Member Reviews
I can't specify any one book in this heart pounding Series as more suspenseful, more revelatory, than any other; but definitely DELIVERANCE delivers several astonishing and eye-opening revelations, and for several of the important characters, life is upended and sent off in entirely unexpected new directions, while a former important character is vindicated as her pronouncements finally come to pass. Hope and misery, joy and suffering, all are present as the characters come to terms with what has been and what may yet be. Shifting alliances make for an exciting conclusion.
Rating: ★★★★+
Synopsis
Left for dead on the nightmarish surface of the planet, Commander Michael Everhart and his team of Hell Divers barely escape with their lives aboard a new airship called Deliverance. After learning that Xavier “X” Rodriguez may still be alive, they mount a rescue mission for the long-lost hero.
In the skies, the Hive is falling apart, but Captain Jordan is more determined than ever to keep humanity in their outdated lifeboat. He will do whatever it takes to keep the ship in the air—even murder. But when he learns the Hell Divers he exiled have found Deliverance, he changes course for a new mission—find the divers, kill them, and make their new ship his own.
In the third installment of the USA Today bestselling Hell Divers series, Michael and his fellow divers fight across the mutated landscape in search of X. But what they find will change everything.
Review
Thanks to the publisher and author for an advanced reading copy of Deliverance (Hell Divers #3) in exchange for an honest review. Receiving this ARC did not influence my thoughts or opinions on the novel.
So, it has been a hot minute since I read Ghosts (Hell Divers #2), and I am not really sure why I waited so long to get to Deliverance. Smith packs a ton of punch into these books, which honestly makes them some of the quickest and most enjoyable reads in today’s post-apocalyptic/science fiction scene.
While on the surface it seems to be a run-of-the-mill post-apoc story with mutant creatures and pow-pow, bang-bang shooty guys, Smith pushes the envelope with redeemable characters, political intrigue, non-stop action, and an ever expanding storyline. Just when I thought that the only threat to the survival of the Divers and people of the Hive were the Sirens, Smith brings in new and improved baddies to delight fans of immense creature horror. He has also created a few characters that you just love to hate, and I find that seemingly rare in books today. To just have a seething hatred for an antagonist and be ecstatic when they meet their fate.
On top of all that, the alternate United States of American that Smith has created is an extremely enjoyable sandbox for his characters to play in. With cities known to the readers but unknown to all of those involved in the story, it is an interesting perspective on what we know and love.
Overall, if you have been a fan of Smith’s over the years, there is plenty to love here in Deliverance. If you have yet to jump into his post-apocalyptic fiction, the series tends to be fairly cheap on Kindle and they are a very fun way to pass the time.
If you have not read the first two book (Hell Divers & Hell Divers: Ghosts) in the series, stop right now and go order them. They are both fantastic reads that you will not want to put down. This review will contain SPOILERS for both of those books and you really don’t want to do that to yourself, so just stop reading this now and start at the beginning of the series. Trust me you won’t regret it.
Nicholas Sansbury Smith is back with his killer Hell divers series and this time the divers are spending more time on Earth than ever before:
Team Raptor has been left behind on Earth by the Hive but they were able to find a new ship Deliverance to help take them to the last coordinates that Xavier “X” Rodriguez had given and hope that he is still alive after all these years. They are on a rescue mission that has zero chance of being a success but they have to hope for something and to prove to X that he was not left behind by everyone. While on the Hive Captain Jordan is losing control over the ship. The people are angry, supplies are running out and Hell Divers are in short supply. Jordan will do everything in his power to keep the ship in the air even if it means, lying, cheating and murdering to keep it that way. Team Raptor may be in danger from the nightmare creatures that now plague the Earth, but they also need to keep their eyes on the sky for danger comes from familiar places.
Honestly, this is hands down my favourite sci-fi series, granted I do not read a lot of sci-fi but any time I pick up a book in this series I know I am in for a roller coaster ride and I will not want to put the book down. Deliverance deliveries on all the things that I want in this series; Interesting world/characters, fast pace story, action scenes, you never know who is going to make it out alive and just overall awesomeness.
