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Savage - the Lost Years: a Dark Dystopian Romance
In a broken world, sometimes all you can do is survive.
After barely escaping Qanat, Jameson and Zahara sail to Île Tor aboard the stolen Kingfisher. A trail of wreckage lies in their wake. Ami may be dead. Petra will never forgive them. Jameson is almost certainly the most wanted man in Qanat.
Jameson is ready to lay low for a while. Maybe forever. He's done being a bad guy. He's done trying to figure out what "the right thing" is. After the ordeal his life has been so far, he'd be perfectly happy to live out his days as a Reckoner, sailing wherever he pleases.
But Zahara is restless. She can't just walk away, especially after what they learned about Zenith. When some unexpected news upends their new lives, Zahara wants to use it as an excuse to return to Qanat and continue her work with the Anonymity.
But returning to the city will mean returning to her family. To the mess they left behind. To a dangerous, secretive world where everyone has a hidden agenda, and things are never what they seem...
After barely escaping Qanat, Jameson and Zahara sail to Île Tor aboard the stolen Kingfisher. A trail of wreckage lies in their wake. Ami may be dead. Petra will never forgive them. Jameson is almost certainly the most wanted man in Qanat.
Jameson is ready to lay low for a while. Maybe forever. He's done being a bad guy. He's done trying to figure out what "the right thing" is. After the ordeal his life has been so far, he'd be perfectly happy to live out his days as a Reckoner, sailing wherever he pleases.
But Zahara is restless. She can't just walk away, especially after what they learned about Zenith. When some unexpected news upends their new lives, Zahara wants to use it as an excuse to return to Qanat and continue her work with the Anonymity.
But returning to the city will mean returning to her family. To the mess they left behind. To a dangerous, secretive world where everyone has a hidden agenda, and things are never what they seem...
286 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 18, 2025
2 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Liz Shipton
29 books591 followersHi! I'm Liz. I'm a writer and off-grid liveaboard sailor. I gallivant about the high seas with my partner and my dog, turning my adventures into speculative fiction.
While I explore the world, my books explore themes adjacent to mental health, the loneliness epidemic, addiction, tech creep, climate change, and the looming collapse of society (but, like...in a fun way.)
When I'm not penning novels about the impending apocalypse, I make money tearing other writers' manuscripts to shreds. Others call this pastime 'editing', and if you're interested, I can do it for you.
On the rare occasion I'm not working, you can find me swimming, complaining about the weather, telling my dog I love her for the bazillionth time today, or watching Taskmaster.
While I explore the world, my books explore themes adjacent to mental health, the loneliness epidemic, addiction, tech creep, climate change, and the looming collapse of society (but, like...in a fun way.)
When I'm not penning novels about the impending apocalypse, I make money tearing other writers' manuscripts to shreds. Others call this pastime 'editing', and if you're interested, I can do it for you.
On the rare occasion I'm not working, you can find me swimming, complaining about the weather, telling my dog I love her for the bazillionth time today, or watching Taskmaster.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 21, 2025
Such a great finish to an amazing series! So glad I stumbled onto Liz Shipton on Instagram and took a chance on her books. Amazing writing of a truly underrated author! I am so sad that I am now finished the Thalassic series. I will definitely miss going on adventures with all the characters. The comedy and banter was *chefs kiss*. I laughed out loud. I cried. And I experienced every emotion in between! Will always read anything she comes out with after this! ♥️
May 17, 2025
Well this was devastating.
July 23, 2025
How does Jameson change from the happy, free man he ends the previous book as, sailing the Salt with the love of his life, into the drunken miserable Reckoner that Bird encounters in the first Thalassic book? The answer is easy - trauma.
I knew this book would be hard to read. I couldn't remember exactly how many kids Savage has or what exactly happens with them, but by the time I got to that point in the story where everyone wonders what has happened, I remembered...
This book starts with Zahara making the decision to go back to her family, which Savage eventually ends up agreeing with. Not everyone in Qanat is happy to see them, and what seems to be a celebration of love turns into exile. Hard choices are being made by both Savage and Zahara, as they take an offer from Axioma that would change the course of all their lives. It's hard to say more without spoiling the book but the trauma and heartbreak made this the saddest book of the series for me.
The end of his prequel matches my expectations, and I thought the author did a great job linking this story to where Salt starts - I loved the final chapter of Savage's point of view of encountering Bird, and I definitely knew more about him now to understand some of his choices at the beginning of the series.
Easily 5/5 stars, it's a great addition to the overall story and a very realistic way of describing how this morally grey character changed so much through the series.
I knew this book would be hard to read. I couldn't remember exactly how many kids Savage has or what exactly happens with them, but by the time I got to that point in the story where everyone wonders what has happened, I remembered...
This book starts with Zahara making the decision to go back to her family, which Savage eventually ends up agreeing with. Not everyone in Qanat is happy to see them, and what seems to be a celebration of love turns into exile. Hard choices are being made by both Savage and Zahara, as they take an offer from Axioma that would change the course of all their lives. It's hard to say more without spoiling the book but the trauma and heartbreak made this the saddest book of the series for me.
The end of his prequel matches my expectations, and I thought the author did a great job linking this story to where Salt starts - I loved the final chapter of Savage's point of view of encountering Bird, and I definitely knew more about him now to understand some of his choices at the beginning of the series.
Easily 5/5 stars, it's a great addition to the overall story and a very realistic way of describing how this morally grey character changed so much through the series.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews