Rating: 
Summary: good, but....
Review: I like the Lenson series, mainly for its authentic descriptions of what it's like to serve as an officer on ship (as a civilian, I don't know if it's REALLY authentic, but it works for me!)However, the author falls prey to a failure common to many of these books, which are to pile on SO many obstacles for Our Hero to overcome that after a while you stop gripping your seat and start rolling your eyes. For example, without giving anything away, Our Hero not only has to deal with a ship with almost no supplies, and then the XO is worse than worthless, andthen the ship is severely undercrewed, and then one of them may be a serial killer, and then they can't get any orders, ... and then... and then... The books would be much better (though perhaps they won't sell as well, sigh) if the author played to his strength, the portrayal of officer life.
Rating:
Summary: China Sea proves unworthy
Review: I must say that at first after reading the three major prologues I began to take a sudden intrest in the direction at which the plot was headed. The Blair-Dan relationship and the hotel activities proved very excellent. After he received notice to take the ship eastwards and go after pirates the plot became somewhat unbelievable.
Rating: 
Summary: Another fantastic Poyer read!
Review: I was swept away into the adventure of the China Sea, living vicariously every exciting moment in Poyer's latest (and great) book. I'll never live such adventure so I'm terribly grateful to Poyer for allowing me to participate, if only on the printed page. I did notice that the book's flap copy did a disservice to Poyer when they referred to his "star-crossed" career. I'm sure they meant it as a compliment (like "star-studded") but star-crossed actually means "destined to an unhappy fate, sure to end up in misfortune." Check out the dictionary when you write flap copy, publisher! Because David Poyer is definitely star studded and his books are going to be around for a long, long time.
Rating: 
Summary: tedious
Review: I've read all of Poyer's other naval novels and enjoyed them. However, this one was tedious. The plot was ridiculous -- hanging men from the yard arms -- ho ho ho and a bottle of rum! Give me a break.
Rating:
Summary: China Sea proves unworthy
Review: In "China Sea" DC Poyer brings us back the luckless but never feckless hero, Dan Lenson, USN. A young but ambitious naval officer, Lenson seems star-crossed. He's had two ships sunk from underneath him ("The Circle" and "The Gulf") lost his wife to divorce after she was taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists ("The Med") and nearly had his career ruined while trying to help perfect the USN's anti-ship cruise missile program ("Tomahawk"). Now, Poyer gives Lenson the one things he's really wanted - his own command...almost. On the eve of "Desert Storm", Lenson is given provisional command of the "Gaddis", an obsolete and worn out Knox class destroyer about to be handed over to the Pakistani navy. Lenson's command is virtual - the Pakistani's are already on board, and they consider the ship their own. Between the ship's sorry condition and the inexperience of the Pakistani crew (most acute in their captain), Lenson musters every resource he can to get Gaddis seaworthy. Frequently running into interference from Captain Khashar, Lenson nurses the hope that he can use the inevitable war in Iraq as a springboard to combat duty - perhaps at the command of the Gaddis. On reaching Karachi, Lenson's wishes are miraculously and ironically fulfilled - with the US reclaiming Gaddis and sending Lenson into battle. On the downside, Lenson finds that his assignment will take him into the south Pacific, against a mysterious rogue navy of red Chinese-backed pirates. Further complicating his situation is his lack of US support: the Pakistanis paid for most of Gaddis's weaponry and removed all of its ammo when the American's reclaimed the ship. Gaddis carries neither torpedoes, missiles nor even an ASW helicopter. Supplies and fuel remain at critical levels throughout the book, compounding a severe morale problem among the Gaddis's crew of surface fleet rejects. Lenson faces mutiny throughout most of the book, most severely at the end. Against dropping morale, Lenson has only vague hints that he's even supposed to have more than nominal command, and nagging doubts that his hunt for pirates will force him to become something of a pirate himself. This is great stuff - it's a bigger story than "The Gulf", though that means that it often seems like Poyer is trying to get past details - conversations he didn't want to flesh out with dialog, nautical maneuvers he feared would bog the plot down - more often than he had in other books. Though Gaddis has a crew of rejects, it's not as fully detailed as the one in "The Passage". Poyer drops details from his other books, though they seem extraneous - neither advancing the plot nor hindering it for those who haven't read them. Though sometimes seeming abbreviated, "Sea" is still a meatier book than naval technothrillers by other writers. Poyer isn't afraid of using flawed, sometimes unlikable characters plagued by self-doubt and lacking cutting-edge technology. While other writers are happy enough to tell you how non-existent missiles work or what computer screens look like, Poyer's books make you feel like you're on the tilting deck of a "tin can" in rough seas. Watch out for that wave!
Rating: 
Summary: CDR Lenson gets command...or does he....