As stated above, there tends to be some character turn over, also known as Sanasbury has a knack for killing people off, yes that also includes some of the characters you like, so it is always nice to have some fresh blood to the books. I enjoyed that this time we get to meet some new Hell Divers in training and each of their reasons for being their and the choices they have to make. It was also interesting have more of a perspective from Captain Jordan and the choices he makes. Honestly, even though he is made out to be the bad guy, some of the reason he has about not wanting to return to Earth make sense. However, many of his actions are based upon just having the power to do things and jealousy.
I really appreciated that we got some time to see what X had been up to and the progress he made while traveling as this was the bomb shell of the previous book that X was still alive and had survived somehow. X is on his way traveling to the coast but and due to Sansbury writing style (and the fact that X's part are set in the past) you never know if X is still going to be there but just the thought of finding out keeps you reading.
Sansbury Smith really out did himself with the introduction of new creatures that have developed on Earth and how these creature differ from those inland. Makes you wonder what will be out there if one decided to venture further in to the seas, where the water is no longer water but sometime of sludge
Fantastic book and addition to this series and I cannot wait for the forth book, going to be some interesting times and challenges ahead for the Hell Divers and I cannot wait to go along for the ride with them. On to Wolves I go...
Enjoy!!
I am absolutely loving this series. I was a little late reading the first book, but I'm glad I did. This was a great sequel and I can't wait to read the next book.
he Hell Divers trilogy reached a satisfactory conclusion with this book, but the epilogue leaves room for more story in this dystopian world. Because it is hard to review this book without revealing points that might spoil the first two books of the trilogy, I have put the rest of this review under a spoiler tag. However, my review has no spoilers of the third book.
<spoiler>Following a nuclear disaster, what was left of humanity took to the skies in spacecraft in order to survive until the Earth was habitable again. The only ship that remains is the Hive. The people who live there manage to survive (barely) due to the heroics of the hell divers who travel back to Earth to scavenge for vital supplies. Everything on Earth is dangerous, including radiation, stone beasts, mutated humans known as Sirens, big lizards, one-eyed birdlike creatures, poisonous plants, man-eating worms and worse.
This book follows three groups of characters and shifts time periods, until near the end of the book. Xavier (X) Rodriguez was the hell diver protagonist in the first book. He appeared to have died at the end of the first book, but the second book revealed that he was still alive. Some humans and animals were cryogenically preserved after the disaster and X managed to revive a bioengineered husky he calls Miles. Miles has been his only companion since he was stranded on Earth about 10 years ago. The second group is comprised of a few hell divers from Team Raptor who had tried to rescue X in book two. They managed to locate another spacecraft called Deliverance that they can operate with the assistance of an AI that takes the form of a hologram called Timothy. Timothy may or may not be entirely reliable. Finally, the Hive is being run by Captain Leon Jordan, who at times really seems to want to save humanity, and at other times just seems like an inept megalomaniac. Jordan recruits a new group of hell divers and sends them to Earth with several objectives that he does not share with anyone.
The parts of the book featuring X and Team Raptor on Earth are pretty much nonstop action. Life on the Hive involves politics, intrigue, illness, social stratification and a lot of other stuff that made the story drag for me. Overall, however, I enjoyed the entire trilogy. The author writes action sequences very well and he created relatable characters and some unique monsters. I've tried other books by this author and haven't really liked them, but if he continues this series I will read it.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. </spoiler>
OK. THIS WAS JUST EPICALLY OUTSTANDING
WARNING if you thought my review of book 1 was over the top, beware:
- This is a totally insane fangirl review.
- Coherence dives down to Hell!
- No restrain will be exercised whatsoever.
- There will be idiotic babbling and shameless siren shrieking.
- The words “epic” and “epically” and synonymous will be copiously used.
If you tend to roll your eyes at mega emotional reviews you may end up blind and looking at the back of your skull.
You should read this series before it hits the screens!
I know. I know. there isn’t a movie... YET. But mark my words: THERE WILL BE ONE.
This series will be an EPIC Franchise JUST LIKE STAR WARS.
Believe me!
Because Hollywood tends to know what they are doing [and Nick hinted there will be movies news [Siren Shriiiiiiek!] And, in the meantime, a fangilr can dream!
And talking about fangirling... let me get to the point and tell you WHY you need to read this series NOW!
Because it is such an epically ambitious story that could have gone wrong in so many ways BUT it didn’t and ended up being and epically outstanding piece of work!
A work so unique and well executed that I wow I almost feel like Nick is creating a new genre!
