Hell Divers IV: Wolves

Book 4 sees a change of pace for all involved…. Ha, only kidding, this is a Smith book after all!! The book starts with an absolute bang and doesn’t let up. I devoured this as fast as I could and forwent sleep to finish!!

Literally within the few pages the ship that X, Magnolia and Miles are on is attacked by a giant monster! They have their hands full and things are extremely tense. The author makes it such a way that you can’t see what’s coming. My heart was in my mouth because I didn’t know what was going to happen. In fact, through out the whole book, I was kept on tenderhooks because I had no clue where the plot was going!! There are so many twists and turns that it was impossible to tell.

Then we have the characters that are on the airships. At the end of the last book, they had managed to get another airship, Deliverance, and with that, life upon the ships have gotten better for all. Yet the Hell Divers are still needed and their latest dive is going to test even the hardest one! Certain things come to light when the Divers land on an island that will shake them to the core.

There is so much I want to say about the plot and what is revealed, and what happens to certain characters and what happens to other characters, but I can’t!!!! I truly believe that this is Smith’s best work to date. The pacing never lets up and the characters will squeeze your heart. So much is revealed and so much is set in place for the next in the series! You can just tell that everything the author does here is a set up for what’s sure to be an explosive end!

This author has never failed to deliver an amazing read, and this one is no different. Its everything you could want in a book!! Jam packed with action, adventure, edge of your seat pacing, characters that will captivate you and a story you will fall in love with. Absolutely epic installment in one of my favourite series! Highly, Highly recommend

Sansbury Smith is a skilled writer. My husband and I have been reading this series for years and look forward to each installment. WOLVES is another great addition with our favorite character, Xavier Rodriguez! For more conservative readers, there is some language and violence (hello, post apocalyptic story!).

This series is awesome! You must read it.

This starts off pretty much where the last book left off. X and Magnolia, along with his dog, Miles, are braving the dark ocean on board the Sea Wolf, searching for the ever elusive Metal Islands. What used to appear to be a myth is now looking more like the real thing. And Katrina is settling into her role as captain of both the Deliverance and the Hive. Her command comes with tough choices and a learning curve. As X and his motley crew deal with their demons from the deep, so Katrina deals with her own inner doubts and all the complications of making decisions for the good of the last remaining survivors of Earth.

Yes, I was hoping this would start with a bang, and it sure did. X and the gang are soon in over the heads as the author throws the book at them; killer sharks, a mutant kraken, giant vultures and man eating metal-skinned hogs. The action never really lets up. Not for the occupants of the Sea Wolf and not for those floating in the ships above. The author adds more danger with a surprise enemy or two.

As I neared the end of the book my anxiety was through the roof! It was exciting to see the crew from Deliverance finally land on the surface. They’d been there before, seen the horrific conditions, the deadly monsters, but they still weren’t ready for what they encountered. Some perish while others face what seem to me to be insurmountable odds. This is nothing new in the series. With mutant creatures ruling solid ground, death is always looming. What got me was a couple of scenes with Magnolia and Miles. The author had me in tears and that takes some doing with me. And a rescue scene with X had me so tied up in knots I feared to read on. Sure, X is a main characters and the all powerful alpha male, but that doesn’t mean he’ll survive and continue to the end of the series.

I was about to say this series keeps getting better and better, but that’s not necessarily what I want to convey. I can’t choose any book that is better than the other. Each books is awesome. The action is super fast. And the situations are mind blowing. Where it gets better in each book is the character growth and the secrets revealed. I finally learned how the world ended. I should have guessed it, but I didn’t.

Loved Wolves. Hell Divers IV. Love the Hell Divers Series. “They Dive So Humanity Survives.” And the author can’t write more fast enough. I have my fingers and toes crossed that these will be made into movies!

Loved it! Couldn’t put it down. Wolves went to the sea and it was a great ride. If you have not read any of books in the Hell Divers series, any book stands alone and is an excellent read. The series is outstanding!!!

This book is so good that you will not want to put it down!! EVER!! Get ready, fasten your seatbelt, and hold on!! You are in for one “hell” of a ride!!! Such a good addition to this already awesome series. It will leave you wanting to read anything and everything that Nicholas has to offer!!!

