Rising Tides (Destroyermen)

Mr Anderson continues the saga and it is a book you can not put down, I waited months for it to be released and the thing most discouraging was I finished it in 2 days. Can not wait for the follow up to it.

This is a continuation of the saga of a WWII destroyer shifted to an alternate universe and a decent military science fiction read. It complicates the story by introducing new players and solidifies the existing story line with more detail. All of that is good and this is a very good escapist reading for those of us who like military science fiction. The only jarring note is in the epilogue where some modern right-wing revisionist history is mouthed by one of the characters. No one in the 1940s would have called Nazi Germany a "socialist" country -- nor would any rational current historian. Other than that introduction of modern propaganda this is a good read. Looking forward to the next volume, but with worries that the economy of the Lemurians could be crucified on a cross of gold.

Originally posted at FanLit.

If you've been enjoying Taylor Anderson's DESTROYERMEN series, there's no reason to stop now. Rising Tides is another quality installment in which we do a lot of sailing, have some fun and laughs, and barely survive some frightening events -- exactly what we were expecting.

Captain Reddy and his original crew of Destroyermen, of which less than 100 survive, are different men than those who entered the storm so many months ago. They've been tried and tested in many ways, and it's brought out the best in most of them, though some make deadly mistakes due to inexperience. Right now the Destroyermen are rather spread out across the unpredictable south Pacific ocean. One group is trying to free an old submarine from a volcanic island. Another is trying to recover a sunken cache of planes and ammunition from a different island. Captain Reddy himself is pursuing the traitors of New Britain who kidnapped some of Reddy's crew who, though he doesn't know it, are now stranded on a deserted (and very dangerous) island. It's obvious that the Americans will have to get involved in the messy politics of the New British... but at least they might meet some women.

Though the DESTROYERMEN epic has a completely different setting and cast, its structure is very similar to Robert Jordan's WHEEL OF TIME. There's a large ever-expanding cast of characters who begin to split off and have their own storylines, though each separate adventure has been coordinated by Reddy to further the allies' goals. With each book, Anderson spends time reminding us about each character -- where they are, what they're doing, and all their particular personality quirks. This gets repetitive and, like Jordan, Anderson uses some of the same phrases or in-jokes to re-introduce his characters in every book.

The repetition also slows down the plot but, generally, Anderson's story moves faster than Jordan's does. By the end of each book there are few major developments, but the plot has definitely advanced (not always the case with WOT) and we've always enjoyed spending time with some likeable characters. A few new characters are introduced in Rising Tides, including a cute talking bird whose vocabulary, because he's hanging out with Dennis Silva, consists mostly of curse words.

Though the structure of DESTROYERMEN is very similar to WOT, the story is not -- it's unique for a fantasy novel. I'm enjoying the industrial revolution that the Americans have brought to their new world and I'm learning a bit about some interesting topics such as fuel efficiency, developing bombs and mortars, radio transmission, the dangers of target fixation, and how to raise sunken ships. The Americans still solve problems a little too easily (I think Anderson wants to give us a scare but not stress us out too much) and they're still a bit too righteous while the bad guys are over the top, but I'm willing to forgive this because DESTROYERMEN, overall, is genuinely entertaining. And I'm pleased with Tantor Audio's version which is read by William Dufris.

Things seem pretty straightforward at first, when USS Walker, an aging naval destroyer, gets caught up in a freakish storm at the beginning of Taylor Anderson's "Destroyermen" series. Skippered by Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy, the ship and its crew are fleeing from relentless pursuit by the Japanese shortly after the attacks at Pearl Harbor. Suddenly, the bewildered men find themselves in an utterly changed world.

Sure, the physical geography looks familiar. The ship is still in the area around what we today know as Indonesia. But the seas are teeming with plesiosaurs and other voracious creatures which should have been extinct millions of years ago, and the islands are infested with equally nasty creatures resembling velociraptors.

