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Salvaged
A WOMAN ON THE RUN. A CAPTAIN ADRIFT IN SPACE. ONE OF THEM IS INFECTED WITH AN ALIEN PARASITE.
In this dark science fiction thriller, a young woman must confront her past so the human race will have a future.
Rosalyn Devar is on the run from her famous family, the bioengineering job she's come to hate, and her messed-up life. She's run all the way to outer space, where she's taken a position as a "space janitor," cleaning up ill-fated research expeditions. But no matter how far she goes, Rosalyn can't escape herself. After too many mistakes on the job, she's given one last chance: take care of salvaging the Brigantine, a research vessel that has gone dark, with all crew aboard thought dead.
But the Brigantine's crew are very much alive--if not entirely human. Now Rosalyn is trapped on board, alone with a crew infected by a mysterious parasitic alien. The captain, Edison Aries, seems to still maintain some control over himself and the crew, but he won't be able to keep fighting much longer. Rosalyn and Edison must find a way to stop the parasite's onslaught...or it may take over the entire human race.
In this dark science fiction thriller, a young woman must confront her past so the human race will have a future.
Rosalyn Devar is on the run from her famous family, the bioengineering job she's come to hate, and her messed-up life. She's run all the way to outer space, where she's taken a position as a "space janitor," cleaning up ill-fated research expeditions. But no matter how far she goes, Rosalyn can't escape herself. After too many mistakes on the job, she's given one last chance: take care of salvaging the Brigantine, a research vessel that has gone dark, with all crew aboard thought dead.
But the Brigantine's crew are very much alive--if not entirely human. Now Rosalyn is trapped on board, alone with a crew infected by a mysterious parasitic alien. The captain, Edison Aries, seems to still maintain some control over himself and the crew, but he won't be able to keep fighting much longer. Rosalyn and Edison must find a way to stop the parasite's onslaught...or it may take over the entire human race.
354 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 2019
105 people are currently reading
6888 people want to read
About the author
Madeleine Roux
50 books4,860 followersNew York Times Bestselling Author of the ASYLUM series, Allison Hewitt Is Trapped, Sadie Walker Is Stranded and the upcoming House of Furies series.
MADELEINE ROUX received her BA in Creative Writing and Acting from Beloit College in 2008. In the spring of 2009, Madeleine completed an Honors Term at Beloit College, proposing, writing and presenting a full-length historical fiction novel. Shortly after, she began the experimental fiction blog Allison Hewitt Is Trapped. Allison Hewitt Is Trapped quickly spread throughout the blogosphere, bringing a unique serial fiction experience to readers.
Born in Minnesota, she now lives and works in Seattle, Washington.
MADELEINE ROUX received her BA in Creative Writing and Acting from Beloit College in 2008. In the spring of 2009, Madeleine completed an Honors Term at Beloit College, proposing, writing and presenting a full-length historical fiction novel. Shortly after, she began the experimental fiction blog Allison Hewitt Is Trapped. Allison Hewitt Is Trapped quickly spread throughout the blogosphere, bringing a unique serial fiction experience to readers.
Born in Minnesota, she now lives and works in Seattle, Washington.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 351 reviews
September 29, 2019
I appear to be in the minority here, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one! It seems that this book is more mature and darker thematically than most early readers expected, but that was definitely a plus for me. My only concern is my questions surrounding the ending, and whether or not this will be extended into a series, or if it's just intending to be ambiguous and mysterious? Either way, I highly recommend this one to fans of horror sci-fi!
*Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy via NetGalley.
*Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy via NetGalley.
March 27, 2019
Full disclosure: I received a copy of this book to be reading for a potential blurbed.
Readers, I blurbed it. And I don't blurb a lot of books.
I won't rehash plot details, as that's not how I review books. First, I'll provide the quote I sent:
"Salvaged is riveting and brutal, a study in scars. The masterful writing and bittersweet beauty of these characters will haunt you long after you finish reading."
TW: violence, sexual assault (off-page, backstory)
I devoured the first half of this book in a single sitting. It was so good, so compelling, with layers to unravel. The world Madeleine Roux has created is hauntingly real, so real that I felt as if I was inhabiting the skins of those I read about, and it wasn't comfortable, but the book grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go.
When I took a break from this book, it was because I had to. It was just too intense.
I went back to the book on the plane to Toronto. Things had gotten so dark that I was viscerally afraid for all the characters, and without spoilers, I'll say I was satisfied with the ending.
Give this book a shot if you love gritty SF.
Readers, I blurbed it. And I don't blurb a lot of books.
I won't rehash plot details, as that's not how I review books. First, I'll provide the quote I sent:
"Salvaged is riveting and brutal, a study in scars. The masterful writing and bittersweet beauty of these characters will haunt you long after you finish reading."
TW: violence, sexual assault (off-page, backstory)
I devoured the first half of this book in a single sitting. It was so good, so compelling, with layers to unravel. The world Madeleine Roux has created is hauntingly real, so real that I felt as if I was inhabiting the skins of those I read about, and it wasn't comfortable, but the book grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go.
When I took a break from this book, it was because I had to. It was just too intense.
I went back to the book on the plane to Toronto. Things had gotten so dark that I was viscerally afraid for all the characters, and without spoilers, I'll say I was satisfied with the ending.
Give this book a shot if you love gritty SF.
March 23, 2024
Excellent story, well written.
Recommended.
Recommended.
May 24, 2020
Many thanks to Berkley Publishing Group for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review
"'Ikke gi opp,' she told him, butchering the Norwegian. But she smiled and adjusted her sleeve, the door in front of them hissing open. It was time. 'Fight back.'"
Wow, I was not expecting to enjoy this so much and not for the reason I did.
So, what's this book about?
Rosalyn Devar is on the run from her famous family, the bioengineering job she's come to hate, and her messed-up life. She's run all the way to outer space, where she's taken a position as a "space janitor," cleaning up ill-fated research expeditions. But no matter how far she goes, Rosalyn can't escape herself. After too many mistakes on the job, she's given one last chance: take care of salvaging the Brigantine, a research vessel that has gone dark, with all crew aboard thought dead.
But the Brigantine's crew are very much alive--if not entirely human. Now Rosalyn is trapped on board, alone with a crew infected by a mysterious parasitic alien. The captain, Edison Aries, seems to still maintain some control over himself and the crew, but he won't be able to keep fighting much longer. Rosalyn and Edison must find a way to stop the parasite's onslaught...or it may take over the entire human race.
I was expecting to love this book because it would be chillingly terrifying but that didn't end up happening. This book was definitely unsettling and fascinating but more than that, it was thrilling and romantic.
I loved the Agatha Christie feel this book gave me with the crew descending into further madness. This book was basically And Then There Were None but with aliens. The tension was built and maintained so well.
By the end, I was on the edge of my seat and I honestly was so sure the ending would go a certain way but then it took a sharp left turn and I was pleasantly surprised.
Overall, this book was thrilling, romantic, and super unexpected.
Bottom Line:
4.5 stars
Age Rating - [ R ]
Content Screening (Mild Spoilers)
Positive Messages (3/5) - [Never give up, Sacrifice for the greater good, Finding pockets of hope]
Violence (4/5) - [Gore, Body Horror, Fights, Death, Weapons, Guns]
Sex (1/5) - [Kissing, Sexual Themes]
Language (2/5) - [F**k, D*mn, Sh*t]
Drinking/Drugs (3/5) - [Alcohol consumption, Medicinal Drugs]
Content and Trigger Warnings - Loss of a loved one, Body horror, Terror, Sexual themes, Sexual assault
Publisher: (Ace Books (an imprint of Berkley Publishing Group (an imprint of Penguin Random House)))
Publication Date: October 15th, 2019
Genre: Science Fiction/Romance
----------
Dang... that was unexpectedly amazing
----------
aliens ✔️
thriller ✔️
poc main character ✔️
this is gonna be awesome
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October 15, 2019
I was drawn to this novel's edgy and timeless cover design since I laid my eyes on it. It didn't even take a whole chapter to suck me into the story. It had me pretty much on page one.
Rosalyn Devar doesn't have all her shit together. How do you go from being a bio-engineer with a brilliant career opportunity ahead to the workforce of space janitor, cleaning up decomposed bodies in a hazmat suit knee-deep in soupy sludge of human decay? Well, first off, the relationship with her parents is very difficult and second, she is wanting to escape the fame of her family's name. So where do you go? Into space!
"The job got more familiar but not easier. Never easier. And this was way beyond skin slippage, this was putrefaction on a level she had never seen before in person. Digital images just didn't capture it, really. The microscopic bacteria on the bodies were having a field day, turning once soft but decidedly human humans into a soup as dark and hideous as black gut blood, the kind of blood one never wanted to see squirt out of anything. But now she had to look at it. Now it was her job."
This is her day to day life! Sucking up the sludge of those perished on ill-fated research missions and dealing with it the best way she can: blasting music and drinking on the job.
Unfortunately, she has a way of getting herself into trouble and after a while is given a warning with the last chance to clean a special mission ship gone dark and its crew gone cold. Should she fail, she will be out of a job and has to go back home.
As Rosalyn embarks to the vessel, there are signs of life aboard, but she won't be able to make accurate predictions and calculations for rescue unless she figures out how the crew could still be alive with so little oxygen on board after several days of going dark!
Upon entering the Brigantine, things go haywire and she becomes trapped with the rest of the crew that's infected and mostly controlled by a parasitic alien. Edison Aries, the captain seems to have some capabilities to still control his actions and the two of them will try to save what they can and get out. Unprepared for an onslaught of biotech warfare, the two of them are fighting an uphill battle with their lives on the line and unveil a corruption that hits close to home and could take out all of humanity as they know it.
***
Filled with heaps of blemished characters, this galactic sci-fi thriller is edgy enough to satisfy and emotionally charged so it's easily read and relatable. The main character, despite her flaws or perhaps because of them, is a kick-ass heroine strong character and I liked her from page one.
The plot offers a myriad of dead ends that will keep you guessing at the resolve while racing through heart-pounding action and intrigue. A decent mix of AI, microbiology, and backstabbing sabotage will keep you reading into the night and root for Rosalyn.
This novel didn't hit all the notes in its pacing for me as a lot of action parts were told vs shown and left me behind sometimes, requiring a reorientation in it all by me rereading some lines. I personally do better living through the characters' actions or emotions then it being told from another angle.
This was my first novel to enjoy by Madeleine Roux. She has published several other novels in horror fiction and young adult genres including the 'Asylum', 'Zombie', and 'House of Furies' series.
I received an arc of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you kindly Berkley Publishing, AceRocBooks for my review copy.
(Quote is taken from an ARC and not the final book!)
More of my reviews here:
https://scarlettreadzandrunz.com/
Rosalyn Devar doesn't have all her shit together. How do you go from being a bio-engineer with a brilliant career opportunity ahead to the workforce of space janitor, cleaning up decomposed bodies in a hazmat suit knee-deep in soupy sludge of human decay? Well, first off, the relationship with her parents is very difficult and second, she is wanting to escape the fame of her family's name. So where do you go? Into space!
"The job got more familiar but not easier. Never easier. And this was way beyond skin slippage, this was putrefaction on a level she had never seen before in person. Digital images just didn't capture it, really. The microscopic bacteria on the bodies were having a field day, turning once soft but decidedly human humans into a soup as dark and hideous as black gut blood, the kind of blood one never wanted to see squirt out of anything. But now she had to look at it. Now it was her job."
This is her day to day life! Sucking up the sludge of those perished on ill-fated research missions and dealing with it the best way she can: blasting music and drinking on the job.
Unfortunately, she has a way of getting herself into trouble and after a while is given a warning with the last chance to clean a special mission ship gone dark and its crew gone cold. Should she fail, she will be out of a job and has to go back home.
As Rosalyn embarks to the vessel, there are signs of life aboard, but she won't be able to make accurate predictions and calculations for rescue unless she figures out how the crew could still be alive with so little oxygen on board after several days of going dark!
Upon entering the Brigantine, things go haywire and she becomes trapped with the rest of the crew that's infected and mostly controlled by a parasitic alien. Edison Aries, the captain seems to have some capabilities to still control his actions and the two of them will try to save what they can and get out. Unprepared for an onslaught of biotech warfare, the two of them are fighting an uphill battle with their lives on the line and unveil a corruption that hits close to home and could take out all of humanity as they know it.
***
Filled with heaps of blemished characters, this galactic sci-fi thriller is edgy enough to satisfy and emotionally charged so it's easily read and relatable. The main character, despite her flaws or perhaps because of them, is a kick-ass heroine strong character and I liked her from page one.
The plot offers a myriad of dead ends that will keep you guessing at the resolve while racing through heart-pounding action and intrigue. A decent mix of AI, microbiology, and backstabbing sabotage will keep you reading into the night and root for Rosalyn.
This novel didn't hit all the notes in its pacing for me as a lot of action parts were told vs shown and left me behind sometimes, requiring a reorientation in it all by me rereading some lines. I personally do better living through the characters' actions or emotions then it being told from another angle.
This was my first novel to enjoy by Madeleine Roux. She has published several other novels in horror fiction and young adult genres including the 'Asylum', 'Zombie', and 'House of Furies' series.
I received an arc of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you kindly Berkley Publishing, AceRocBooks for my review copy.
(Quote is taken from an ARC and not the final book!)
More of my reviews here:
https://scarlettreadzandrunz.com/
May 29, 2025
Space horror thriller with Alien Romulus vibes and high action, super intense, really scary shit. My heart rate was up!!!!
December 16, 2019
3 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2019/12/15/...
It’s hard for me to write this review, because Salvaged wasn’t a bad book—but I did feel like I was sold one thing at the beginning, only to receive something completely different by the end. To elaborate, I thought I was walking into a chilling edge-of-your-seat horror, and the way the first few chapters presented themselves certainly gave substance to those hopes. But that said, as the story progressed, it slowly, gradually began spooling out, losing all of its thriller edges, eventually becoming…well, quite tame.
Like I said though, the book started out promisingly enough. The story introduces us to Rosalyn Devar, whose life is a bit of a mess. Coming from a wealthy background and well-educated, our protagonist is nonetheless working as a custodian for a company that specializes in space clean-up, which often involves the retrieval of the dead from space disasters or missions gone wrong—not exactly a career that a gifted bio-engineering graduate like her would have chosen. But at the moment, Rosalyn needs the money and a place to lie low from her father after fleeing her past life, even if the daily horrors of the job are exacerbating her drinking problem. Also, as unpleasant as the work may be, it has to be done, and Rosalyn takes solace in the fact that she can help bring closure to the dead and their families.
Then one day, she is called to the boss’s office—her coworkers had reported her drinking on the job and her performance has been slipping. But Rosalyn manages to convince the company to give her one more chance, and so she is assigned a salvaging job on the Brigantine, a research ship that had recently gone dark, with everyone aboard believed to have perished. Upon arrival at the dead ship, however, Rosalyn and her pilot discover that it is anything but. While readings from the Brigantine show that nothing could have survived its inhospitable, oxygen-starved conditions, the crew members that Rosalyn encounters inside the ship are clearly alive, if not entirely human.
I mean, is this not an incredible premise? Does thinking about it not send shivers down your spine? I know it did for me, and I credit the powerfully effective intro that Madeleine Roux has written and the absolutely superb character development. Everyone likes a bit of intrigue, and the prospect of a ghost ship—especially given what our protagonist does for a living—has a way of making you sit up and pay attention. Even from the onset, I was practically salivating at the potential of the concept and prepared myself for a creepy ride.
Sadly though, that high was short-lived. In my opinion, the author made a couple of significant mistakes early in the book that threw off the entire tone of the story, from which it was never able to recover. The first was revealing the truth too soon, clearing up many of the questions that surrounded the Brigantine and what happened to its crew. Since a lot of the premise’s appeal relied in the fact that so much of it was shrouded in mystery, removing it this early on in the game didn’t make much sense to me. And second (and just a warning, mild spoilerish details to follow) was what I felt was the premature demise of certain character. Although this particular character was kind of boorish and not very likeable, I still found myself enjoying their interactions with the protagonist and was actually looking forward to the possible development of a meaningful partnership. Well, so much for that.
Instead, what followed was the introduction of a bunch of other characters, none of whom were really all that interesting because they each fell into a bland predictable mold and pattern. There was the romantic interest for Rosalyn, who’s also the compulsory good guy. The sweet earnest kid whom the group has adopted as their mascot. The wise, old grandmotherly woman who guides our protagonist. And finally, the mean nasty villain, and of course the author never passes up a chance to tell us just how bad he is.
On another level, I also think the problem with Salvaged is that it seemed confused as to what it wanted to be. Its genre tag says horror, but with the exception of the first handful of chapters which were mildly unsettling, this wasn’t a very scary book at all. The beginning was hands down the strongest part, and I’m sad to say that by the time it’s over, the story ends up being this jumbled mess of half-formed ideas and too many POVs. It came to have a lot of things—a little bit of drama, romance, mystery, thrills and action—but was definitely short on frights.
It’s a shame, because I really wish this one had continued building as a horror novel, but if that had been the case, I guess the story would have been drastically changed and we’d be discussing a different book entirely. To be fair, Salvaged was pretty good taken at face value, but if you are hoping for more thrills and chills, this probably won’t be too satisfying.
It’s hard for me to write this review, because Salvaged wasn’t a bad book—but I did feel like I was sold one thing at the beginning, only to receive something completely different by the end. To elaborate, I thought I was walking into a chilling edge-of-your-seat horror, and the way the first few chapters presented themselves certainly gave substance to those hopes. But that said, as the story progressed, it slowly, gradually began spooling out, losing all of its thriller edges, eventually becoming…well, quite tame.
Like I said though, the book started out promisingly enough. The story introduces us to Rosalyn Devar, whose life is a bit of a mess. Coming from a wealthy background and well-educated, our protagonist is nonetheless working as a custodian for a company that specializes in space clean-up, which often involves the retrieval of the dead from space disasters or missions gone wrong—not exactly a career that a gifted bio-engineering graduate like her would have chosen. But at the moment, Rosalyn needs the money and a place to lie low from her father after fleeing her past life, even if the daily horrors of the job are exacerbating her drinking problem. Also, as unpleasant as the work may be, it has to be done, and Rosalyn takes solace in the fact that she can help bring closure to the dead and their families.
Then one day, she is called to the boss’s office—her coworkers had reported her drinking on the job and her performance has been slipping. But Rosalyn manages to convince the company to give her one more chance, and so she is assigned a salvaging job on the Brigantine, a research ship that had recently gone dark, with everyone aboard believed to have perished. Upon arrival at the dead ship, however, Rosalyn and her pilot discover that it is anything but. While readings from the Brigantine show that nothing could have survived its inhospitable, oxygen-starved conditions, the crew members that Rosalyn encounters inside the ship are clearly alive, if not entirely human.
I mean, is this not an incredible premise? Does thinking about it not send shivers down your spine? I know it did for me, and I credit the powerfully effective intro that Madeleine Roux has written and the absolutely superb character development. Everyone likes a bit of intrigue, and the prospect of a ghost ship—especially given what our protagonist does for a living—has a way of making you sit up and pay attention. Even from the onset, I was practically salivating at the potential of the concept and prepared myself for a creepy ride.
Sadly though, that high was short-lived. In my opinion, the author made a couple of significant mistakes early in the book that threw off the entire tone of the story, from which it was never able to recover. The first was revealing the truth too soon, clearing up many of the questions that surrounded the Brigantine and what happened to its crew. Since a lot of the premise’s appeal relied in the fact that so much of it was shrouded in mystery, removing it this early on in the game didn’t make much sense to me. And second (and just a warning, mild spoilerish details to follow) was what I felt was the premature demise of certain character. Although this particular character was kind of boorish and not very likeable, I still found myself enjoying their interactions with the protagonist and was actually looking forward to the possible development of a meaningful partnership. Well, so much for that.
Instead, what followed was the introduction of a bunch of other characters, none of whom were really all that interesting because they each fell into a bland predictable mold and pattern. There was the romantic interest for Rosalyn, who’s also the compulsory good guy. The sweet earnest kid whom the group has adopted as their mascot. The wise, old grandmotherly woman who guides our protagonist. And finally, the mean nasty villain, and of course the author never passes up a chance to tell us just how bad he is.
On another level, I also think the problem with Salvaged is that it seemed confused as to what it wanted to be. Its genre tag says horror, but with the exception of the first handful of chapters which were mildly unsettling, this wasn’t a very scary book at all. The beginning was hands down the strongest part, and I’m sad to say that by the time it’s over, the story ends up being this jumbled mess of half-formed ideas and too many POVs. It came to have a lot of things—a little bit of drama, romance, mystery, thrills and action—but was definitely short on frights.
It’s a shame, because I really wish this one had continued building as a horror novel, but if that had been the case, I guess the story would have been drastically changed and we’d be discussing a different book entirely. To be fair, Salvaged was pretty good taken at face value, but if you are hoping for more thrills and chills, this probably won’t be too satisfying.
September 4, 2019
DNF 44%
Salvaged feels like a mashup of John Carpenter's "The Thing" (with a spreading alien/human identity crisis), the desolate ship from "Event Horizon," and the protomolecule from "The Expanse."
Sounds amazing! So why didn't I like it? A few reasons.
Rosalyn wasn't a great protagonist. We get snippets of her horrible past, but we didn't get to know her personality. Instead the author focuses primarily on her current battles with alcholism and referencing the trauma she is dealing with from being an assault victim. Those are extremely difficult issues to deal with, but there's not much else to Rosalyn other than her outright determination to survive this ordeal.
The 'twists' were projected without subtlety, and the reveals didn't come as much of a surprise. I found myself less and less stimluated as the book went on, which is the opposite direction I want to feel as I go deeper into the story.
The changing POV between the various characters on the ship started out cool, but then got old quick. I wish they had been used more sparingly so they would have had greater effect on the reader.
5.0 / 10
Salvaged feels like a mashup of John Carpenter's "The Thing" (with a spreading alien/human identity crisis), the desolate ship from "Event Horizon," and the protomolecule from "The Expanse."
Sounds amazing! So why didn't I like it? A few reasons.
Rosalyn wasn't a great protagonist. We get snippets of her horrible past, but we didn't get to know her personality. Instead the author focuses primarily on her current battles with alcholism and referencing the trauma she is dealing with from being an assault victim. Those are extremely difficult issues to deal with, but there's not much else to Rosalyn other than her outright determination to survive this ordeal.
The 'twists' were projected without subtlety, and the reveals didn't come as much of a surprise. I found myself less and less stimluated as the book went on, which is the opposite direction I want to feel as I go deeper into the story.
The changing POV between the various characters on the ship started out cool, but then got old quick. I wish they had been used more sparingly so they would have had greater effect on the reader.
5.0 / 10
January 1, 2020
OK to be fair this is not my usual genre dark sci fi horror. But I have to admit I was thoroughly entertained by the story. Occasionally grossed out, but entertained nonetheless. I do not see working as a space janitor in my future. Roslyn is trying to escape her wealthy family. Leaves the family business and takes a job cleaning up space messes. When she takes on a job to clean up a “dark“ ship where there is believed to be no survivors she is faced with the unexpected. What transpires is a tense, claustrophobic, gruesome survival story. If you like books set in space with a dark edgy vibe and a little gore this is the book for you!
This book in emojis. 🛸 👽 🧹 🧽 🪐
*** Big thanks to Berkley for my copy of this book ***
This book in emojis. 🛸 👽 🧹 🧽 🪐
*** Big thanks to Berkley for my copy of this book ***
Want to read
January 18, 2020I love Roux’s work. I got to 60 % in this book. Life stuff happened and I had to give the book back to the library. I’m not done yet! It was some fantabulous sci-fi, and I plan to go back to it.
July 25, 2023
Rosalyn Devar is a talented bioengineer who has recently had a total breakdown in both her personal and professional lives, and spirals into drinking and erratic behavior that make holding a job almost obsolete. It seems that no matter how far Rosalyn runs from her famous family and messy past, she can’t seem to escape who she is.
Now, she has no choice but to take a job as a salvager—a glorified space janitor who cleans up bodies. She gets assigned to a research ship named Brigantine, which is the latest in a series of vessels whose crew have are all thought to be dead under mysterious circumstances.
When Rosalyn arrives on the research vessel Brigantine, she discovers the crew are alive, but have been injected by a blue fungus named Foxfire that creates a sort of hive mind with the goal of taking over humanity. Is the fungus somehow sentient?
Captain Edison Aries seems to be the most himself despite the fungus, but he is fighting a losing battle to maintain control of himself and the crew. Meanwhile Rosalyn is dealing with the brutal, crazed security detail, Piero, and another biochemists Rayan. Both are completely under the control of Foxfire.
Rosalyn works with Edison trying to stave off Foxfire from completely taking over the crew and themselves. But it turns out there is a link to a conspiracy that may involve Rosalyn’s very own family. Can they stop the fungus before it takes over the entire human race?
I must admit this isn’t my usual genre, but I did enjoy parts of it and others less so. One problem for me with science fiction is that I like character-driven books and science fiction often struggles to develop compelling characters in the midst of the broader world building and technical explanations required. Salvaged fell into this camp for me, and I found the characters to be under-developed and a bit bland.
The setting is a show-stopper, though I don’t know if that’s because I just don’t read many things set in space? But I could feel the vast dark bleakness of how isolated they were and that certainly heightened the tension.
As a final note, the idea of a parasite trying to infect all of humankind hits different in a post-COVID world. Terrifying!
Now, she has no choice but to take a job as a salvager—a glorified space janitor who cleans up bodies. She gets assigned to a research ship named Brigantine, which is the latest in a series of vessels whose crew have are all thought to be dead under mysterious circumstances.
When Rosalyn arrives on the research vessel Brigantine, she discovers the crew are alive, but have been injected by a blue fungus named Foxfire that creates a sort of hive mind with the goal of taking over humanity. Is the fungus somehow sentient?
Captain Edison Aries seems to be the most himself despite the fungus, but he is fighting a losing battle to maintain control of himself and the crew. Meanwhile Rosalyn is dealing with the brutal, crazed security detail, Piero, and another biochemists Rayan. Both are completely under the control of Foxfire.
Rosalyn works with Edison trying to stave off Foxfire from completely taking over the crew and themselves. But it turns out there is a link to a conspiracy that may involve Rosalyn’s very own family. Can they stop the fungus before it takes over the entire human race?
I must admit this isn’t my usual genre, but I did enjoy parts of it and others less so. One problem for me with science fiction is that I like character-driven books and science fiction often struggles to develop compelling characters in the midst of the broader world building and technical explanations required. Salvaged fell into this camp for me, and I found the characters to be under-developed and a bit bland.
The setting is a show-stopper, though I don’t know if that’s because I just don’t read many things set in space? But I could feel the vast dark bleakness of how isolated they were and that certainly heightened the tension.
As a final note, the idea of a parasite trying to infect all of humankind hits different in a post-COVID world. Terrifying!
October 15, 2019
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
4.5*
Okay I have no idea how to review this book appropriately, because it's super entertaining but also full of action and I want to spoil absolutely nothing. So I'll do my best, yeah? Great.
Rosalyn, when we meet her, is kind of a mess. She's got an alcohol addiction, nearly getting herself fired from her job as a space janitor, cleaning up actual corpses from missions gone wrong. She likes the job because she was able to basically run away from her problems, so she's not keen on losing it. She agrees to take on a job on the Brigantine, which ends up being far less janitorial in nature than she expected.
Because the Brigantine crew happens to be alive. Well, mostly, anyway. They seem to be infected by some mysterious cause, and now Rosalyn is trapped with them, no way of communicating her need to escape without infecting the whole universe. The stakes, quite literally, couldn't be higher.
It reminds me a little of The Expanse at times, which is a very good thing indeed. Rosalyn is smart, funny, and struggling to remain alcohol-free even in this direst of situations. While I would have liked for the book to have addressed it a bit more, I did like that the author didn't just abandon this addiction the second the shit hit the fan.
The characters were all really well developed, even as this parasite attempts to take over. I was quite impressed at how the author managed to make me care so deeply for characters who weren't even themselves half the time, but she did! I think that was the key, too. As dark and exciting as the story is, it goes from good to great because of how invested I was in its outcome.
Bottom Line: Exciting, thrilling, and full of characters whose fates impacted me greatly, Salvaged was unputdownable.
4.5*
Okay I have no idea how to review this book appropriately, because it's super entertaining but also full of action and I want to spoil absolutely nothing. So I'll do my best, yeah? Great.
Rosalyn, when we meet her, is kind of a mess. She's got an alcohol addiction, nearly getting herself fired from her job as a space janitor, cleaning up actual corpses from missions gone wrong. She likes the job because she was able to basically run away from her problems, so she's not keen on losing it. She agrees to take on a job on the Brigantine, which ends up being far less janitorial in nature than she expected.
Because the Brigantine crew happens to be alive. Well, mostly, anyway. They seem to be infected by some mysterious cause, and now Rosalyn is trapped with them, no way of communicating her need to escape without infecting the whole universe. The stakes, quite literally, couldn't be higher.
It reminds me a little of The Expanse at times, which is a very good thing indeed. Rosalyn is smart, funny, and struggling to remain alcohol-free even in this direst of situations. While I would have liked for the book to have addressed it a bit more, I did like that the author didn't just abandon this addiction the second the shit hit the fan.
The characters were all really well developed, even as this parasite attempts to take over. I was quite impressed at how the author managed to make me care so deeply for characters who weren't even themselves half the time, but she did! I think that was the key, too. As dark and exciting as the story is, it goes from good to great because of how invested I was in its outcome.
Bottom Line: Exciting, thrilling, and full of characters whose fates impacted me greatly, Salvaged was unputdownable.
December 15, 2019
Rosalyn Devar is close to rock-bottom. Working a terrible bio-cleanup/salvaging job that has her dealing with human remains and dealing with a substance abuse problem. On her last chance with the salvage company she encounters the Brigantine, a research ship with a crew that's been an infected with a horrible fungus that's slowly taking them over. Rosalyn has serious demons from her past that have led to her current state, but she needs to overcome them to survive the very real danger of the fungus that's infected the crew.
The exploration of the psychological effects of being biologically taken over is interesting, but the book has some serious pacing issues. The book has a back and forth drama on one small ship for the majority of it. It also has an increasingly obvious "twist" that sees the final reveal more of a "get on with it" than a revelation of anything.
The exploration of the psychological effects of being biologically taken over is interesting, but the book has some serious pacing issues. The book has a back and forth drama on one small ship for the majority of it. It also has an increasingly obvious "twist" that sees the final reveal more of a "get on with it" than a revelation of anything.
November 1, 2019
The Good
– Cool concept
– Realistic and inclusive cast
– Strong beginning
– Genuinely creepy moments
The Bad
– Suffering from a bit of an identity crisis
– Roux mishandles some of her elements
– Overly wordy
– Hits Peak Creepy at 25%
Salvaged has all the right pieces—it's just a good editor short of untangling them into something cohesive and effective.
Story
Salvaged opens with Rosalyn hoovering up corpse goop.
It's a strong note to start on. Rosalyn's birthday, and she's half-drunk on the job vacuuming up people-soup. For the next quarter of the book or so, Roux builds her novel smartly. Rosalyn's drinking leads her to a last-chance job from her boss. A cluster of strange deaths—like Rosalyn's people-soup clean-up job—rings alarm bells to him. Soon, she's out with her (annoying pilot) at the lonely research vessel, where things on the Brigantine aren't adding up. She finds a strange bioluminescent blue growth on the walls of the ship, a card game abandoned in bloodshed and a helper bot with tampered data.
Salvaged is ramping up, but then Roux does the unthinkable:
She explains exactly what's going on.
(The reader's curiosity dies a quick death. RIP.)
As a horror novel, Salvaged never recovers. It never reaches the same level of forboding and freaky it does during those first chapters. From then on out, it's a lukewarm, chaotic thriller/romance/body horror mishmash that never quite comes together.
Roux's set up for horror, not a thriller, so it struggles to function as a thriller. It doesn't work as a body horror because Rosalyn, the protagonist and character we're set up to care about, never finds the sanctity of her body truly in danger from the threat. The romance, which might be enticing under other narrative conditions, comes across as somewhat tacky and rushed.
Part of Salvaged's biggest problem is this sort of identity crisis with genres, and in extension, the elements it contains. Roux certainly has everything present here for her novel to work—the catch is that she's tangled all her threads instead of braiding them into a coherent narrative. It's deeply frustrating, reading through Salvaged and feeling like it's a good editor away from being great.
