Review: Into The Storm (Destroyermen, Book 1)

I am not, generally, a fan of revisionist histories or alternate histories. The two examples I can think of that make that an incomplete generalization are Into The Storm and The Peshawr Lancers.

I dislike the genre often because it is so typically focused on American History and often preoccupied with World War II European or Pacific Theater or with the American Civil War (some sort of counter-insurgency that most Americans are obsessed with... *grin*).

The Peshawr Lancers was different as it focused on a British Empire that had had to move its capital to the Raj. Also the main character, an English Officer, had a Sikh for a side-kick and that was quite an interesting choice.

What makes Into The Storm fascinating is the history lesson that goes with it. From the description on Amazon, where they talk about Taylor Anderson (the author):

Taylor Anderson has a Master's Degree in History and teaches that subject at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas. He is the author of a historical work entitled "The Life and Tools of the Rocky Mountain Free Trapper" and a number of short stories and articles. He also won several Inter-Collegiate Press Association awards while a student. He is a voracious consumer of literature of every description and a careful and meticulous historian.

Besides his academic accomplishments, he is a gun-maker and forensic ballistic archeologist, having collaborated with numerous museums as well as the National Parks Service and the U.S. Army. He is a technical and dialogue consultant for movies and documentaries and has even done some acting. A list of productions in which he has been involved is available, but it is safe to say he has played at least an advisory role in many of the movies made in the last 15 years that involved 19th and early 20th Century combat.

He is a member of the National Historical Honor Society and the United States Field Artillery Association - from which he was awarded the Honorable Order of St. Barbara. He owns a collection of 18th and 19th century artillery pieces and fires them with live rounds for movie sound, documentaries, competition and fun. His cannons have also appeared in many films. He knows precisely what they are capable of and that is reflected in his writing.

As a sailor, he is conversant in the capricious vagaries of the weather and the sea and as a historian, he is trained to research what he is unable to experience first-hand. Careful research was essential to writing Destroyermen because one of the main characters is, after all, USS Walker. Over 270 "four-stacker" destroyers were built during and after WW I, but none remain today. Anderson spent thousands of hours researching the class and volunteering to work on the restoration of a similar type ship.

He also wanted the "alternate Earth" he created for the story to seem as though it could realistically have evolved the way it did. That required studying the most recent theories regarding prehistoric life and scientifically extrapolating evolutionary trends based on millions of years of environmental fluctuations. The result is a novel that is far more unusual and thought provoking than the basic "alternate history/universe" premise might imply.

He was moved to write Destroyermen because he has long been inspired by the sacrifice made by the men (and women) of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet at the outbreak of WW II. Long neglected by historians, the stand they made truly ranks with Thermopylae, The Alamo, Bastogne and Wake Island. He hopes to keep alive, at least peripherally, their memory. The alternate history/fantasy angle finds an opening because some of the ships of the Asiatic Fleet really did disappear without a trace.

I learned a lot about the experience of Americans in the early war in the Pacific as they were hammered by the Japanese. I learned about battles I'd never heard of and learned a bit about the sorts of sailors the US Asiatic Fleet was made up of. I also learned a lot about the ships like the USS Walker, a DD well into late life even by the start of the war.

Now, of course, this is an alternate timeline book and the Walker's fate is considerably different than that of the historical one. But the story weaves an interesting series of what-if turns. It explores what might have happened if lands and seas were the same, but species upon them or under them were not. It has a Mcguffin to create the situation, but otherwise feels reasonable.

I have to say I'd recommend this book. The yarn is good, the characters (good, bad or indifferent) are endearing, and the ship (as a character of sorts) is vividly brought to life. I look forward to the two sequels (I guess a 4th book is on the way or out in hardcover).

If I had any criticisms, they would be twofold: the enemy of the piece is initially laid out as inexorable, terrible, and nearly mindless. Over time, things come to light which makes this assessment both too simplistic and too mild, and one of the characters (a captured Japanese) is made rather sympathetic - although possible, this feels somewhat like a cop-out, but perhaps this was done as a counterbalance to the enemy of the book who turn out to be the boogeymen everyone saw the Japanese as - powerful, merciless, ruthless, etc.

At any rate, I enjoyed the heck out of this book and can't wait for the sequels I have ordered to arrive at my local bookstore!