Narrated by: R. C. Bray
Series: The Hell Divers Trilogy, Book 2
Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins

1st of all check out my review for book 1 here  https://sippingfromthebrewingpot.fyi/2017/09/21/hell-divers-the-hell-divers-trilogy-book-1-by-nicholas-sansbury-smith/

I’ll start with Listenability

The same as book 1 applies here, in the fact that as compared to many of the books I’ve listened to, this was a step down in the level of concentration needed and thinking in general you needed.

But that being said, that’s what you want sometimes. Perfect for taking the bus if you’ve got things on your mind.
If you want to listen to a story, without fully getting into it… then this is very good.

The difference with book 2 however is that the story delves a lot more into what the creatures are on the ground, and how the citizens of the airships got to be up there and what the ultimate plan may be.

Story

10 years has passed since the events of book 1, and the young boy Tin, has now grown to a young man going by Michael, and is now a Hell Diver like his father.

Distress signals from the surface have been coming back relaying the message that Xavier “X” Rodriguez survived, and that he will then be moving to the coast to search for habitable areas, kind of proving that it IS possible to survive on the surface rather than the air.

Jordan, the new captain of the sole remaining airship, after taking over from captain Ash, runs the ship in a more cold, clinical way rather that with heart like his predecessor.  He has been keeping X’s messages a secret so as to not give the inhabitants too much hope, and has instead given up on returning to the surface.
The prophecy of ‘the man who will lead the return of humans to the earth’ is making the rounds again, and captain Weaver is keen to see it through.

For the premise of the whole series, here’s the publisher’s summary for book 1, and it will clue you in:

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 Aging and outdated, most of the ships plummeted back to Earth long ago.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.

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

Narration

Same as the 1st book, the narrators book is low and gravely, but considering the story is set in a post-apocalyptic world, this makes a lot of sense.

Recommendation

I actually like these books because you can relax after listening to a book that is much more intense.

This is because the level of concentration needed is quite a bit less, the story is more simple, and because of the post-apocalyptic setting, all the voices can have a similar gravely tone due to everyone pretty much having cancer and being depressed.

Basically it makes it easy on the ears, and sometimes you need that.

Also book 2 is a lot more interesting than book 1 and the 8 hours flies by pretty quickly.

I’m actually looking forward to book 3 to see what happens during that book.

Essentially, I’m sure the ending is going to be that the airship restarts life on the ground by finding enough supplies etc. or living underground, but with this one it really IS about the journey, as cliché as that sounds.

I didn’t get this book on audible, I got it from another source, but here’s the audible link if you want to check out more reviews.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Hell-Divers-II-Ghosts-Audiobook/B01N5US9UJ/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1510502075&sr=1-1

Get a free trial of audible with 2 free books, listen to books like this for free, & then if you want….just quit before 30 days & you get to keep everything… sounds like a pretty good deal to me.