Salvaged's conclusion is hopeful but painfully predictable. It runs the reader through the gamut of Rosalyn awkwardly unveiling clues for what I can only describe as sidequests and distractions, despite giving away it's ultimate (and obvious) clue early on. There's some unnecessary character drama along the way—mostly characters behaving stupidly and saying they're not going to do the thing they're obviously going to do—and then Salvaged ends rather quietly.
For Salvaged, Roux's strung a decent setting together. She toes the fine line between developing her setting enough to function, but not so much she gets herself in hot water with Hows and Whys and What the fucks? There are a couple weak spots she glosses over with quick explanations, but overall it's a solid, functional setting.
Characters
Something I really appreciated about Salvaged was the cast. Particularly the Brigantine's crew. These guys genuinely felt like a collection of people who'd end up working on a research vessel and not a collection of modified tropes. Roux does an efficient job of fleshing them out, even if her characterization skills are mixed at times.
Rosalyn is our protagonist. Most of the others are POV characters, if only briefly, but Rosalyn is our only protagonist. After her co-worker sexually assaulted her at her previous at her father's company, she's shaved her head, started drinking and taken a job as a "space janitor." She doesn't speak to anyone from her old life, even if they occasionally send her messages.
Rosalyn is a solid example of Roux struggling to juggle her elements. Rosalyn's drinking is the reason she's on thin ice with her boss, but her withdrawal isn't a significant part of the plot, even though she's going through it. The element of body horror—of Mother taking over her mind—should a huge violation that ties into her trauma and could be a genuine driving source of fear with the thriller element. But Rosalyn is never in a situation where Mother is an imminent threat. Again, it's an example of Roux bringing a bunch of threads into this jumble, and never tying them together properly.
Edison is a big player in the novel and Rosalyn's romantic interest. He's a really good guy. I really appreciate that he's just an average, level-headed, thoughtful dude. Sometimes authors write guys a little too nice—can't blame women attracted to men for their wishful thinking—but there are definitely some guys written so nice and so perfect, they're obviously fake. But Edison was just a really normal, really decent guy. Roux fleshed his character and history out well.
The thing is... well, the romantic angle doesn't work. Rosalyn is clearly still too traumatized and raw. (And going through alcohol withdrawal.) They know each other for something like half a week. Most importantly, during their first meeting, Edison temporarily loses control of his body to Mother and tries to violently murder Rosalyn.
It's really not a meet-cute.
Writing Style
Roux is a confident writer with a decent command over her ability. Her style is straightforward and reasonable, and she chooses her words fairly well. Here, however, she's definitely on the wordy side. Salvaged is simply too long for the content within and the story it tells. There are mercifully no unnecessary internal monologues, but Roux certainly has a problem of using twenty words to convey something that only needs two. She also has a problem with epithets, often referring to characters as "The Italian" and so on.
Themes and Representation
It's hard to untangle what, exactly, Roux is trying to say about Rosalyn and her internal journey. She sets the stage to explore things like bodily violation and autonomy, but then... doesn't. The most said seems to be about Rosalyn learning to love men again, but that's a weak message to send when the author has given herself the tools to convey something powerful. It's more of a poorly-timed flirtation.
Roux's put in the effort to present a fleshed-out, racially diverse cast without writing caricatures. Rosalyn, Edison, Misato, Rayan and Piero come across as genuine people.
There are LGBT+ characters as well, but... Roux kills off every character who's expressed definite same-sex attraction. (Whether some characters are definitely gay or bisexual, etc., is never fully confirmed, only their attraction.) Some of these deaths are heroic, but they still stand in contrast to the happy straight romance.
Recommended For...
Not a bad book for Sci-fi/Horror blend fans, but beware it lacks a critical cohesiveness necessary for true enjoyment.
>>More book reviews at Feathered Turtle Press<<
– Cool concept
– Realistic and inclusive cast
– Strong beginning
– Genuinely creepy moments
The Bad
– Suffering from a bit of an identity crisis
– Roux mishandles some of her elements
– Overly wordy
– Hits Peak Creepy at 25%
Salvaged has all the right pieces—it's just a good editor short of untangling them into something cohesive and effective.
Story
Salvaged opens with Rosalyn hoovering up corpse goop.
It's a strong note to start on. Rosalyn's birthday, and she's half-drunk on the job vacuuming up people-soup. For the next quarter of the book or so, Roux builds her novel smartly. Rosalyn's drinking leads her to a last-chance job from her boss. A cluster of strange deaths—like Rosalyn's people-soup clean-up job—rings alarm bells to him. Soon, she's out with her (annoying pilot) at the lonely research vessel, where things on the Brigantine aren't adding up. She finds a strange bioluminescent blue growth on the walls of the ship, a card game abandoned in bloodshed and a helper bot with tampered data.
Salvaged is ramping up, but then Roux does the unthinkable:
She explains exactly what's going on.
(The reader's curiosity dies a quick death. RIP.)
As a horror novel, Salvaged never recovers. It never reaches the same level of forboding and freaky it does during those first chapters. From then on out, it's a lukewarm, chaotic thriller/romance/body horror mishmash that never quite comes together.
Roux's set up for horror, not a thriller, so it struggles to function as a thriller. It doesn't work as a body horror because Rosalyn, the protagonist and character we're set up to care about, never finds the sanctity of her body truly in danger from the threat. The romance, which might be enticing under other narrative conditions, comes across as somewhat tacky and rushed.
Part of Salvaged's biggest problem is this sort of identity crisis with genres, and in extension, the elements it contains. Roux certainly has everything present here for her novel to work—the catch is that she's tangled all her threads instead of braiding them into a coherent narrative. It's deeply frustrating, reading through Salvaged and feeling like it's a good editor away from being great.
Salvaged's conclusion is hopeful but painfully predictable. It runs the reader through the gamut of Rosalyn awkwardly unveiling clues for what I can only describe as sidequests and distractions, despite giving away it's ultimate (and obvious) clue early on. There's some unnecessary character drama along the way—mostly characters behaving stupidly and saying they're not going to do the thing they're obviously going to do—and then Salvaged ends rather quietly.
For Salvaged, Roux's strung a decent setting together. She toes the fine line between developing her setting enough to function, but not so much she gets herself in hot water with Hows and Whys and What the fucks? There are a couple weak spots she glosses over with quick explanations, but overall it's a solid, functional setting.
Characters
Something I really appreciated about Salvaged was the cast. Particularly the Brigantine's crew. These guys genuinely felt like a collection of people who'd end up working on a research vessel and not a collection of modified tropes. Roux does an efficient job of fleshing them out, even if her characterization skills are mixed at times.
Rosalyn is our protagonist. Most of the others are POV characters, if only briefly, but Rosalyn is our only protagonist. After her co-worker sexually assaulted her at her previous at her father's company, she's shaved her head, started drinking and taken a job as a "space janitor." She doesn't speak to anyone from her old life, even if they occasionally send her messages.
Rosalyn is a solid example of Roux struggling to juggle her elements. Rosalyn's drinking is the reason she's on thin ice with her boss, but her withdrawal isn't a significant part of the plot, even though she's going through it. The element of body horror—of Mother taking over her mind—should a huge violation that ties into her trauma and could be a genuine driving source of fear with the thriller element. But Rosalyn is never in a situation where Mother is an imminent threat. Again, it's an example of Roux bringing a bunch of threads into this jumble, and never tying them together properly.
Edison is a big player in the novel and Rosalyn's romantic interest. He's a really good guy. I really appreciate that he's just an average, level-headed, thoughtful dude. Sometimes authors write guys a little too nice—can't blame women attracted to men for their wishful thinking—but there are definitely some guys written so nice and so perfect, they're obviously fake. But Edison was just a really normal, really decent guy. Roux fleshed his character and history out well.
The thing is... well, the romantic angle doesn't work. Rosalyn is clearly still too traumatized and raw. (And going through alcohol withdrawal.) They know each other for something like half a week. Most importantly, during their first meeting, Edison temporarily loses control of his body to Mother and tries to violently murder Rosalyn.
It's really not a meet-cute.
