Nicholas Sansbury Smith: Captives

This is the fifth book in the Hell Divers series (Hell Divers, Ghosts, Deliverance and Wolves) and I cannot recommend it enough especially if you like sci-fi and post apocalyptic genres. As with any series it is best to start at the beginning and you better start now as you will not be disappointed.

Those in the HIVE in the sky finally have new hope for returning to Earth. X and Magnolia found the Metal Islands but were captured in the process. Magnolia and X are forced into servitude by the cannibal king El Pulpo, X in his army and Magnolia is to be one of his Wives. Back on the Hive they are preparing for war and hopefully the rescue of their friends. But what will be the cost of attempting to claim the metal islands back on Earth? Blood, lots and lots of Blood.

I love this series and while this is not my favourite book in the series, it still does an amazing job in keeping the reader engaged and on the edge of their seat with nonstop action. I actually think that this is the most intense book of the series with War on the horizon and even the interaction between El Pulpo, X and Magnolia are dripping in tension as you do not know how any of these character are going to react. 

I feel in a way that this book was slightly predictable as you knew what the outcome was going to be, I mean Sansbury Smith is not that heartless. However,, I will admit that not everyone is going to be there in the end and one death was truly shocking but you knew what the ending was going to shape up to be.

I will always love X as a character and how so much more at home he is on the surface of the earth than above it in the sky. X is pure grit, roughness with an overwhelming need to survive, with just a tough of a softer side for his dog Miles. Even after everything he had gone through and goes through in this book, X never seem to give up even when he should at his end.

Once again Sansbury Smith wows me with his imagination of what Earth could look like in this state. From the robots, to how humans act to the creatures that have mutated in this world, he has great imagination for all those things. We do actually find out about what caused WWIII and how Earth to ended up this way, but for me this story was always secondary (and less interesting) to what was occurring now and I was not as interested in that side story after the novel Deliverance.

This is my favourite post apocalyptic series and I thought this was going to be the last book but Sansbury Smith surprised me with having another book in this series, which I will immediately pick it up. Anytime i can read about the Hell Divers I'm in.

Enjoy!!!

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