By the end of the first book, "Into the Storm", these stranded men -- and woefully few women -- have allied themselves with another intelligent, seafaring species, the Lemurians. Although technically primates, they quickly gain the nickname 'Cats due to their obvious feline characteristics. They are, for the most part, very peaceable -- and yet, their species faces annihilation at the claws of an ancient enemy -- the Grik.

A central plot element of the "Destroyermen", the Grik are berserk, velociraptor-like warriors who attack in swarms and eat their enemies. To them, the world is divided into "hunter" and "prey". So initially, the books have a basic "mammals good, lizards bad" type of ethos. Pretty cut and dry. If it has a tail, a long snout and razor-sharp teeth, and it's armed, shoot first and ask questions later.

But a funny thing happens as the series progresses. It turns out that a mighty Japanese battlecruiser called Amagi has also gotten caught up in the freak storm, and they end up on the side of the Grik. But, although the Japanese commander is insane, not all of the Japanese are necessarily evil. Some are just caught in a situation they can't escape without ending up on the dinner table.

Next, a member of another race of Grik-like beings known as the Tagranesi turns up on an island populated by human castaways. But Lawrence, as he's been named, is peaceable and, amazingly, can even speak English -- though proper pronunciation is hampered by his lack of lips. He is the protector of a real-life princess named Rebecca Anne McDonald from the island nation of New Britain. Yes, other humans have been swept into this bizarre parallel universe over the centuries.

So now we have "good" humans and "bad" humans, plus "good" lizards and "bad" lizards.

But soon the situation gets more complex still, as the New British turn up. Naturally, they're looking for the princess. There are two major factions -- the supporters of the Governor-Emperor, and members of the HNBC (the Honorable New British Company). Even as the protagonists are preoccupied with the ongoing war against the Grik, the HNBC agents kidnap the princess plus a few other important characters -- most notably Sandra Tucker, Matthew Reddy's love interest and de facto fiancee.

Thus, at the start of book five of the "Destroyermen" series, called "Rising Tides", Captain Reddy is now in hot pursuit of the kidnappers. With him is Commodore Jenks, a New British loyalist who has become a trusted friend and ally of the Americans. Somehow, Reddy has to rescue his friends and destroy the HNBC, hopefully without starting a war with the New British Empire itself. He doesn't need the distraction -- not when he'd rather be fighting the Grik.

However, as we'll learn in the new book, there is yet another human empire to the east, and they are inimical to everything the Americans and the New British believe in ....

I enjoyed this book as much as the others in the series. The plot is divided into a number of different parallel storylines. Besides Captain Reddy's expedition, there is the ongoing campaign against the Grik in the west. There is the continuing saga of the kidnapping victims, as they fight for survival. There is an expedition to exploit an exciting and vitally important find on the island of Jaava. And finally, there is the attempt to salvage submarine S-19 from the beach of a volcanic island which increasingly -- and disturbingly -- reminds people of Krakatoa, the volcano which exploded devastatingly in 1883 in our own universe, but not the other.

The various human and Lemurian characters continue to grow, needing to take on new roles as emergencies demand from them all the resourcefulness they can muster. They have to face moral questions as well. Should Captain Ready and the USS Walker attack the HNBC with all guns blazing? Is it acceptable to eliminate a deadly enemy, even under the flag of truce? A parallel question arises one chapter later: Is it wise to show mercy to the pitiful remnants of a vanquished foe? The New British have some customs which Americans and Lemurians both find extremely distasteful. Can they overlook this and make common cause, hoping that the New British will learn from example and end these customs?

And then there is a practical question: When is it prudent to simply give up the mission before more people get killed?

This is a pretty serious novel, with some serious battle sequences, but there is some levity as well. One of my favorite scenes involves an odd "parrot-lizard" creature which learns to talk -- unfortunately, its first words came from the quintessential drunken sailor, Dennis Silva. This critter will never say "Polly wanna cracker."