This is a totally new way to do Scfi/Apocalyptic/Dystopian/Climate fiction.
You know when they say Neil Gaiman is a genre himself? Well just wait. They will say the same about Nick very soon.
BECAUSE OMG THIS WAS SO GOOOOOOOD!
Mark my words this is going to become an epic classic like Dune!
Because what else is to happened with such a monumental work?
Ok let’s pull this together and try to make it coherent for you, like normal, serious, reviewers do, in neat bullet points...
1- OVERALL SERIES STORY ARC
This series’ story ARC is just legendary. It is vast, epic [I warned you about this word!], as in multigenerational, and spanning over decades epic… and...
Can we just take a moment to reflect and properly appreciate how freaking HARD this is to accomplish???
Here is where so many things could have gone wrong and instead we get something that is SO beautifully executed??? Everything making sense, no plot gaps, everything is properly explained, and book 3 wraps up this series just like that first gift Santa left for you under the tree…. MARVELOUS!
Ok the moment is over because we need to talk about...
2- THE CHARACTERS
You KNOW you are watching something marvelous unfold when the Main Character [MC] has gone MIA [you don’t know whether he is dead or not, and you are dying a little too!] BUT the story continues because EVERYONE is a MC here! It’s a gang of MCs and they are all SUPERB. Plenty of heroes and heroines to swoon over. You want to be BFFs with ALL OF THEM. And hug and kiss them all despite their multiple flaws. Or maybe BECAUSE their multiple flaws!
There are villains that you will totally LOVE to hate even though they have the most altruist of motivations because they are so irritatingly stubborn and self-centered and cannot see the consequences of their actions because they are so into themselves and they have the “I’m right and everyone else is wrong attitude”
[wait I need to breathe! I WARNED YOU I will babble!]
OMG I HEART THESE CHARACTERS SO MUCH I CAN’T EVEN!
Ok and I don't even know what my favorite thing is here! The Story src, the characters, the...
3- WORLD! The Mammoth/monstrous/many-headed hydra world Nick built is Out of this world AWESOME!
Pffff say no more.
No one is better at building post-apocalyptic worlds! And they have been done SO MANY TIMES and Nick still found a way to make one so unique. THE HIIIIIVE [Siren Shriiiike]. I cannot tell you how much I love The Hive. How perfect the world building is! It is like an aerial Mad Max. it is EVERYTHING it should be!
The monsters of this world.. just them is what is going to make this an epic movie franchise!
Book one introduce us to the terrifying sirens, book two teach us even more about them and then book 3 brings it up ten-thousand notches with all kind of new monsters, some of them human like The Cazadores.
That’s the thing about this series: Just when you think you’ve seen it all, and you are like OMG this is too awesome. Nikc comes and outdoes himself with another book!
So since we mention Nick let's talk about his craftsmanship...
4- THE WRITING. Oh well. Let me just say they nick is Now, hands down, one of my all-time favorite writers!. Of all genres. And he has a special place in my heart because 1) He is super nice and personable interacting with his fans 2) he is very socially conscious 3) He posts lotsa of tips to help other writers. 4) I learn tons about writing reading his books. I literally took FOREVER to finish his books because I savored every sentence, took notes and even did writing exercises based on his writing. Like... “Ok let me see if I can pull off an imagery like this paragraph”
THE IMAGERY OF THIS SERIES IS AS OUTSTANDING AS EVERYTHING ELSE!!! [Siren Shrieeek]
Book 1 - Five HUGE "HELL YEAH" Stars! [see the review < a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...here]
Book 2- 4.5 star
Book 3 - 5,000,-star
Daniela Ark
#Bookworm, #BookBlogger, #Writer, Passionate about #truestory, #OwnVoices, #Diversity and #equality, especially #feminism
A solid continuation of the series. The ship is having problems that the captain hopes new Hell Divers can help fix, they are also looking for a man they left behind on the planet.
I’ve been a little bit off of "the series" for a while now. I like getting into a story, and when it’s done, moving on to the next. But there is something about the characters that Smith has created that pulled me back in for another dive to Hell.
What I love most about this series is that the story hasn’t gotten at all repetitive. Smith has kept it fresh and exciting with a Martinesque rotation of characters and new villains with each new book. The impetus moving the story forward keeps changing and evolving.
I don’t want to say too much about the plot of book three, these books need to be read in order, yet each one does feel like a complete unit that tells a satisfying story.
Smith has created a unique and credible futuristic dystopian world that is filled with death, danger and destruction. To this world, he has added a marvelous band of characters to entertain his audience.
For some convoluted reason I went into Deliverance thinking that he would wind the series up as a trilogy, but instead, now I’m amped up that there is another book on the horizon.
*4.5 Stars
Another NSS book where I went into it expecting it to be the end of the series. And then BOOM, we’re told at the end to expect a 4th book. A lot of the stuff from the 3 books was wrapped up in this one so I really only see one way for the 4th book to go. Hunt down the cannibals and find a place on Earth that is safe to settle the humans currently living in the sky.
I was super happy to see Lance get what he had coming to him and the hands of someone I wasn’t expecting! Oh, but it was a sweet, sweet thing and I really can’t think of a better way for him to get his comeuppance. X’s story and his old squad’s stories start to coincide with each other and we get to see the kind of havoc being alone for so long has done to X. Not to mention constantly being in fear of death from the weather, the radiation, mutated monsters, and oh yeah, cannibals! Sheer craziness in this installment, I just couldn’t put this book down till I finished it.
I’m definitely looking forward to another book, but will definitely admit I don’t really think another book is necessary. I’m interested to see what happens, but I’m not gripped by cliffhanger anxiety like I usually am after finishing an NSS book. There’s a first time for everything, though!
Received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This novel was the darkest and most depressing of all three books. Life aboard the Hive has gotten increasingly worse with a dictator evil leader. Although Jordan tries to rationalize his actions no one has any faith in him anymore. Murders are occurring daily aboard the Hive.
Michael and his team are still searching for Xavier. They're decided to head to his last location. This new location has horrors unseen previously. I thought the jungle creatures were bad but at least they evolved that way to survive. The main villains at the end were truly evil and sadistic as there are other options for them. I can't wait to read more about them as I'm curious how/why they became that way (can't state more without giving huge spoilers away).
Xavier's time on the surface was truly sad. It felt like my heart was breaking for him. The sense of anger and betrayal he felt was strong.
This series is amazing and I would recommend it to everyone who likes apocalyptic novels.
Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC.
*I received an ecopy of this book via NetGalley. This has not influenced my review.*
This book was an emotional punch to the stomach---and I mean that in the best, most complimentary way possible!
Parts of this book were so depressing and harsh and terrible that they were downright hard to read. Other parts of this book were so hopeful and wholesome that I actually teared up. All of this book was gripping and filled with intensity. And it was unpredictable in that I had no idea what might actually happen.
*Warning: The next four paragraphs contain SPOILERS for previous books in the series. Also just a note, I'm going to talk about all the characters and events in past tense because I can never figure out what tense to use when reviewing ongoing series.*
The story alternated between two timelines and multiple POVs, and one of the timelines was about X and his time on the surface over the previous ten years. I spent the whole book with my heart breaking for X. With each new passage showing us a glimpse into his life on the surface, another piece of my heart cracked off. He was a great character and an imperfect but good-hearted man with so much inner strength and determination, and he deserved so much better than being abandoned the way he was.
Then there was Michael and his team on the Deliverance, heading to the location of X's last transmission in order to try and find him. It was interesting seeing things from various POVs, seeing what this mission meant to each of them, seeing what was important to them. I felt for each of those characters too.
There was also a new team of hell divers training and going down to the surface on a mission. For that we had what I believe was a new POV character, but it allowed us to see more of the goings-on in the Hive.
Last but certainly not least, there was Captain Jordan, who was running the Hive. I hated Captain Jordan just as much this time as I did in Book 2, and yet, I found myself almost feeling sorry for him (which, let me tell you, is some damn good writing because he was an awful person). He honestly believed that he was doing the right thing. He wasn't, but he convinced himself that everything he was doing was necessary and worth it in order to do what he deemed right. It was ironic in this amazingly circular kind of way. The man with no humanity within himself was trying to save humanity, but in doing so, he was destroying it. In his unwavering focus on his goal to keep the Hive in the air, he lost sight of the real goal and failed to realize that to be human means more than simply to survive. The way the Sirens evolved is, in a way, proof of that. But anyway, I found myself liking his POV a lot more this time because it was just so well-written.
