Nicholas Sansbury Smith takes readers on a roller coaster ride straight into Hell, where the fate of human kind is left in the hand of a few: After more than two centuries following WWIII poisoned the planet and forced the remaining human population to live on massive airships that circle the Earth, humans are in danger once again. Most of the ships have fallen from the sky with failing technology with easily accessible parts to fix the problems, there is now only a couple left. The only way to keep the ships running is to salvage what they can from which is turned in to a Hell where is where the Hell Divers are needed to complete these missions. X is the best and most experienced Hell Diver, he has completed the most dives and missions (most only make it to 7 Dives before they die). When one of the remaining ships is damaged in a storm they call for help, all of the human race may be doomed and it is up to X and the rest of the Hell Divers to try and save them.
This is the first book I have read by Sansbury and it blew me away. It is a sci-fi/post apocalyptic book and sci-fi is something I usually stay away from, but the premise sounded really different and interesting so I took the plunge; I'm so glad I did. This was a real page turner and you'll want to read this book in one sitting, it was really hard for me to put this one down. It grabs hold of you from the very beginning and never lets go. There is very little let up on the action sequences on both Earth and the Hive, though on the Hive it much more political kind of suspense as the Captain tries to deal with no only the impending doom of the other ship but that of her own as well. Sacrifices need to be made and not everyone is happy about the decisions that she makes. The world building was really well done and the description of not only the mutated monsters on Earth but the landscape and hardships that the Hell Divers had to endure while on the surface was well written. There are certain situations that you feel the weather and cold they have to endure and in the case of one of the Hell Divers his struggle to survive on nothing. There is also the extreme radiation that they have to deal with on each dive that adds in another element of danger that they need to be aware of. I also did not think that this book was too sci-fi for me, I liked that it was more of an apocalyptic book than a sci-fi book. I never felt like I was not able to understand what was going on or the machinery or weapons that the Hell Divers and the Hive rely on. The idea of the Hell Divers is extremely inventive and not something I have read, or even heard of being done in books before, so Sansbury's imagination hits a home run in this book This book had an awesome main character. I mean how can you not love X even with his flaws he does what he has to do so that the human race can survive. Talk about selflessness. He is there to serve the greater good of humanity. He doesn't know when his next or last dive will be but he never shies away from that responsibility. I liked that Sansbury had X become more humanized than this thing of legend to the other people on the ship, with him having to take care of Tin. It gave him even more of a purpose than before and a now reason to try to get back at all costs. I could read a many books with X or someone like him as the main character. All I can say is What an ending! It was not one that I saw coming which I think every reader loves in this type of book. So I guess you can say (and probably tell) that I am excited for the next book in this series, the summer and this book release cannot come fast enough. I'm also going to check out the other series that Sansbury has to offer. Sansbury really impressed with this book. Enjoy!!!
W. Bruce Cameron takes you on a journey of many lifetimes where things learned in the past help with each new life to be lived:
Toby is a mutt, born in the woods, he must learn to survive by following his mother's teachings, and teach him will. Toby will learn many skills not only from his mother but other dogs and human he meets along the way all in the search of his purpose. When he finds it, he wants to make sure that he always gets back there no matter what.
This book is a super cute read and I highly recommend it not only if you are a dog/animal lover, but need a feel goo read. I have not read too many books from an animals point of view, but I have to say that I really enjoyed it. It is kind of nice to have a non human point of view, however, Cameron has a good balance of Toby's voice and adding in additional human details that I would assume a dog would not notice or think about. I think that Cameron was smart to add these details, of have Toby over hear conversations that he may not understand but it allows the reader to get to know the world that Toby is living in better, and allows for a break from the canine observations I really enjoyed the idea of reincarnation within this book as it was interesting seeing the different lives that Toby takes and the skills he learns along the way. We should all be so lucky to be able to carry this type of learning experience with us. It was also interesting that he was not stuck to a single gender along the way and I think that Cameron is trying to show it is the soul of the dog that matters most.
This book was cute read and will make you laugh and cry throughout especially if you are animal lovers. I have just realized that this is only the first book in a series, so I look forward to seeing where the second book leads. I also know this book has been turned in to a movie so I'm going to have to watch it as well. Enjoy!!!
Sean Platt and David Wright take readers on a journey of what would happen if one day you woke up and everyone was gone:
Well almost everyone, there seem to be a few people that are still here alive, assuming everyone else is dead. The surviving few are different ages, gender, race, occupations and some are good and some are evil. It is unknown why they were chosen to survive and survive they must, as there is something more watching them. Side will be chosen, allies and enemies made, can the human race survive just on these "chosen" few.
This book was originally released in a serial format, but I received the first six episodes in one book. For me this book was a DNF and I hate that it was as the premise of the book had so much promise and intrigue for me. I was able to make it through one serial and half of the next section when I stopped reading, I lost interest in the entire book and where the authors were going with it. I think that due to the fact that it was in a serial so they needed to have
each serial as a mini book instead of chapters and for me this affected the overall flow of the book. I think that the serial format hurt this book but maybe I would
have thought differently if I had read it in the serial format instead of having it lumped together in a book as I would have had a break between the releases. Personally, I think the serial format is better suited for TV and honestly I could see this book as a TV show, just from how it was presented and written
I could not get in to the story or the characters and the characters I did find interesting had less sections from their viewpoints, which that takes me to my next point that there were too many characters. With too many characters there were too many different experiences and too much information about each one to not only keep them straight but also to understand what was going on in the book. I'm always disappointed when I'm unable to finish a book, but sometimes it just happens, and we all move on to a book that will hopefully be an amazing. If you have previously read a book that is serial in format then you may like this one as well, but it was not for me. Cheers!!!