Writing Style
Roux is a confident writer with a decent command over her ability. Her style is straightforward and reasonable, and she chooses her words fairly well. Here, however, she's definitely on the wordy side. Salvaged is simply too long for the content within and the story it tells. There are mercifully no unnecessary internal monologues, but Roux certainly has a problem of using twenty words to convey something that only needs two. She also has a problem with epithets, often referring to characters as "The Italian" and so on.
Themes and Representation
It's hard to untangle what, exactly, Roux is trying to say about Rosalyn and her internal journey. She sets the stage to explore things like bodily violation and autonomy, but then... doesn't. The most said seems to be about Rosalyn learning to love men again, but that's a weak message to send when the author has given herself the tools to convey something powerful. It's more of a poorly-timed flirtation.
Roux's put in the effort to present a fleshed-out, racially diverse cast without writing caricatures. Rosalyn, Edison, Misato, Rayan and Piero come across as genuine people.
There are LGBT+ characters as well, but... Roux kills off every character who's expressed definite same-sex attraction. (Whether some characters are definitely gay or bisexual, etc., is never fully confirmed, only their attraction.) Some of these deaths are heroic, but they still stand in contrast to the happy straight romance.
Recommended For...
Not a bad book for Sci-fi/Horror blend fans, but beware it lacks a critical cohesiveness necessary for true enjoyment.
>>More book reviews at Feathered Turtle Press<<
October 14, 2019
"The thick, strange tentacles bursting through the office door sagged, leaving a gap wide enough to see through, wide enough to show the field of rigid, waiting obstacles in their path. It was like they had thrown a matchstick into a beehive, and now all the riled, furious insects wanted to act, wanted to sting."
Salvaged is a book that caught my attention when it was first announced. It sounded like a modern, more diverse Alien with a twist. And you know how much I fucking adore the Alien franchise! Plus that cover and subsequent animation that was shared by Madeleine Roux on her Twitter completely won me over. I've searched for the cover artist and couldn't find any information, sadly! HELP A CHICK OUT!
This is the first full-length novel of Roux's that I've read. Previously, the only experience I had was with her Eclipse short story in From a Certain Point of View, the fucking brilliant Star Wars anthology. From what I've gathered, Roux normally writes YA. This is her adult science fiction debut and it's pretty radical!
Rosalyn is a xenobiologist who takes a job as a salvager, which is essentially a janitor that cleans up space research expeditions gone wrong. She's also an alcoholic. And on the run from her famous family. As you do.
One day she is caught drinking on the job and almost gets fired. She is given one more chance - an assignment on the Brigantine, a research vessel that has gone dark. The entire crew is thought to be dead.
They aren't.
Nor are they quite human anymore.
"Fight back."
I'm utter trash for science fiction horror. It's such an unholy matrimony of genres! With Salvaged, Roux leans heavily into familiar science fiction elements, but then twists them into something new and exciting and fucking awesome!
There are tense action scenes that left me gasping for air, but then there are a handful of quiet moments that touched me with real sincerity. There's a genuine thoughtfulness and affection in Roux's telling of a recovering alcoholic who is battling with trauma from her past.
Diverse characters trapped in space, bonkers parasitic aliens, corporate secrets, PTSD, delightful gore and more than a few gut-punches. Salvaged is a brutal, intelligent, entertaining read!
(Thanks to Ace Books for sending me a copy!)
**The quotes above were taken from an ARC & are subject to change upon publication**
Salvaged is a book that caught my attention when it was first announced. It sounded like a modern, more diverse Alien with a twist. And you know how much I fucking adore the Alien franchise! Plus that cover and subsequent animation that was shared by Madeleine Roux on her Twitter completely won me over. I've searched for the cover artist and couldn't find any information, sadly! HELP A CHICK OUT!
This is the first full-length novel of Roux's that I've read. Previously, the only experience I had was with her Eclipse short story in From a Certain Point of View, the fucking brilliant Star Wars anthology. From what I've gathered, Roux normally writes YA. This is her adult science fiction debut and it's pretty radical!
Rosalyn is a xenobiologist who takes a job as a salvager, which is essentially a janitor that cleans up space research expeditions gone wrong. She's also an alcoholic. And on the run from her famous family. As you do.
One day she is caught drinking on the job and almost gets fired. She is given one more chance - an assignment on the Brigantine, a research vessel that has gone dark. The entire crew is thought to be dead.
They aren't.
Nor are they quite human anymore.
"Fight back."
I'm utter trash for science fiction horror. It's such an unholy matrimony of genres! With Salvaged, Roux leans heavily into familiar science fiction elements, but then twists them into something new and exciting and fucking awesome!
There are tense action scenes that left me gasping for air, but then there are a handful of quiet moments that touched me with real sincerity. There's a genuine thoughtfulness and affection in Roux's telling of a recovering alcoholic who is battling with trauma from her past.
Diverse characters trapped in space, bonkers parasitic aliens, corporate secrets, PTSD, delightful gore and more than a few gut-punches. Salvaged is a brutal, intelligent, entertaining read!
(Thanks to Ace Books for sending me a copy!)
**The quotes above were taken from an ARC & are subject to change upon publication**
November 16, 2023
Haunted spaceship dating simulator. This is one of those books I like to call YA for adults, ostensibly a sci-fi horror but instead a modest romance. A space salvage crew comes across a ship infested with some of space fungus. It infects the passengers, and links their thoughts to form a hive-mind-lite. The protagonist, a pretty young woman who all the male crew members stutter and stammer around, resists the fungus’ pull, learns to embrace her individuality and find herself as she flirts with sensitive romance novel types. However, I did actually like the ending and the way the author tied up the themes. On the whole the writing is polished and this is a well executed little cheesy space opera romance. Not really my thing but I could see someone liking it.
October 21, 2020
Biggest contender for biggest letdown of 2020 (bookwise, becuase it's 2020)
Let me preface this with Scifi Horror, is my FAVORITE genre, and one so often done terribly. I went into this probably with overally high hopes. My partner even went "Kelsey, don't get too excited, you'll probably get mad, it's not gonna be Ship of Fools". I should have listened to him.
So the concept is SOLID. Cool POC woman from an important family, but due to a falling out has tried to escape from them by taking on essentially a space janitor job. On one of her clean ups, an important one, as she's messed up one too many times and if she messes this up she's fired. The ship she's cleaning is a code blue ship meaning all crew are dead. However, upon arriving at the ship the reads indicate they are not dead. DUN DUN DUN
I have to, unfortunately, set this to spoiler because I can't discuss my problems without major spoilers. So sorry in advance.
The start I've allotted this book is purely for the first 67 pages. These pages were well written, established a sense of foreboding, and were really successful. They outline how she comes to be at the ship in question. After this point, the book falls 100% apart. At this point she's on the ship and encounters the first crew member, has seen the fungal substance, and is scared. I'm scared. It's spooky. This part feels like it was written separately, at a different time, she was feeling confident and had a good game plan. But then she just shoehorned the rest, without thought or intention. The biggest thing that destroys this book instantly is that she writes from multiple perspectives. The first 67 pages are purely from the perspective of the main character, but as soon as we encounter the crew the book jumps between the crew member's perspective, the main character's and the most damning of all, the fungus momma herself.
Why is this such a problem? This is supposed to be a scary book. Fear comes from many places, but one of the biggest places is the unknown. Not knowing someone's intentions, or what's happening exactly. When Rosalyn encounters the first crewmate and learns of the fungus infection and how the crew "is fighting but maintaining control" we are unsure of if this is true, or if he's just lying to her, being manipulated by the fungus. That's scary. That could lead to a book of psychological uncertainty and manipulation. But now, the author decides for some reason, we need to see it from the crewmate's perspectives as well. This eliminates every possible unknown. We know exactly what there intentions are, we know exactly when they are lying, we know exactly when they have and they don't have control. There is nothing scary about knowing. As soon as this writing style was introduced I knew it wasn't going to work. I wanted so badly to have it work. I forced myself to not DNF it, hoping beyond hope I was wrong. That'd she'd rock it and prove me wrong but she didn't. The majority of the time the crewmates perspectives yielded nothing of worth. I skipped a chapter at one point, then felt bad and went back and read it, but it added nothing, I could have just skipped it. That's a problem.