*END SPOILERS*
Another thing about the characters, normally I don't like when books have too many POVs, but it worked well here. It gave a well-rounded view of everything going on, and each character was so well-written and developed that I enjoyed getting to see through their various perspectives. I also like how, throughout the series so far, we've gotten to see such a wide range of ages, from children to characters 50+.
And of course there was all sorts of action, what between the Sirens and giant swamp creatures and man-eating plants and lightning storms and whatnot. (Ok, the beginning was a little slow, but don't worry, it picked up.) And if you're reading this review but haven't read the previous books yet, be warned---the series is graphic and gruesome and does not shy away from the violence or horrors of the post-apocalyptic world these characters live in.
So overall, this book was amazing, intense, and packed full of emotion, and I'm once again looking forward to continuing the series!
The continuing story of the Hell Divers, who have the dangerous job of obtaining supplies from the now ruined earth, for the last survivors, now living in air ships. This book runs three threads; the first follows Michael and his team, abandoned on earth at the end of book two, in there newly acquired air ship as the such for the legendary X. The second follows Captain Jordan aboard the hive, as he rules with an iron fist, trying to maintain control. The third follows X and his life on earth after being left for dead 10 years ago. This is a good book that moves at a nice pace, the final confrontation was unexpected. Thought this was the last book, but pleased there will be a fourth outing.
Picking up on the heels of Hell Divers II: Ghosts finale, Michael Everheart and his small crew of Hell Divers set out to find the missing Xavier "X" Rodriguez after being abandoned by the traitorous Captain Jordan.
Nicholas Sansbury Smith stretches his narrative wings a bit in Deliverance, giving readers insight into X's decade-long stint on Earth's hellscape through prolonged flashbacks, in between tackling the story's present-day timeline from the perspectives of Everheart and Jordan, and a few other Hell Divers along the way. Readers who were disappointed at the lack of X in the prior novel, particularly after Smith's nasty cliff-hanger ending back in Book 1, will certainly get their fill of Rodriguez this time around as Smith brings X back to the narrative's center.
While I was certainly happy to get more of X, now accompanied by a thawed-from-cryo husky named Miles, the real delight for me was seeing Smith's post-apocalyptic world building. While X travels the hellish landscape of an irradiated America to reach the ocean, Smith gives us a delightful tour of this new nuclear-adapted ecosystem. In prior novels, the Sirens were the clearly the biggest threat facing the remnants of mankind, but life outside the airship Hive is more expansive and far-reaching in Deliverance than the Hell Divers had imagined. As Ian Malcolm famously reminded us in Jurassic Park, "Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously... Life, uh, finds a way." Smith takes Malcolm's words to heart, presenting a number of thrilling encounters that reminds humans they may no longer be at the top of the food chain in this wildly mutated environment.
Not that life aboard the airship Hive is much better. Without mincing too many words, let me just say that Captain Jordan is a piece of crap. I hated this guy in Book 2, and Book 3 didn't do much to swing me around to his iron-fist mentality of rule as the top dog. Every chapter he showed up in only solidified his narcissism and I kept waiting for him to get his comeuppance. Life aboard the airships, though, does make for a fun bit of compare and contrast to life on the ground. No matter what dangers lurk in the ruins of America, Jordan and his cronies serve to remind us that humans are, typically, the biggest threat to everything around.
If you've enjoyed the previous two Hell Divers books, you'll feel right at home with Deliverance. Smith delivers plenty of action and suspense, and even a few dashes of socio-political intrigue along the way. Its final moments even kick the door wide open for a fourth installment, taking this series in a direction that good and truly excites me. I can't wait to see what comes next!
[Note: I received an advance copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley.]
Though this is the third book in the Hell Divers series it is easy to pick up on the story line. The most interesting character is Captain Jordan. He honestly believes he is acting for the common good of mankind but has let absolute power go to his head. My only major issue with the book is the going back and forth in time as a writers technique. it was very hard to follow. The nuclear war that devastated the planet apparently happened 250 years previously. How could all of the mutations happen in that relatively short period. And how could X find working power sources and medication in the many years he was abandoned on the surface?
Excellent series focussing on mankind's struggle to survive in the air above a post nuclear world where resources are scarce and only a few dare visit the earth so mankind can survive. Betrayals, love and sacrifices lurk behind the thin veneer of humanity.