(Don’t listen to the commentary: director David Twohy makes it stupider.) But here these things don’t make sense. In Pitch Black one could at least assume the monsters have an entire underground ecosystem and it was just bad luck the hapless travelers landed on their planet the one day every millennium that the multiple suns are blocked, casting darkness over the place that allows the flying biters to venture out onto the surface. These critters are straight out of the Riddick movies, except dumber. What do these things eat? Radioactive dirt? It’s just super stupid. Huge flying dinobatdragon things that are blind and eat (?) radiation. Which means the heart of the nuclear explosion was right there. I’ll buy that they might be scavenging outside of the various grounds zero, *except* they literally traverse a crater in Chicago and the radiation is off the charts.

And if a huge thermonuclear bomb was dropped near enough to a city for there to be lingering radioactivity, that would imply searing heat and shockwaves to destroy everything. The parachutists dive into hell.īut if the world is so inimical, how are there still usable supplies left after at least two centuries? Radiation corrodes everything, from metal to cement. The surface is a radioactive hellscape of gargantuan snowstorms and electrical discharges, as well as actual monsters. We’ll let this one go as our one big buy-in. Why would huge dirigibles drop bombs? Maybe that’s an unreliable narrator thing, as this is said by a character who grew up on said airship. Now scavengers from the airships parachute down to the wrecked surface to find parts for the decaying airships.

Some people survived on giant airships similar to the ones that dropped the world-ending bombs. Setting: a couple hundred years ago WWIII incinerated the Earth. It’s Impossible to buy into a post-apocalyptic action story when the worldbuilding is as fundamentally broken as this one. If you want to connect with him on social media here are some links. Note: Nicholas is no longer an active user on Goodreads and does not use the platform. Subscribers will also receive access to exclusive giveaways. Sign up for Nicholas's spam-free newsletter to learn more about future releases, how to claim a book patch, special offers, and bonus content. He is an Ironman triathlete and lives in Iowa with his wife, their dogs, and a house full of books. When he isn't writing or daydreaming about the apocalypse, he enjoys running, biking, spending time with his family, and traveling the world. He worked for Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management in disaster planning and mitigation before switching careers to focus on his one true passion-writing. His other work includes the Extinction Cycle series, the Trackers series, and the Orbs series.

Nicholas Sansbury Smith is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Hell Divers series.

Hell divers 7