An absolutely remarkable book. I recommend reading this book. I recommend ready anything written by Nick.

HD4 Enthralled Me From Beginning To End

I’m not sure whether to call this book Hell Divers IV or Wolves so I might go back and forth (and I’ll definitely throw in an HD4 for simplicity) – so please stick with me.

First and foremost. Good lord was this book fantastic. It opens with an epic fight against one sea creature. And within a few minutes, they are attacked by another one. I’m a big fan of “deep sea thrillers” and Wolves took some of my favorite elements from these books and threw them into a world decimated by bombs and left to thrive and evolve on its own after humans were basically wiped off the face of it. I also wasn’t sure why NSS called it wolves until a while into the book (and I won’t ruin it for you). I literally went “ohhh” out loud when he revealed it.

There are some main points that I want to cover because this book had a lot going on in it. One is that NSS is able to write an entire series without ever diving into politics. I wasn’t sure at one point of Wolves if he was going to go a little into it, but right when he could have finger-pointed and gone completely political he about-faced and threw me for a complete freaking loop. Seriously, I’m pretty good at guessing plot points and major “fake outs” but I did not see the major and massive plotline Smith wrote in HD4. It’s even harder because I can’t go into what happened that shocked me so much since it’s a pretty major spoiler, but know that for the first time in four books we have an idea of what the heck happened to cause the surface of Earth to become hell reincarnate.

(This point will contain spoilers from the other three books). Another point that I wanted to dive into (ahhh get it?) is the way that Smith is able to write a character who was a loner, then wasn’t (because of Tin), then was left to die so became a loner again. He found a dog and realized he didn’t want to be alone anymore. He’s finally found by his ship and doesn’t want to go back, and then is forced to go back and forth with this all during book 4. It’s amazing to watch the back and forth growth of X and the situational-specific feelings he was able to have. It’s something you rarely get since character arcs don’t look like waves they usually look like a rainbow or a diagonal line.

Hell Divers IV is one of those books that makes you feel – numerous times about a number of things. You feel for X, you feel for Miles, and for Tin. You feel for the people around him, for the people in the Hive, and for many others. Smith is able to write characters that feel real. X feels like a real person. The things that he thinks and says out loud feel real. I’ve never had characters jump off the page more than when I was reading the Hell Divers series and Wolves was no different. A few times I had to actually pause the audiobook just so that I could gather myself. One of those times was dealing with X’s dog, Miles, and I was damn near hyperventilating because of it.

The final point I wanted to make is that Smith is also able to write about human experiences in such a way that even though he’s writing speculative fiction about the future – it could be re-written as a narrative of things going on today. I love that and loved Hell Divers IV: Wolves more for it.

On top of all of this, throw in the master R.C. Bray’s performance and you have what could be one of my top 3 books of 2018. I know that I won’t forget this book for a long time. Bray’s performance of X specifically just seals the deal. It feels like it’s just an extension of Bray’s voice. I know if I chose to read vs listen to another HD book I would hear X’s voice as Bray.

I believe I’ve mentioned this in other reviews, but easily one of the best parts of the audiobook is when Bray has to say a place name different than how we know it (Florida as “Floor-id-a” for example). In an older book, it was Miami as “my-ah-my”. In Wolves, the one that got me was Chicago as “Chick-ah-go”. I know that saying these places had to be tough for Bray and I picture him saying it as a normal American would and then realizing it and having to go re-record it at least once.

If you’re looking for a new post-apocalyptic series to read, especially one that isn’t political (at all) but still has all the feeling then Hell Divers is for you. If you’ve read HD 1-3 and aren’t sure about 4, what’s wrong with you? I know that HD4 will stick with me until HD5 comes out (hopefully in 2019).

There is plenty going on in this story and all of it will make your pulse race. X is back and he’s neck-deep in trouble, battling horrific mutations both on land and sea. This poor guy just can’t catch a break.

Meanwhile, high above on the Hive and Deliverance, Captain DaVita is working on a plan to relocate the occupants of the airships to a relatively small, non-toxic area of Earth’s surface currently inhabited by a psychopath and his minions. HD4 continues the author’s legacy of crazy-great writing combined with top-notch action scenes.

Two Hell Divers are seeking answers down on the surface while others aboard their airship are trying to find some order from the previous chaos.