Book notes: Hell Divers III by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

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Hell Divers III: Deliverance by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Synopsis:

“They will dive, but will humanity survive?

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In the skies, the Hive is falling apart, but Captain Jordan is more determined than ever to keep humanity in their outdated lifeboat.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 Hell Divers series, Michael and his fellow divers fight across the mutated landscape in search of X. But what they find will change everything.” -Audible

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Opening thoughts:

After two books, I’m officially addicted to this series. I love the storyline, the characters, and setting, and the mechanics of the universe. Easily one of my new favorite series, with as much action as a feature film.

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Key notes:

Chapter 1

• X and his dog kept trekking on in the wasteland. He could barely remember details of his old life

Chapter 2

• They set a course to X’s last known location, but discovered they would need to dive through an electrical storm to get to him, as they would be unable to land

Chapter 3

• X took shelter in an old military vehicle for a few days until eventually they got attacked by sirens, who pushed them off a cliff

Chapter 4

• They took stock of the ship, which had weapons and possibly food rations. They also learned that it had nuclear weapons that could cause massive destruction

Chapter 5

• Roger and Magnolia found a room with four dead bodies. It was Timothy’s, the AI, family, and himself. This was where they died, with Timothy’s body holding a pistol 

Chapter 6

• X barely managed to survive the assault of over a dozen Sirens 
• Timothy got his memories back and told them how his family decided to kill themselves rather than be eaten by the Sirens. He also showed them where all the supplies and food were stashed, but not used.

Chapter 7

• Jordan was actually using X’s transmissions to find supplies and following his journey toward the coast over the years

Chapter 8

• The crew of the Deliverance made it to the surface and buried Timothy and his family

Chapter 9

• X and Miles were caught in an earthquake and then were attacked by a tentacled ocean creature 

Chapter 10

• The crew encountered hostile plant vine creatures, but managed to survive by leaving the city area
• Katrina was transferred to the medical bay for a miscarriage of her baby

Chapter 11

• X managed to survive the swamp creatures and made it to the bunker. But he had an infection and needed to recover before he could try to restore one of the vehicles to take them to the ocean
• Team Raptor found boats, but also a Siren’s nest

Chapter 12

• Team Raptor managed to get the boats to the swamp water and fight off the Sirens

Chapter 13

• X managed to restore a motorcycle and loaded up on supplies before leaving the bunker

Chapter 14

• Team Phoenix managed to make it to the surface with 5 out of their 6 divers alive

Chapter 15

• X had throat cancer, but decided to go seek the medicine and fight to stay alive
• There was a riot where a couple of dozen people were calling for a new captain

Chapter 16

• Timothy ended up rescuing them, and they were able to resuscitate Michael. They had to fix the damage from the storm first, then they would continue flying towards X’s last location
• Team Phoenix made it to the building

Chapter 17

• X successfully used his bike mods to slice through a dozen sirens on the way to the ITC building
• Captain Jordan told Katrina that Michael was alive and flying an airship to X

Chapter 18

• Team Phoenix was successful in getting supplies, and they started their return to the Hive
• Tie’s balloon was sabotaged, and he was attacked by Sirens during the ascent

Chapter 19

• During his raid of the facility for cancer drugs, X encountered other humans in armored suits who stunned him with an electrical weapon

Chapter 20

• Team Raptor flew The Deliverance directly through the storm and barely made it to the city of Miami
• X managed to escape the cell he was put in by Spanish-speaking cannibals and made a plan to disguise himself to escape

Chapter 21

• Team Raptor was attacked by more Sirens until a man in a suit came to their rescue 

Chapter 22

• Les found out his daughter was also sick and that the captain went back on his promise to give his wife the medicine she needed
• He also visited his teenage son, Trey, in the brig, and decided he needed to find the others who saw the captain as a cancer that needed to be cut away

Chapter 23

• As X fought alongside team Raptor, he finally remembered and recognized Tin, and all his old memories came flooding back
• They made it back to X’s apartment, and they started treating Michael. The rest of the team saw the “floaters” that X warned them about being worse than the Sirens

Chapter 24

• Team Phoenix, minus Jennifer, barely survived the fall to the surface in the new pod through the storm

Chapter 25

• The filled in X on the situation, but he didn’t want to leave his home. However, he agreed to help them protect their ship, Deliverance
• Roger and Magnolia were captured by the floaters

Chapter 26

• Team Raptor managed to keep the ship, but also Magnolia and Roger were captured and tied up on the cargo ship 

Chapter 27

• X freed Magnolia and Roger, but in a tough situation, had to choose which of them to save, so Roger was killed by el Pulpo
• The Deliverance had to make a quick getaway as a hundred Sirens were attracted to the ship

Chapter 28

• They freed Katrina, who ended up being the one to kill Jordan

Epilogue

• They upgraded and improved both ships over the last two months with more equipment and supplies from the ground. Also, they made a ship for X to use while he goes looking for the Cazadores
• He said goodbye to everyone but Magnolia surprised him by saying she was coming with him

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Closing thoughts:

I loved this book and I’m satisfied with how this part of the series ended. They finally managed to reunite with X, kill Jordan, and the entire population of the Hive had a brighter future than ever before with the addition of a new airship. Unfortunately, X leaving made sense but it would have been cool to see him play a leadership role on the Hive. However, I can see how in the grand scheme of things, being apart from his people would be better to keep the legend of “The Immortal” alive.

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Nutshell:

Team Raptor use their new airship, Deliverance, to find X and stage a coup against the tyrannical captain Jordan.

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Similar books:

• Hell Divers 2 by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
• Hell Divers by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed by Sean Williams
• Armada by Ernest Cline
• Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
• Lock In by John Scalzi
• Dune by Frank Herbert

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Rating:

4.5/5

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