My other issue is with Rosalyn herself, our main character. Beyond the initial annoyance of a character described multiple times as being Indian in the book, but the cover art is of a beautiful black woman. Like at least there is some POC rep, but I'm sure Indian readers would have loved some of that rep correctly portrayed on the cover. But my problem is she's not well fleshed out or written, and honestly doesn't need to be in the book. For one, trauma is not a character trait. I'm sorry, it's not. Unless you can show rather than tell, through the actions of the character how their trauma has affected them, it's not a trait. In this it's brought up when she's being attacked by a big infected dude, a situation where trauma or not, someone would be frightened. It's brought up to garner sympathy from a love interest. Because somehow in the span of 48hrs on this ship with infected people, our female lead HAS TO FALL IN LOVE. The book claims she's needed for her credentials. But why exactly. Once the ship is no longer in code blue, why would some random salvager's credentials do something the CAPTAIN of the ship couldn't. Doesn't make any sense. Every single thing that happens, could happen without her there. She does nothing but runs around being afraid her filters are going to go bad. With being able to see the other crew's perspective, this book could have been just trying to fix the situation while maintaining control of their minds, no salvager needed. Now that would be an interesting book. Also, her rich dad and his company are set up to be some notorious big bad in this all, and all that just fizzles out to a "guess they are involved". Only to be seen again in the epilogue where she'd testified against them. Like no sweety, you'd be murdered to cover up their secrets, but k.
The big baddie was a let down too. "Foxfire" the general consciousness of the fungus, who doesn't have great control over the things she infects and tries to act like their mother. Who wants these credentials for some reason. Who just didn't prove to be scary at all, or necessary. Just fungus turning people rabid would have been more interesting. She and her backstory were pointless, underdeveloped, and boring. The same level of tension could have been created without fungus at all, just with good old fashioned space crazies and trying to get away from a crazy crewmate. The majority of the book is about these crewmates being kept alive via fungus and being part of a hive mind. A super-weak hivemind, that doesn't seem to do anything. The crewmate's do a good job fending it off mentally until the author decides it's time and suddenly Foxfire can just take over, that could be interesting like she always could but just waited. But instead, it was framed like she figured out all their weak spots back to back. This idea was weak.
Finally, the finale. The finale was just so underwhelming. At some point they decide to go against all prior judgement and go to a space station (like what, and infect everyone?) only to find the station is already infected, but dormant? But conveniently enough they remain dormant long enough for them to set the self to destruct before the start not being dormant. Cue action scene right? Wrong. Cue stealthy escape Alien style? Cue entering a way to high-level dungeon in Skyrim and just running past everyone to freedom while screaming "peace out" yes. Literally, nothing happened. Had they chosen to spend more time there, and not been dormant, and created a stealthy entry and escape, it could have been really good. Like, imagine Ellen Ripley just ran through the Nostromo, hit the buttons and ran out. While the Alien just was stuck in place somewhere. Like, come on. If you want your readers to feel something give us something to feel beyond a shoehorned romance that makes absolutely no sense. Like the Captian and Rosalyn are going to get back to wherever they are from and go "oh dang, now that we have other option, I don't actually know you".
So overall. This book was not well thought out, written and not spooky at all. The author threw out every opportunity she had to make it interesting and scary and decide relied on tropes, bad writing decisions, and just a general lack of ideas. At a certain point, it felt like she was actively trying to do everything wrong writing-wise. Like a published author, with multiple books, couldn't possibly miss every chance to do a good job that she created for herself and purposefully choose to do a bad version.
Am I mad? Yes. Is this a rant more than a review? Yes. Can someone please suggest to this "Alien" and "The Thing" obsessed girl an ACTUALLY GOOD horror scifi, please? I'm starting to think "Ship of Fools" is the only one out there.
Let me preface this with Scifi Horror, is my FAVORITE genre, and one so often done terribly. I went into this probably with overally high hopes. My partner even went "Kelsey, don't get too excited, you'll probably get mad, it's not gonna be Ship of Fools". I should have listened to him.
So the concept is SOLID. Cool POC woman from an important family, but due to a falling out has tried to escape from them by taking on essentially a space janitor job. On one of her clean ups, an important one, as she's messed up one too many times and if she messes this up she's fired. The ship she's cleaning is a code blue ship meaning all crew are dead. However, upon arriving at the ship the reads indicate they are not dead. DUN DUN DUN
I have to, unfortunately, set this to spoiler because I can't discuss my problems without major spoilers. So sorry in advance.
The start I've allotted this book is purely for the first 67 pages. These pages were well written, established a sense of foreboding, and were really successful. They outline how she comes to be at the ship in question. After this point, the book falls 100% apart. At this point she's on the ship and encounters the first crew member, has seen the fungal substance, and is scared. I'm scared. It's spooky. This part feels like it was written separately, at a different time, she was feeling confident and had a good game plan. But then she just shoehorned the rest, without thought or intention. The biggest thing that destroys this book instantly is that she writes from multiple perspectives. The first 67 pages are purely from the perspective of the main character, but as soon as we encounter the crew the book jumps between the crew member's perspective, the main character's and the most damning of all, the fungus momma herself.
Why is this such a problem? This is supposed to be a scary book. Fear comes from many places, but one of the biggest places is the unknown. Not knowing someone's intentions, or what's happening exactly. When Rosalyn encounters the first crewmate and learns of the fungus infection and how the crew "is fighting but maintaining control" we are unsure of if this is true, or if he's just lying to her, being manipulated by the fungus. That's scary. That could lead to a book of psychological uncertainty and manipulation. But now, the author decides for some reason, we need to see it from the crewmate's perspectives as well. This eliminates every possible unknown. We know exactly what there intentions are, we know exactly when they are lying, we know exactly when they have and they don't have control. There is nothing scary about knowing. As soon as this writing style was introduced I knew it wasn't going to work. I wanted so badly to have it work. I forced myself to not DNF it, hoping beyond hope I was wrong. That'd she'd rock it and prove me wrong but she didn't. The majority of the time the crewmates perspectives yielded nothing of worth. I skipped a chapter at one point, then felt bad and went back and read it, but it added nothing, I could have just skipped it. That's a problem.
My other issue is with Rosalyn herself, our main character. Beyond the initial annoyance of a character described multiple times as being Indian in the book, but the cover art is of a beautiful black woman. Like at least there is some POC rep, but I'm sure Indian readers would have loved some of that rep correctly portrayed on the cover. But my problem is she's not well fleshed out or written, and honestly doesn't need to be in the book. For one, trauma is not a character trait. I'm sorry, it's not. Unless you can show rather than tell, through the actions of the character how their trauma has affected them, it's not a trait. In this it's brought up when she's being attacked by a big infected dude, a situation where trauma or not, someone would be frightened. It's brought up to garner sympathy from a love interest. Because somehow in the span of 48hrs on this ship with infected people, our female lead HAS TO FALL IN LOVE. The book claims she's needed for her credentials. But why exactly. Once the ship is no longer in code blue, why would some random salvager's credentials do something the CAPTAIN of the ship couldn't. Doesn't make any sense. Every single thing that happens, could happen without her there. She does nothing but runs around being afraid her filters are going to go bad. With being able to see the other crew's perspective, this book could have been just trying to fix the situation while maintaining control of their minds, no salvager needed. Now that would be an interesting book. Also, her rich dad and his company are set up to be some notorious big bad in this all, and all that just fizzles out to a "guess they are involved". Only to be seen again in the epilogue where she'd testified against them. Like no sweety, you'd be murdered to cover up their secrets, but k.
The big baddie was a let down too. "Foxfire" the general consciousness of the fungus, who doesn't have great control over the things she infects and tries to act like their mother. Who wants these credentials for some reason. Who just didn't prove to be scary at all, or necessary. Just fungus turning people rabid would have been more interesting. She and her backstory were pointless, underdeveloped, and boring. The same level of tension could have been created without fungus at all, just with good old fashioned space crazies and trying to get away from a crazy crewmate. The majority of the book is about these crewmates being kept alive via fungus and being part of a hive mind. A super-weak hivemind, that doesn't seem to do anything. The crewmate's do a good job fending it off mentally until the author decides it's time and suddenly Foxfire can just take over, that could be interesting like she always could but just waited. But instead, it was framed like she figured out all their weak spots back to back. This idea was weak.