Review: In "China Sea" DC Poyer brings us back the luckless but never feckless hero, Dan Lenson, USN. A young but ambitious naval officer, Lenson seems star-crossed. He's had two ships sunk from underneath him ("The Circle" and "The Gulf") lost his wife to divorce after she was taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists ("The Med") and nearly had his career ruined while trying to help perfect the USN's anti-ship cruise missile program ("Tomahawk"). Now, Poyer gives Lenson the one things he's really wanted - his own command...almost. On the eve of "Desert Storm", Lenson is given provisional command of the "Gaddis", an obsolete and worn out Knox class destroyer about to be handed over to the Pakistani navy. Lenson's command is virtual - the Pakistani's are already on board, and they consider the ship their own. Between the ship's sorry condition and the inexperience of the Pakistani crew (most acute in their captain), Lenson musters every resource he can to get Gaddis seaworthy. Frequently running into interference from Captain Khashar, Lenson nurses the hope that he can use the inevitable war in Iraq as a springboard to combat duty - perhaps at the command of the Gaddis. On reaching Karachi, Lenson's wishes are miraculously and ironically fulfilled - with the US reclaiming Gaddis and sending Lenson into battle. On the downside, Lenson finds that his assignment will take him into the south Pacific, against a mysterious rogue navy of red Chinese-backed pirates. Further complicating his situation is his lack of US support: the Pakistanis paid for most of Gaddis's weaponry and removed all of its ammo when the American's reclaimed the ship. Gaddis carries neither torpedoes, missiles nor even an ASW helicopter. Supplies and fuel remain at critical levels throughout the book, compounding a severe morale problem among the Gaddis's crew of surface fleet rejects. Lenson faces mutiny throughout most of the book, most severely at the end. Against dropping morale, Lenson has only vague hints that he's even supposed to have more than nominal command, and nagging doubts that his hunt for pirates will force him to become something of a pirate himself. This is great stuff - it's a bigger story than "The Gulf", though that means that it often seems like Poyer is trying to get past details - conversations he didn't want to flesh out with dialog, nautical maneuvers he feared would bog the plot down - more often than he had in other books. Though Gaddis has a crew of rejects, it's not as fully detailed as the one in "The Passage". Poyer drops details from his other books, though they seem extraneous - neither advancing the plot nor hindering it for those who haven't read them. Though sometimes seeming abbreviated, "Sea" is still a meatier book than naval technothrillers by other writers. Poyer isn't afraid of using flawed, sometimes unlikable characters plagued by self-doubt and lacking cutting-edge technology. While other writers are happy enough to tell you how non-existent missiles work or what computer screens look like, Poyer's books make you feel like you're on the tilting deck of a "tin can" in rough seas. Watch out for that wave!
Rating:
Summary: Best yet
Review: Our emotionally buffeted series hero, Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lenson, USN, has excruciating dificulties here. It's like the author thought up the most impossible set of conditions at sea he could imagine, and then put poor Dan smack in the middle to swim or sink forevermore: a new captain with vague orders, an antiquated stripped ship, weak engines, contentious officers, fearful allies, a terrible typhoon, a demoralized and grossly understrength crew, and one of them probably a ghoulish serial murderer (a vicious twist on the sailor's "girl in every port"). Poyer neatly accomplishes this with a ship destined for an allied navy and sailed by a mixed and incompetent if-allah-wills-it transfer crew. Dan's been in tough places before in his career of five earlier novels, but this is perhaps the most current and future one, since it involves the Spratley Islands that are a potential flash point in Southeast Asia today. This is an astonishing novel of ship command in a vacuum of orders (like detached frigate captains back in the age of fighting sail, before radio). All depends on the character of the captain, and here is Lenson, an uptight, stubborn, moral officer in his first command. He must fight everything, the navy, its traditions, his crew, his reputation, and his own doubts. Poyer's occasional flights of nature description seem incongruous but are tinged with the hard menace that runs throughout this powerful story. The extraordinary tension in this masterful sea story will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Rating:
Summary: Poyer and LCDR Dan Lenson Are Back In Top Form!
Review: This is a great READ! After a middling disappointment with Poyer's last novel, TOMAHAWK, I had the opportunity to write to him and explain why I had trouble with the premise behind the plot in that book. He had dropped me a note and told me he was sorry I didn't like it and hoped I would like CHINA SEA better. Well, I'm here to say that I did and I WILL NOT HESITATE TO SAY SO! In CHINA SEA, both David Poyer as author and LCDR Dan Lenson are back in top form. The time is 1990 and Dan Lenson is ordered to Philadelphia Naval Shipyard to relieve the CO of a Knox Class frigate, the USS GADDIS. The current skipper is an alcoholic and almost out of control and the ship is scheduled for decommissioning and transfer to the Pakistani Navy. Early in the book, Poyer describes in detail the problems of the handover and the lack of skill of the Pakistani captain. In one particular incident, he describes a small lube oil fire that sends the Pakistani engine room crew for the lifeboats. Their officers are not far behind. A small skeleton crew of Americans fights the fire, puts it out and waits for the return of the ship's new owners. Reading Poyer's description of the Pakistani captain's shiphandling skills is humorous and painful at the same time. There are several incidents that will make former USN readers cringe when they read them and make the same reader glad that competent seafarers like Lenson are aboard to help. Approximately 1/4 of the way through this story, Poyer introduces a nice little twist. It coincides with the arrival of the former USN frigate in its new homeport in Pakistan. Lenson and the MTT (military transition team) receive orders that the transfer has been cancelled and the USA is again taking custody of the ship. Lenson receives verbal orders from the naval attache in Islamabad to take possession of the ship and steam for Singapore. There are problems, though. He has too small a crew, no money and no ammunition for the 5 inch gun or the 20 mm and 40mm guns that the Pakistanis had installed. He steams out of port nonetheless. In Singapore he picks up some bottom of the barrel replacements but still not quite a full ships's company. He also gets a naval reserve officer sent to the Far East for his annual training. Also a LCDR, he will prove his worth because of his intelligence background and the fact that while on active duty, he was a comptent surface warfare officer. There is another stroke of genius in Poyer's writing that adds a complication to the novel's plot and Dan Lenson's life as the CO of "GADDIS." There is a serial killer aboard. It seems that everywhere the ship goes, it leaves horribly mangled dead women behind it. How Lenson solves this mystery adds immeasureably to the overall success of the entire book and I think readers will ponder long after they've finished Lenson's final resolution when the murderer is identified. Along the way, GADDIS becomes part of a multi-national task force designed to ferret out and destroy pirates in the oceans between Singapore and the Chinese island of Hainan. The TNTF for "tiny nations task force" is composed of elements of the Singaporean, Indonesian, Malaysian and Phillipine Navies. Each nation contributes a ship and some are more capable than others. Poyer does an outstanding job of describing the difficulties of managing such an ad hoc force, especially one that is hampered by dissimilar capabilities, equipment and communications. While the GADDIS packs most of the combat punch of this force, Lenson must constantly keep an eye on his fuel gauges and remember that he is seriously lacking in ammunition for his main battery. Poyer doesn't miss a trick and reminds the reader that the sea is a dangerous and unforgiving place. He also introduces typoons into the equation. The reader knows with this book that being the commanding officer of a naval ship sent in harm's way is much more demanding a job than anyone can ever begin to imagine. Poyer's description of Lenson's thought processes and the pressures he must deal with are masterful. This book becomes and remains a page turner from the time that Lenson reassumes command of the ship in Pakistan. As Lenson and GADDIS deal with their various "minor" problems, major ones begin to surface. The crew of GADDIS is one that is thrown together and the enlisted personnel are not the cream of the crop. Lenson has a very small wardroom and an executive officer that he cannot count on. He must still also find out who among his crew is the killer. There are several false starts in his investigation before the culprit is finally revealed. While I realized where he was taking the investigation, I did not at first suspect who the author reveals. I think Poyer did a fine job of concealing that identity until the last moment. This is sea story, a lesson in international power politics and a murder mystery all wrapped up in a tight and tidy package. There are good characters and bad ones. What I liked is that while Dan Lenson is not a perfect person, he never loses his moral compass. He is a better officer and person than he gives himself credit for and that is what makes reading about him so enjoyable. After having read this book, I must say that I owe David Poyer an apology. In my review of TOMAHAWK here at Amazon, I told readers that I thought that novel should probably be Lenson's last outing. After reading CHINA SEA, I can honestly say that I hope to see several more installments in the continuing saga of DAN LENSON, USN. Thank you Mr. Poyer for a most enjoyable read. I hope you'll keep Dan Lenson around for more adventures at sea. Fair winds and following seas.
Rating:
Summary: Well done and great find!
Review: This is one of the best navy books I have ever read. Poyer fills out his book with great detail and knowledge of the Knox Class frigate that is outstanding. The characters are memorable and interesting, and it is the characters that make this book work so well. Finally, this book is not predictable. I'm already into another Poyer book (The Gulf) and I can assure you China Sea was not a fluke.
Rating:
Summary: Good page turner
Review: This is the first book I have read by David Poyer. I borrowed it from the library so I would have something to read on the plane from JFK to London -- and I thought the cover looked cool. I read 1/2 the book on the way over, and finished it on the way back. I really enjoyed the plot, particulary as it applied to China's geo-political aspirations in SE Asia. It moved fast, and had some pretty good unpredictable twists. Overall I would strongly recommend this book. The serial/killer sub-plot kind of mucked things up a bit, but the rest of the story compensates for it.
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