Hell Divers

By: Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Narrated by: R. C. Bray

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's Summary

An Audible Editor's Pick of 2016 and An Audible Best of 2016 Science Fiction.

More than two centuries after World War III poisoned the planet, the final bastion of humanity lives on massive airships circling the globe in search of a habitable area to call home. Aging and outdated, most of the ships plummeted back to Earth long ago. The only thing keeping the two surviving lifeboats in the sky are Hell Divers - men and women who risk their lives by diving to the surface to scavenge for parts the ships desperately need.

When one of the remaining airships is damaged in an electrical storm, a Hell Diver team is deployed to a hostile zone called Hades. But there's something down there that's far worse than the mutated creatures discovered on dives in the past - something that threatens the fragile future of humanity.

Narrator Interview: vimeo.com/188195570/ad4a958906

©2016 Nicholas Sansbury Smith (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

I usually don't read my SciFi however....!!

So, I'm kind of strange...I love SciFI TV, all the way back to Star Trek: Next Gen when I was a kid. But...reading it in book form I usually find tedious and a struggle to get through, with a few exceptions (thank you Douglas Adams!!). But this book was on sale, the premise sounded really interesting and my boyfriend had recently made me listen to the Gears of War books on Audible which greatly enjoyed, so I took a chance. So glad I did!!

This book is an adrenaline ride from beginning to end. It doesn't flinch from the realities of nuclear fallout and using nuclear power to run a ship. It's not just the Hell Divers that are in danger when jumping to a destroyed earth. Cancer, deformities, radiation sickness and other diseases rampant on the ship, especially in the lower decks near the reactors.

You're taken along for the same ride the Hell Divers go on as well as getting insight to life on the ship, the social state of affairs, humanity's fight to survive and heroism and compassion that exists even in this hard future.

I will definitely be buying the second book in the series and I hope Audible comes out with the 3rd real soon.

"We dive so that humanity survives"

42 of 43 people found this review helpful

Thrilling and awesome

Action packed that wrecked my nerves! RC Bray delivers again. I'm really into the disruptive post apocalyptic genre. to all the Fallout series gamers - this really brings good memories from radiated USA and the nuclear wasteland

23 of 24 people found this review helpful

Gritty Sci-Fi

Awesome story with great narration. Writing is well done with a believable plot. Military science fiction at its finest.

10 of 10 people found this review helpful

Dark but engaging

At first I thought this book might have been a bit too dark for my taste but the story kept pulling me back because I needed to hear what happened next. The story, combined with an excellent narrator, forced me to finish this book in record time and I had to immediately grab the 2nd book to hear more.

18 of 19 people found this review helpful

read the book so of course I had to listen to it

I am not a big science fiction fan at all. I usually avoid reading them. As a fan of Mr. Sansbury Smith's other books I knew I just had to give Hell Divers a try. As I said, I already read the book and thought why not listen to Hell Divers. Wow, the book is fantastic but audible brings the entire book to life in vivid colors. R. C. Bray took no time to get used to, as some narrators do for me . Some narrators distract me from the book but not R. C. Bray, he made Hell Divers play in my mind like a movie from the very start. Whether you read, listen or both ( my suggestion ), this is one hell of a book and series.

44 of 48 people found this review helpful

A fast, intense engaging, story. <br />

But over the top for me
I'm 70 now, 20, or even 10 years ago I would have feasted on this story and fished for a sequel, at least more from that author.
I had to slow the speech speed down to 80% for my focus to keep up, even then I had to laugh at how short each listening session was.
With aging my mind is slowing. I've been, & done; lived so much. Experience with, doesn't keep you up with action.
Yes I will follow up with other stories by this author, but I'll space them out giving my elders ears some rest & recovery.

I have a "PS." for this review :
I am a Nam vet and a combat grunt.
I was impressed with the author's grasp of what goes on in the mind, fear.
Fear is addictive, that pounding heart adrenaline and something unanticipated awakens when one accepts I'm going die, this is the my end, I can't survive this!
This, can't end with me alive.
With acceptance comes a kind of peace. With that peace a kind of unanticipated courage.
It can't matter what I try; I'm done anyhow. Then a kind of gratitude that, at last, an end. The exhaustion I'm so weary.
That alas is then, it's later, having survived, comes the withdrawal, the hunger to be fully alive in the moment. It leaves one unfit for a normal life. But 'oh the cost in nightmares, the runaway hyper-vigilance. One learns how to use rage for an energy boost. You don't unlearn such things.
Oh-yes, many find booze a useful tool for the rest of oblivion; - any, not all.
Some recover; kind of.
-End -

68 of 75 people found this review helpful

Exciting story

This is a good futuristic story. Book 1 took a surprisingly turn on me at the end. Definitely going to get the next book. The story makes me want to run on the treadmill so I can listen more to what happens. The narrator performance was good to me.

