor Anderson. The story picks up
after the Allied defense of Baalkpan and the resulting
victory that halts the Grik advance. The good guys are
recuperating after battle and the planning for the future
campaigns to take the fight to the Grik homeland when
Princess Rebecca's people from the Empire show up to return
her home. Something, however, isn't quite right with
Empire's delegation and the Allies are cautious and
concerned with handing Rebecca over. Tension mounts and
intrigues abound as Captain Reddy must divide his attention
between several different issues and objectives: planning
for the war, cementing alliances, sending his men into
harm's way and keeping an eye on the new group of human
visitors that have entered the picture.
Simply put, this is great stuff. Anyone that has flipped
back and forth between the various channels on
cable/satellite TV devoted to documentaries about World War
II and the ones about the Science Fiction genre will enjoy
this immensely. Anderson does a spectacular job in keeping
the history, flare and can-do attitude of the aptly named
"greatest generation" integrated with an alien world full of
unknown pitfalls and dangers. The characters are well
developed and easy to identify with and care about, and the
story stays fresh and exciting all the way thru this fourth
book. The same satisfaction that many Americans get
watching documentaries about WWII is played on in the story.
Even facing overwhelming odds, a ruthless enemy and
heartbreaking set-backs, the good guys are going to find a
way to win through superior strategy, honor, ingenuity and
the willingness to sacrifice everything for the greater good.
Read it - you won't be disappointed
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 Commodore 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' 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...