Anderson – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

April 17, 2022

The Butcher of Anderson Station (Review)

nother quick review out of the Memory’s Legion collection of Expanse tales. This one concerns Fred Johnson, Soldier for Earth who ended up as levelheaded spokesman for the Belt, running Tycho Station and repurposing the Mormon’s generation ship out from under them (and, good for that since it turns out they would have been literally wasting the time of generations). So there is a side story about Johnson, how he was involved in a massacre on a belter station. As I remember, the show has the belters attempting to surrender and Fred ordering them in. Well, it wasn’t quite like […]

June 4, 2023

Destroyermen 1: Into the Storm (Review)

his book should count for two reviews. I checked it out of the local library for a recent road trip. Listened to it while the miles zipped past, smiling. Decided at the end that I liked it well enough to look into the series. Fifteen books. And Norfolk’s local bookstores could come up with ten of them. Bought those and ordered the rest. just re-read the first one. So, the Destroyermen series starts with Into the Storm in the opening days of the Pacific War in World War 2, with the Japanese Navy devouring anything in its path. The USS […]

June 18, 2023

Destroyermen 2: Crusade (Review)

ell, things ended well in the first book for Lieutenant Commander Matt Reddy. Aboard the four-stacker destroyer Walker, he and his crew found themselves in an alternative timeline in the Western Pacific. Here, apparently the asteroid had not wiped out the dinosaurs, velociraptors had evolved, as had the man-sized lemurs from Madagascar. So Reddy has allied with the fuzzes to fight the scalies. And given that he has a couple of 4″ guns with modern munitions, those lizard sailing ships don’t stand a chance. However, in attempting to break a siege in what is modern day Surabaya, Java, he discovers […]

July 16, 2023

Destroyermen 3: Maelstrom (Review)

he third book in The Destroyermen series did not disappoint. Whereas the first two books of the string only had the Americans (and one Japanese guy) in USS Walker, the Mahan, the Amagi (with the rest of the Japanese guys), the Lemurs and the nasty, toothy Grik, now we’ve added a couple of more power factions to this world. Since the Great Swarm didn’t work out so well for the Grik last book, they might as well try it again, this time fully backed by the big old Amagi, helmed by its frothing Japanese captain (who was perfectly fine with […]

September 10, 2023

Destroyermen 4 : Distant Thunders (Review)

hese aren’t really spoilers, what I’m about to say. Sure, if you are midway through book 3 (Maelstrom), it may spoil the final battle. But as I will review here, this should help you become more interested in this wonderful storyline. So USS Walker’s big battle in Baalkpan Bay does come at a cost. After all that murderous shot and shell, the proud WW2 destroyer (who has come to this strange world through a dimensional rift) wins the day, limps back to the repair dock yet settles on the bottom just short of the pier. Add to the fact that […]

October 8, 2023

Destroyermen 5 : Rising Tides (Review)

o now I’m into the fifth of the Destroyermen series – only about ten more to go. And it’s been a long haul. As I mentioned elsewhere, Taylor Anderson’s unique series involves a four-stacker destroyer, plucked from early World War Two and placed in a world where humans occasionally fall into (where maybe the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs didn’t). Everyone thinks Final Countdown when they hear me speak of it. Anyway, the book continues to expand. It’s funny, but looking back to the first book, we only had a puny little map of the sea around Java. As Captain […]

November 26, 2023

Destroyermen 6: Firestorm (Review)

o the war in our strange new world that a WW2 destroyer finds itself in continues to heat up. In the west, a blockade in Southern India goes horrible wrong when the Grik blow up their transports, disabling two of the good guys’ ships and driving them ashore. In the east, in Hawaii (or rather, the New Britain Isles) finds Captain Reddy and his command fighting the traitorous “Company” and it’s twisted Dominion priests in New Ireland. Add to the fact that you’ve got a massive fleet of transport moving towards San Fransisco (a New Britain colony), well, all the […]

February 4, 2024

Destroyermen 7: Iron Gray Sea (Review)

he seventh book in the Destroyermen series finds (finally) that the author has given us a break and actually included a list of characters in the front (eleven pages – that’s how big this war has become). So in the west, the first fleet in this “prehistoric” world battles to take India from the monstrous Grik, only to overextend and be encircled. An airlift keeps them supplied, but how long can they hold out? Meanwhile, in the east, the English based out of the Hawaiian islands continue the war with the Doms (Spanish time-castaways who have infested South America with […]

February 19, 2024

Destroyermen 8: Storm Surge (Review)

eesh. So here we are on book eight of this series. The world (and cast of characters) keeps expanding with the realization of the existence of a new race (South Africa), mounted riders led by (of all things) a Czech (in Northern India) and a crazy change to our world over in the Dominion area (over in South America). So we resolve India and the double stalemate there (and nobody seems happy about it), our wonder weapons – those P-40s – finally get deployed (that was fun). And the crazy Silva gets to break more things (as he is prone […]