31 of 34 people found this review helpful

The opposite of boring!

Amazing. Time for the sequel.

Rc Bray is the perfect narrator for Military type characters, super good.

13 of 14 people found this review helpful

Dystopia in a Dirigible

I liked this book and so will you. It's filled with heroic men and women, fast paced action, and believable science fiction. I thought the primary premise of the book was uniquely interesting, and the overall story was consistent with no annoying plot holes. This is not a literary masterpiece, and the characters don't have much depth, but it compensates by being very entertaining. As always, R.C. Bray brings these types of books alive, and he held my attention for the entire book. I gave the story 4 stars, but only because I reserve 5 stars for those very rare books that provide both entertainment and substance. So it is very entertaining, but one you'll never have to write a term paper about.

13 of 14 people found this review helpful

GUINEA PIG MEAT

I DON'T KNOW WHAT I SAW, BUT I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE IT AGAIN
Scary, Adventurous, exciting and puts you in the middle of the action. Smith has really come up with a winner here. His apocalyptic world is filled with scary eyeless mutants, that want to eat you. It is has these huge electrical storms and no sun light. A little over 500 humans are surviving barely, on an airship that was not meant to be home to anybody. My first review of a NSS book was damaging and just not good. I am glad I gave this author a second chance. This book will put him on the map. NSS has built two great worlds. One is the destroyed earth and the other is in the air. The writing is so well done, that you feel you are there.

WHAT ARE THOSE MUTANT F'S DIGGING FOR?
I really like the mutants in this book. I love the diving even more. The characters are a bit cliché, their are no light moments and this will never be considered a classic piece. None the less, this entertains 100% of the time. At the time of this writing, this is number Uno for Sci-Fi contemporary. That is because it was a daily deal. It will fall below Martian, Bob and Expedition, but it will hang around the top ten for a long time. In July, when the sequel comes out, it will probably start as number one, so you might as well get this read now.

Bray
What can I say about this guy that I have not already said? I feel sorry for Science Fiction, Horror, or adventure writers that can't get Bray to do their narrating. His name alone, sells audio books.

180 of 205 people found this review helpful

Brilliant!

Years after World War III poisoned the planet, the remaining humans all live in air ships floating above the ground. They relentlessly search the globe for somewhere they can inhabit and rebuild but the world as we knew it is gone. There is only a wasteland there that is radioactive and uninhabitable. Hundreds of years later and humanity is barely hanging on. The 2 remaining airships, Ares and The Hive, are outdated and held together with items that they scavenge. A team of people known as Hell Divers, are the only ones who can scavenge things from earth. They dive down and retrieve power cells to keep the ships afloat. When The Hive receive an SOS call from Ares, they have no choice but to go to the coordinates they sent. Only things is, the place Ares is is called Hades! It's a place that many Hell Divers have dived into but none have returned. Can the team, led by Xavier Rodriguez, known as X, survive?

This book rocked!! What a start to the series!! The idea that the last remnants of humanity are in air ships circling the globe was unique (for me anyway). Usually in Post Apoc books, it's about the preppers and how they survive, here it's people from all walks of life, living in a ship because the earth is poisonous. The only way the ships stay afloat is the fact that men and women dive down to retrieve the necessary resources. It was a fresh and unique look to the PA genre.

I've read quite a few of this authors books and am always amazed with his descriptive writing and how he can pull you in right from the start. The action starts pretty much straight away and never lets up. This author can sure right some intense and exciting action scenes!!! I had no problem, whatsoever, in picturing the harrowing scenes of the wastelands, nor picturing the Hell Divers themselves and what it would feel like to dive towards death! Because that's what it is... very few Hell Divers make it past their 15th (or 19th, can't remember the exact number!) jump and the author is able to portray the way the divers feel perfectly. My heart was in my mouth the whole time!!

Another thing this author has a knack for is writing amazing characters. Xavier Rodriguez is damaged. He lost the love of his life and is just basically going through the motions. He is the head Hell Diver and is very very good at his job. The last dive he was on, he lost someone close to him and became responsible for Tin (Michael). He tries with Tin but X doesn't know how to look after someone else. He is a drunk and only lives so he can dive. I loved X right away. He may be gruff but he is loyal to his fellow divers and does what he can so the ship stays a float. He doesn't hesitate to dive, even when he finds out it Hades!! He is a worthy hero!

Then we have Tin. He loses his father and moves in with X. Tin was awesome!! Such a smart little cookie and not afraid to do whats needed. He wants to be an engineer when he gets older and is interested in fixing everything and anything. He was inquisitive and I loved his character. I really hope we see more of him in the next book. Smith also writes strong females. Captain Ash's cancer is back but she knows she has to stay strong so the ship can stay in the air. She isn't afraid to take chances and make difficult choices, but she is also compassionate. The author knows how to write characters that you will immediately connect to.

