If you have not read the first two book (Hell Divers & Hell Divers: Ghosts) in the series, stop right now and go order them. They are both fantastic reads that you will not want to put down. This review will contain SPOILERS for both of those books and you really don’t want to do that to yourself, so just stop reading this now and start at the beginning of the series. Trust me you won’t regret it.

Nicholas Sansbury Smith is back with his killer Hell divers series and this time the divers are spending more time on Earth than ever before:

Team Raptor has been left behind on Earth by the Hive but they were able to find a new ship Deliverance to help take them to the last coordinates that Xavier “X” Rodriguez had given and hope that he is still alive after all these years. They are on a rescue mission that has zero chance of being a success but they have to hope for something and to prove to X that he was not left behind by everyone. While on the Hive Captain Jordan is losing control over the ship. The people are angry, supplies are running out and Hell Divers are in short supply. Jordan will do everything in his power to keep the ship in the air even if it means, lying, cheating and murdering to keep it that way. Team Raptor may be in danger from the nightmare creatures that now plague the Earth, but they also need to keep their eyes on the sky for danger comes from familiar places.

Enjoy!!!

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I received an ARC of this book for free from the publisher (Candlewick Press) as well as from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers. Yes, I ended up with two ARCs because I had sent a review request to the publisher (which they granted) and had entered to win the book on LibraryThing (and ended up winning a copy).

I was so excited to read this book because I have read very few books about the Native American experience and wanted to learn more.

I loved the premise of the book and the message behind it. Native Americans and their experiences are always swept under the rug when it comes to racial inequality, so it is important to have books like this out there. I learned a lot from this. For example, L. Frank Baum’s racist attitudes towards Native Americans. I never knew that because it never gets mentioned.

I also liked how the author incorporated some Mvskoke words into the story. It was a nice touch.

However, the book’s execution was a bit lackluster. To me it just seemed like there was a lot going on. Not only was there a lot about racism but there were also a little bit of slut shaming and bullying thrown in the mix too. This was all on top of a romance story too. I wished the book would just focus on one main issue, instead of trying to throw it all in. It would have had more focus and been more impactful that way.

Overall, the book had a powerful message despite a few flaws in the execution.

(Original Review, 1980-08-08)



I also picked up a couple of the Lensmen books after reading about them here in the SF-Lovers newsletter. Umm, as one of those narrow-minded types who happens to think the Golden Age of Science Fiction is right now, I recommend that anyone else who is tempted to do so scour your local used book stores before laying out real cash money for them.

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

This is a superb analysis of the intertwined issues of gender, gender roles, and power.

One of the most interesting graduate classes I took at ASU was "Sociology of Everyday Life," for which this was one of the texts. 

Sadly, much of our time in class was flat-out ruined by a trio of middle-school teachers who were more interested in chatting (loudly) than in listening to any discussion.  They became an informal example of how "ruling relations" affect our everyday lives: Accustomed to being in charge in a classroom, they transferred their sense of authority to our classroom.  The professor, being only an adjunct and therefore lacking in authority, hesitated to demand their attention or call them out for their disruptive behavior.

I had no such reticence.  I got sick and tired of it one evening (it was a night class) and told them to shut up.  They were sooooo insulted!  Who was I to tell them to shut up when the professor himself hadn't said anything?  Well damn it, I was paying for that class and I wanted to get something out of it beyond hearing their problems with their students.

We were treated to a special Saturday session for which Dorothy Smith and another sociologist were brought in.  One of the things I remembered most about her presentation was a diagram showing how texts -- meaning books, magazines, movies, advertisements, etc. -- are never static because they get interpreted by those who consume them.  Therefore it's virtually impossible to evaluate any text solely on its own merits without considering the context of both the producer of the text and the consumer.

Needless to say, this applies to the reviewing of books: Regardless what the author may have intended the book to be or to mean or to do, the reader's reaction is an independent and valid context.