Destroyermen: Blood on the Water By Taylor Anderson

Genre: Alternate History

Setting: During the World War II time frame, on a different version of Earth.

Blood on the Water is the eleventh novel in Anderson's Destroyermen series.

In this novel the author picks up the story where he left off in the previous novels.  Captain Reddy, his destroyermen, and their allies are spread across the globe.  In the East they are battling the minions of the Holy Dominion.  In the West, they fight the lizard-like Grik and the insane Japanese leader Kurokawa.

In this episode of the series, we learn more about the other human factions that inhabit this version of Earth.  Some are enemies of the Dominion.  Some are enemies of the Grik.  And some have nefarious objectives which make them the political enemies of all the sides of the war.

Anderson uses a large cast of characters to tell his story.  Keeping track of so many characters must be a challenge for the author.  To help the reader, Anderson has included a ten page longest of characters.  When the author introduces a new character, or reintroduces a character from past novels, he does an adequate job of providing the exposition needed to identify the character.  With so many characters, so much exposition could become tedious.  But the author deals with the exposition quickly and gets us back to the action.

I have really enjoyed the Destroyermen series.  The plot moves along briskly and there is lots of action.

I strongly advise readers to start at the beginning and read the novels in sequence.  It looks like it's going to be a long ride.

                                                                        

Dark Matter, Book One of the Hadron Series by Stephen Arseneault

Genre: Science Fiction

Setting: The eastern U.S. in the near future.

First Sentence: The engines lost thrust as the fuel ran dry.

Dark Matter is the first novel in the author's Hadron series which currently runs to eight books.

Dark Matter is a pretty typical beginning to a post apocalyptic series.

We have some unknown power which is disrupting the world wide power grid.

The author drops a few hints about the source of that power.

Humanity quickly devolves into chaos.  There are roaming bands looking for food and looting.

In rural New Jersey a small group of exceedingly wealthy and well prepared survivalists link up in a small local bar.

Together, they decide that a cave in West Virginia would be the perfect place to hunker down, and wait for whatever happens next.

Along the way, they pick up some friends, and battle some evils doers.

Eventually they find themselves cornered in their cave.  Will the cavalry come to the rescue before it is too late?

This book was a pleasant read.  There are plenty of un answered questions. Although it is listed as a science fiction book, there is little scifi in this book.  The author promises to ramp up the scifi in future installments.

If your looking for an enjoyable series to read, check out this one.