(See all my Book Reviews and Author Interviews) – “Straits of Hell” eBook was published in 2015 (May) and was written by Taylor Anderson (http://www.taylorandersonauthor.com). Mr. Anderson has published 10 books in his “Destroyermen” series, this being the latest. in 2018 I was able to interview Mr. Anderson.
I obtained a galley of this novel for review through https://www.netgalley.com. I would categorize this novel as ‘R’ as there are many instances of Violence and some Mature Language. This Alternate History Science Fiction novel is set in the 1940s. World War II is going on when the USS Walker, a World War I vintage destroyer, is somehow transported to a parallel universe Earth. This Earth has monstrous ocean creatures and dinosaurs. Humans have not evolved on this version of Earth, but two other species, the Griks and Lemurians who are now at war, have.
This book picks up at the end of a great victory where the Walker and her new allies have captured the Grik capital on Madagascar. They must fight attempts by the Griks to drive them off the island. Elsewhere, the displaced Americans and her allies face the Holy Dominion fleet. The crew of the Walker were not the only humans to somehow find their way to the other Earth. There are Japanese still bent on pursuing WWII in this new world. There is also the League made up of Mediterranean countries as well as Germany. They have yet to attack, but threaten the Allies with their presence.
There ware many characters followed in the story, though Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy, Captain of the USS Walker is the foremost. It was somewhat difficult to step in and start with book #10 of the series. Having read this novel, I do want to go back and read the other 9. These remind me a lot of SM Sterling’s “Nantucket” series, which I also enjoyed. This was a relatively long read, taking about 15 hours to complete. I give this novel a 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.
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John's Notes 