And then there's the kudzu. It looks so innocent ....

All I can say is, Taylor Anderson has a wonderful imagination when it comes to the various weird and wonderful life forms in this new world.

My only complaint about this series? Just that I'll probably have to wait another year to see what happens to our friends next. I'm seriously looking forward to it.

WWII USS Walker Navy destroyer Captain Matt Reddy leads his crew to Hawaii. They and his new friend New British Imperial Navy Commander Jenks face a difficult task of rescuing two women from a traitor. For Reddy and Jenks the abductions are personal as Nurse Tucker and Princess Rebecca are the victims. However, their effort to obtain help from the Honorable New Britain Company fails. The pair realizes the New Britain Company is dishonorable and must be destroyed before a velvet coup d'etat occurs. Reddy also must forge the Grand Alliance with the New British Empire; though he loathes the latter's slavery policy as an inhuman abomination.

The pact with the Empire angers the displaced Holy Dominion colonial Spaniards. Worshippers of a blood sacrificial form of Catholicism, they vow to slaughter Matt and his crew. Meanwhile Reddy's junior officers are delegated to having responsibilities that lead to unfortunate and in some cases avoidable deaths. The leaders learn under this under the baptism of fire, but face the moral aftermaths of sending people to die.

As the war remains heated in this parallel Destroyermen universe, the officers of the USS Walker obtain a taste of decision making in combat when they know they will send young people to their deaths. Adding to that gut wrenching horror is inexperience leads to errors compounding the deadly count. Eisenhower understood this when he ordered D-Day knowing thousands of young men would never go home and as president carefully used the military something his successors never learned. Besides the anguish of sending people to die even for a worthy cause, Taylor Anderson provides an incredible battle at sea that will have readers in awe rereading it and ponder nature's involvement in the war with the destruction of Talaud Island.

Harriet Klausner

There is something in this book to satisfy a variety of tastes in SF: military, parallel universe, "modern" techs' affect on more primitive society and more. War is not a glorious, romantic adventure, but it does bring out the absolute best, and worst, traits in human behavior like no other activity invented by mankind. As the "Destroyermen" series has progressed, Taylor Anderson has become ever more adept at showcasing these different faces of armed conflict via continually evolving, multi-dimensional characters. The majority of the beings in these books are sentient non-humans and he does a decent job of getting inside some of their heads in a believable way (I doubt its even possible for any relatively sane human to imagine and describe totally alien thought patterns), even introducing a surprising new race to the mix in this book.

The technical details and operational descriptions of service aboard a destroyer bring an added layer of authenticity to all the books of this series, and there is no let up in "Rising Tides". My own service was in the Naval Aviation community in the Vietnam War; my squadron twice deployed aboard U.S.S. Enterprise and plied some of the same waters as Matt Reddy's U.S.S. Walker, but life aboard a nuclear carrier is very different from life aboard even a modern destroyer let alone a WWI vintage four stacker. Immersed in this book I feel the vibrations, smell the mix of odors and hear the sounds whether in the ship's day-to-day routine or the heat of combat.

There are fewer "flashback" references to events in earlier books of the series which suits me. The Kindle edition does have some "typos" but so do many hard and soft cover books. I've enjoyed every book in the series but I think this is my favorite.

Rising Tides: Destroyermen, Book 5 by Taylor Anderson is a solid book. But it feels like you are treading water, because overall the story is taking its sweet time in developing. I still have high hopes and at this point I am quite invested in the characters in series and am curious how things will progress.

This really felt like a development book, setting up the next couple of books for some bang up, drag out fights. Not to say that the book is totally devoid of action, but the biggest danger in this book really came from nature (rouge waves, volcano's) and not from the Grik or to a lesser degree the New Dominion.