In all, this was a book that left me breathless many times! It is non stop and had me on the edge of my seat the whole time!!! I don't know how many times I gasped out loud, but can only imagine it was a lot because so much happens, both on and off the ship! I listened to this in a day because I couldn't stop!! Bring on book 2!!!!

R.C Bray is a master story teller. He brought not only the characters, but the atmosphere to life. I really felt like there was more than one person reading this! He is exceptional and I highly recommend you check his work out.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Hell No

I've never reviewed an audiobook other than the standard star system but with this one I felt the need to share my thoughts.

Good god, this book was boring. Despite its exciting premise Hell Divers never manages to grip you, the first chapter really sets the tone for the rest of the book; clichéd and cringe worthy. For starters the main character is literally called "X" for well over 90% of the book. That's his name, I'm honestly being serious, unless of course on a mission where he prefers to be referred to as Commander X.

Once you get over that edgy hurdle you then come to the dialogue which has a flair of 80s action movie to it. Now, 80s action dialogue I can handle with just the right amount of cheese and self deprecation but this book takes itself way too seriously which unfortunately sucks all the tension out of scenarios and replacing it with a few audible groans of despair. None of the dialogue is really good and the characters saying said dialogue are all flat, boring and for the most part unlikeable. I didn't enjoy any of the characters in this book, nothing they said connected with me and nothing they did excited me.

The worst part about this book is there are some good ideas hidden away behind all the tropes but the execution sucked. How the hell this book was sitting with five stars when I spent my credit on it is a mystery to me so take my advice, don't waste your time or money on this.

6 of 8 people found this review helpful

Clichéd and predictable

Nothing new here. All the characters are basic caricatures. The monsters are generic. The language is repetitive, with tongues being repeatedly bitten, and blood repeatedly steaming from one hole or another. Even the characters die in the same way. The kind of story you would expect from a 14 year old. Despite this it had exciting moments, but it was far from great.

5 of 7 people found this review helpful

Average

This is my second novel from the same author nick s smith, the first was extinction cycle. If you enjoyed that I think you will enjoy this. I think the problem I have with this author is his writing style its adequate and serviceable but not that exciting. I had the same problem with extinction cycle. So if ur a fan of the author plz get this book you will love it and the narration by RC Bray is amazing. Otherwise if ur looking for a post apocalyptic tale plz listen to Arisen it's beyond amazing (also narrated by RC Bray)

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Omg, I mean......wow.

This is one of the best books I have ever listened to. A word of advice though..... don't start listening to this book at night, I couldn't turn it off or fall asleep. So thank you Nicholas Sansbury Smith, its now 9am and I'm an exhausted slobbering mess with spots floating before my eyes, I hope you're happy. Amazing book, but I am now going to fall into a coma. I almost forgot (exhortation) R. C. Bray did an amazing job with this book, honestly couldn't have been done better.

9 of 14 people found this review helpful

Boring, not joined up, plot holes

I really wanted to enjoy this book as the premise sounded so good. However, after forcing myself to listen to hours of this I don't understand what all the good reviews are for.

The good: RC Bray is on his usual high form and I can't fault that. The idea is good, a different take on the post world scenario.

The bad: I wanted to understand about living on the airships. So much potential with the upper and lower decks. This is hardly touched up except for cliched comments.
The hero worship (main character) is dull and predictable with no depth. This is the kind of tough guy I imagine a 15 year old boy would like (like watching an Arnie tough-guy film).
There is one part with a child who goes from hating the main character to loving him in a single paragraph. There should have been so much tension but.. nothing.

The monsters are described well but makes no sense, they just appear. How did they evolve? Why had they not been seen for hundreds of years? Again so much opportunity lost in place of tough guy lead character.

This book could have delivered so much but was flat and boring.

8 of 13 people found this review helpful

Looking forward to more

Great fun, fast paced. Superb start to a series. R C Bray great as ever.

Enjoyable

Very enjoyable and the narrator is very good, probably one of the best on audible.

Loved it!

Can wait for the next book, loved it from start to finish. Great narrator too!

It really wasn't for me.

Reading the blurb I thought I'd really enjoy being thrust into the Helldivers world...but it ended being rather vapid. If you enjoy fights, half glimpses at a world & structure then this might be for you. I thought we'd find out a lot more about the day-to-day and even to some degree the helldiving world. I also hated the end, normally the bit I sit in and concentrate on, but I found myself just trying to get through the wild shift in characters and nice little bows thrust onto everything.

Tl;dr - do you like those spy books that are more just kinda the spy kicking things over? You'll like this book.