Maelstrom

Ahhhh. The final chapter in this excellent trilogy is out. Taylor Anderson's MAELSTROM is a fine conclusion to his Destroyermen series. Our heroes from USS WALKER and USS MAHAN are still trapped in an alternate earth but they are making plans to survive. Anderson allows characters to evolve and keeps the writing tight. The result is a great read.

Yes, he does leave some bits hanging, but they are not relevant to conclude for the story. And there could be a follow-on series but I hope not (or at least not right away), because this ended on just the right note of hope with a smidgen of foreboding. This is a clear ending and the story can move on in our own minds - just as it has with many other open-ended series (Scalzi's Old Man's War, John Birmingham's World War 2.0, and Paul Westerfeld's Midnighters are great examples) . Or to quote a cliched phrase, "Always leave them wanting more."

I can see the many ways I would pilot this series to a conclusion, but I was wrong in a few of my guesses based on previous foreshadowing. Anderson does not telegraph all of his intentions and the book is the better read for it. I've already recommended this series to two others and probably at least a few more who saw me reading it around the halls of work. Mr. Anderson will definitely be on my must-look list in the future.

And let me just add that I still love that this trilogy appeared over 6-8 months rather than three years. The above mentioned series were released on the one-per-year schedule (and to be fair to Mr. Scalzi, his books are interconnected and direct sequels but it is not necessary to read the first to read the last (but not the other way around). Whereas the other two and Destroyermen are chapters in a longer story and each book is integral to the overall story.) But then again, if the series had taken longer to publish, I would have had more time to read other books because I would have been waiting for them all to appear before I started.