The fun (but sometimes dragging part) of this story is that there are number of diverse story lines all running concurrently. CPT Reddy and the Walker visiting New Britain, Sandra and the Princess still shipwrecked, the recovery of the ship full of P-40E's, the attempts to recover S-19, and the ongoing campaign against the Grik. Add in the nature of slow travel and sheer size of the Pacific and things are going to slow down.

That said, I will buying the next novel shortly. Great writing style and even when it is slow it is still a great read with engaging characters and societies.

The latest installment in the series finally shows us some detailing of the series implacable foe, the Grik. Glad to see this finally taking place as they were becoming far, far to one dimensional antagonists in the tale.

Also interesting to see the other humans on the planet get their detailing. The presence of descendants of the Spaniards also raises some very intriguing possibilities. That's another bunch who need their own fleshing out as their presentation is clearly wanting for it.

I like the topsy turvy aspect of having the Brits being the ones running Hawaii and the Walker's crew having to accept a piece of their "home" being anything but. And it was good to see the Walker finally get the yard time she clearly was in desperate need of.

The different plot lines were held together well enough and it was intriguing to see how each one would be resolved. As expected though, resolution really isn't in the cards here. The risk with that however, is that in stretching the tale across so many books that the telling of it becomes boring.

Anderson hasn't reached that point but it'd be more appreciated if he manages to wrap up this series with the next installment of it.

Oh, and since this is now an established series perhaps the next book in it can afford cover art that actually matches what's in the book!

All that being said, it is a tale well told and definitely worth the read!

I think the story is an interesting concept quite detailed
I’m not a person really interested in the fighting but it is makes it very clear and visual
If you check on Google there are images of the Grik and the Lemurians
Enjoy

RISING TIDES is book five in the very very well done Destroyermen series by Taylor Anderson This set is going to be classic "time warp adveture" reading forever. Just so well done. Book five finds the World War 1 ship the USS Walker still stuck in a time warp going backward in time from fighting the Japaneses in World War 2. Capt Matthew Reddy of the Walker and Supreme Commander of the allied force against the Grik, sails to New Britain, the Hawaiian Islands, for several reason, revenge, alliance, love. This book and series is complicated and so well done. Put this series on your must read list. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Once again Anderson Taylor produces a superb read! I have seen some critics claim that the book feels like he's laying out the plot for the next stage - not so! In "Distant Thunders" Taylor introduced some new elements that were fundamental to the overall arc in this alternate Earth that he has created. In this book he starts to tie these elements together in what is, of necessity, a number of episodes taking place parallel to each other. In so doing he produces a tale of real adventure. His "meerkat" heroes and reptilian villains no longer appear strange, even slightly comical... and new evils have been introduced that are just as nightmarish as the Grik once appeared to be!

I am enjoying this series greatly, and am "binge-reading" it, as it were, having come to the series only this year. As another reviewer stated, this installment had little in the way of a prologue. I think it doesn't stand alone very well, but as 5th in a long series it shouldn't have to.
So far, throughout my reading of the destroyermen books, aside from a couple of strong opinions about Douglas MacArthur, with which I generally agree, Anderson had kept away from editorializing about contemporary history until he got to page 426 of Rising Tides, where Alan Letts is revealed to have "devoutly despised the socialist systems in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union... and didn't see much distinction between the two." He also "blamed the socialist-leaning American 'progressives' for his own country's utter unpreparedness far war."
Nazi Germany was not a socialist economy. It was decidedly capitalist. They had a national pension system and the beginnings of a Romneycare-like health system, but were definitely not socialists, except in the name of their party. Also, Franklin D Roosevelt and America's progressives were frantically trying everything they could to get America ready for World War II. It was isolationist Republicans, capitalists and conservatives who delayed and hindered readiness and, in the person of Charles Lindbergh, even courted Nazi Germany.
According to the dustjacket notes, Anderson is accomplished in history. He knows this. Maybe he lives too deep in the heart of Texas and should get out to where more historians can be found.

