The story and the characters: 
 As promising as the story sounded and as well as it has been executed by Taylor Anderson, his characters didn't nearly keep up with this level. From an objective viewpoint, the story was riveting and suspenseful, introducing a lot of interesting twists and several exciting battle confrontations. Taylor Anderson spent a lot of time on the world building in this alternate Earth, as Captain Reddy (the main protagonist) and his crew entered 'another world, another war' through a squall after a naval battle with a Japanese destroyer. Two unknown creatures were established in the course of the story, the first being the Lemurians, nicknamed 'cat-monkeys' by some members of the crew and represented with a complex social background, the second being the Grik, reptil-like predators who remained mainly unknown to the protagonists and the readers due to their illustration as relentlessly and unscrupulously acting villains. Apart from this entire new world Taylor Anderson made the reader comfortable with, he didn't invest a lot of writing time into characterising his protagonists. Captain Matthew Reddy was simply the captain, confronted with life-changing choices and difficult situations, but still only the captain. A lot of minor characters, e.g. Sandra Tucker, Dennis Silva, Mr. Bradford or Jim Ellis, were one-dimensional and fairly uninteresting characters with no background and no character traits they could be reminded for. Two viewpoints were introduced in order to give further insight into the Lemurian society, which were some of the most interesting parts of the story. 
 The cover: 
 The cover is gorgeous! A lot of different colours, yet dark and gloomy. If not for the story and the characters, it is already worthwhile to just look at it. 
 My reading experience: 
 This was hard to read, as it took me nearly one month to get through this book. The font size in the edition I own is diminutive, and the scenes were described in such a detailed way it sometimes became hard to continue reading because boredom was easily arised. As the story continued, it became apparent that Taylor Anderson is a master of writing battle scenes and making the atmosphere dominating in the military feel realistic. Finally, two major plot twists smoothed the way for the second installment in the series, Crusade. One thing I might want to add: Taylor Anderson should write military science fiction, not romance. Romance was present in this story as well, if only for a minor part, but it remained one of the most predictable things about this book and felt rushed at the end, although the tension between those two characters was clearly visible from the very beginning. I chose to rate the book with four stars because of its plot and its intriguing worldbuilding, although it is more like 3.5 stars. 
 I don't know yet whether or not I'll read "Crusade". This opening for the series Destroyermen was interesting and investing, but I usually want to read a book because I'm curious about the fates of its characters, which I am not the least after this book. Maybe I will read it one day, but at the moment I will allow the book to rest on my shelves without another companion from Taylor Anderson.