Another great book in the Destroyerman Series. Rising Tides shows a lot of things that were just hinted at in the earlier books. Lots of details on the British Empire and some glimpses of the Holy Dominion. The two human empires in the alternate universe. It is best to fully appreciate book 4 is to read the previous 3 books. Capt Reddy saves the day again. The Grik are finally learning and going to be more dangerous. We finally get to see Hawaii (home of the British Empire). We learn how evil the Dominion is and what their plans are. The Alliance got a new ally and enemy. I can't wait till the next book. Anderson did a great job.

Tried to read another book in this series but the author kept introducing new characters and plots to the point I couldn't remember who was who. Just gave up. That is rare for me. I almost have to finish a book I've started but this book with the start of another plot with more characters just annoyed me and finally lost my interest. Couldn't relate to any of the characters except a couple in the princessess's party.

Anderson's saga just gets better and better. His imaginative world expands to include: a Krakatoa inspired natural disaster, interesting new allies based in New Britain, aka the Hawaiian Islands and a Hispanic conquistador clone with ugly Inquisition overtones as a new enemy. I see many great books in our future. Please write faster and consider a Flintlike 1632 writing team to support and expand the effort.

Tried to read another book in this series but the author kept introducing new characters and plots to the point I couldn't remember who was who. Just gave up. That is rare for me. I almost have to finish a book I've started but this book with the start of another plot with more characters just annoyed me and finally lost my interest. Couldn't relate to any of the characters except a couple in the princessess's party.

Anderson's saga just gets better and better. His imaginative world expands to include: a Krakatoa inspired natural disaster, interesting new allies based in New Britain, aka the Hawaiian Islands and a Hispanic conquistador clone with ugly Inquisition overtones as a new enemy. I see many great books in our future. Please write faster and consider a Flintlike 1632 writing team to support and expand the effort.

This episode was a great continuation, and although there wasn't as much fighting as some of the earlier entries, there's a ton of escapes and adventure. It was really hard to put down and probably my second favorite entry after the book with the Battle of Baalkpan.

Taylor Anderson has joined the ranks of Harry Turtledove and John Ringo as a master of alternative history fiction. His latest book wraps up neatly the threads spun in his last book, and now his fans are left dealing with the implications. Others have detailed the plot, and I see no need to go into it, but suffice it to say that any history buff, military buff, and World War 2 buff can and should read and enjoy these books! Like many of his fans, I will now wait in breathless expectation for the next book in the saga. Well done, Mr. Taylor, Well done!

5th in series. Not much I can add. Book 4 left some unresolved plots that Book 5 ties up. New alliances, new enemies and hopefully some new toys. William Dufris' narration is perfect!!! OK where's # 6?

If you haven't read Taylor Anderson yet I highly recommend his work. He creates the most realistic characters and literally paints a perfectly rendered picture of every situation. He's a wordsmith. You'll feel like you're right there in the story.

Unlike some other novel series, Anderson seems to get it right. He put tons of great new story development into this new novel, even though more are sure to come.

Now I somehow have to muddle through another year without a new novel.

The fifth book in the series is well-written (Taylor Anderson' craft is continuing to grow) but the premise is getting creaky. Comparisons to Turtledove are apt, because it's possible to drag a story-line out too long, and that's what's happening in "Rising Tides." The tale is getting crowded with new characters and crises, and it's starting to feel repetitive. I think it's time for the crew of the U.S.S Walker to sail back through The Storm, dock at San Diego and get a much-deserved rest. I look forward to new works from Anderson, but I feel like it's time to move on.

If you have read the WIllaim Forstchen Lost Regiment series you will see that this story line is very close to Taylor Anderson's Destroyermen series. Savage enemies set in an alternative universe. Forstchen did it quite a few years ago and did it better.

c'mon-12.99 for a kindle price and paperbacks for 7.99. This is gettin stupid. I love the books and my kindle but why should I pay more for my kindle e-book then a paperback? Price should at least be as low as the paperback.