Finally, the finale. The finale was just so underwhelming. At some point they decide to go against all prior judgement and go to a space station (like what, and infect everyone?) only to find the station is already infected, but dormant? But conveniently enough they remain dormant long enough for them to set the self to destruct before the start not being dormant. Cue action scene right? Wrong. Cue stealthy escape Alien style? Cue entering a way to high-level dungeon in Skyrim and just running past everyone to freedom while screaming "peace out" yes. Literally, nothing happened. Had they chosen to spend more time there, and not been dormant, and created a stealthy entry and escape, it could have been really good. Like, imagine Ellen Ripley just ran through the Nostromo, hit the buttons and ran out. While the Alien just was stuck in place somewhere. Like, come on. If you want your readers to feel something give us something to feel beyond a shoehorned romance that makes absolutely no sense. Like the Captian and Rosalyn are going to get back to wherever they are from and go "oh dang, now that we have other option, I don't actually know you".
So overall. This book was not well thought out, written and not spooky at all. The author threw out every opportunity she had to make it interesting and scary and decide relied on tropes, bad writing decisions, and just a general lack of ideas. At a certain point, it felt like she was actively trying to do everything wrong writing-wise. Like a published author, with multiple books, couldn't possibly miss every chance to do a good job that she created for herself and purposefully choose to do a bad version.
Am I mad? Yes. Is this a rant more than a review? Yes. Can someone please suggest to this "Alien" and "The Thing" obsessed girl an ACTUALLY GOOD horror scifi, please? I'm starting to think "Ship of Fools" is the only one out there.
October 14, 2019
I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley
An enjoyable enough read although honestly not really enough action to keep my attention entirely. I was hoping for something like The Thing meets Alien, and while that is certainly a part of the story it does seem to focus more on Rosalyn's personal issues like alcoholism, family drama, and other trauma she is currently trying to get over / run away from. I'm sure this will be a great book for people who are looking for that kind of thing, but I think I would have probably liked it a bit more if it was more novella length and had a few more horror elements thrown in. Still, it was an overall interesting book and there were a lot of moments I liked. It picked up more in the last few chapters but it definitely lost me a few times in the middle.
An enjoyable enough read although honestly not really enough action to keep my attention entirely. I was hoping for something like The Thing meets Alien, and while that is certainly a part of the story it does seem to focus more on Rosalyn's personal issues like alcoholism, family drama, and other trauma she is currently trying to get over / run away from. I'm sure this will be a great book for people who are looking for that kind of thing, but I think I would have probably liked it a bit more if it was more novella length and had a few more horror elements thrown in. Still, it was an overall interesting book and there were a lot of moments I liked. It picked up more in the last few chapters but it definitely lost me a few times in the middle.
December 16, 2019
I liked this a lot more than I was expecting to. It's a claustrophobic tale aboard a spaceship, with a biological contaminant and the resulting horror, with a protagonist running from her family and some traumatic incident in her past. It's not a deep story, and it wasn't as tense or riveting as I expected it to be (I figured out the connection between the contaminant and Rosalyn very early on in the story), but I enjoyed it for what it was, and as a break between other, more challenging books.
August 14, 2019
3.0 Stars
There are so many reasons that I should I loved this book. As someone who loves science fiction and horror, I normally love books that blend the two genres together. This was still a decent science fiction thriller, but simply not the five star read that I hoped that it could be.
Even though Roux normally published young adult novels, this one certainly felt like an adult novel. The writing was quite strong with a good balance between dialogue, description and action. The characters were decently drawn, but I never became attached to them, which affected my overall immersion in the story. Since I did not care about the characters' well beings, I did not get a sense of suspense while reading this one. It took a while, but eventually I did get pulled into the story. The horror aspects were easily my favourite part of this novel. Once those elements moved to the forefront of the story, I became much more interested. While not overly scary, the horror elements were pretty darn cool.
For a piece of science fiction, this was a very accessible novel with very little focus on the technology or world building. I prefer hard science fiction stories, but that is my personal preference, rather than an unbiased criticism of the book.
While I did not love this one, I would still encourage readers to try it out for themselves and form their own opinions. There was nothing wrong with this one, but I just didn't connect to the story.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC copy of this book from the publisher.
There are so many reasons that I should I loved this book. As someone who loves science fiction and horror, I normally love books that blend the two genres together. This was still a decent science fiction thriller, but simply not the five star read that I hoped that it could be.
Even though Roux normally published young adult novels, this one certainly felt like an adult novel. The writing was quite strong with a good balance between dialogue, description and action. The characters were decently drawn, but I never became attached to them, which affected my overall immersion in the story. Since I did not care about the characters' well beings, I did not get a sense of suspense while reading this one. It took a while, but eventually I did get pulled into the story. The horror aspects were easily my favourite part of this novel. Once those elements moved to the forefront of the story, I became much more interested. While not overly scary, the horror elements were pretty darn cool.
For a piece of science fiction, this was a very accessible novel with very little focus on the technology or world building. I prefer hard science fiction stories, but that is my personal preference, rather than an unbiased criticism of the book.
While I did not love this one, I would still encourage readers to try it out for themselves and form their own opinions. There was nothing wrong with this one, but I just didn't connect to the story.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC copy of this book from the publisher.
September 8, 2019
3 Stars. I think. I mean, I liked it. But didn’t love it. I wasn’t completely invested in the characters, but did want to see how it was going to end.
I thought it’d be a clear cut ending but I’m not even sure if this is a stand alone or possibly going to be a dual book, or what??
Also, the ending felt kinda abrupt. So much to the meat of the story yet the very end felt abrupt and kinda flimsy.
Not necessarily a bad thing to leave the end of hold to let the reader come up with their own theories. However when you read a book that’s full on, almost from the beginning to then have an end so abrupt didn’t fit.
I’m hoping there will be another book. I’d love for there to be more. Just so I could have more answers really,....
Would I recommend this book? Sure! If you like Sci-fi’s, you’ll like this one.
***thank you to the publisher for providing me with the eARC copy of this book to read for an honest review***
I thought it’d be a clear cut ending but I’m not even sure if this is a stand alone or possibly going to be a dual book, or what??
Also, the ending felt kinda abrupt. So much to the meat of the story yet the very end felt abrupt and kinda flimsy.
Not necessarily a bad thing to leave the end of hold to let the reader come up with their own theories. However when you read a book that’s full on, almost from the beginning to then have an end so abrupt didn’t fit.
I’m hoping there will be another book. I’d love for there to be more. Just so I could have more answers really,....
Would I recommend this book? Sure! If you like Sci-fi’s, you’ll like this one.
***thank you to the publisher for providing me with the eARC copy of this book to read for an honest review***
February 5, 2024
I've been in a Sci-fi horror mood , which if you know me is kind of out of character for me. My buddy read Steph enjoys this genre and was on board!
Salvaged was exactly what my mood was looking for. A flawed heroine who was struggling a bit in the beginning for good reason, but she's smart , capable and likeable. She isn't the only POV we are treated to in this story, and that was probably one of my favorite aspect. We got to experience each crew member as they struggled with the threat upon their ship. With an eerie setting, horror, danger, even a little side romance plot line that I didn't hate , I am calling this a successful buddy read.
Salvaged was exactly what my mood was looking for. A flawed heroine who was struggling a bit in the beginning for good reason, but she's smart , capable and likeable. She isn't the only POV we are treated to in this story, and that was probably one of my favorite aspect. We got to experience each crew member as they struggled with the threat upon their ship. With an eerie setting, horror, danger, even a little side romance plot line that I didn't hate , I am calling this a successful buddy read.
December 15, 2019
This was an interesting read. I just picked it up when I saw it on the library's new releases and recognized the author from Twitter. So you see social media does pay off sometimes. I didn't read the many, many blurbs and I am kinda glad I went that way. In fact, I went into this novel totally cold not knowing a single thing about the plot just knowing it was science fiction from the super cool looking cover. Had I read multiple blurbs that all compared to ALIEN I might have spent the whole time waiting for the monster to show up. I think I benefitted from not having an idea of what the plot or comparisons were. That said I can't review this without crossing that line for you.
The opening pages drip with gruesome details and the writing is pretty great. The prose is not overly pretty but I enjoyed the fact that Roux is a simple but confident storyteller. We are pushed into this world and have to hold on for most of the experience. The characters are well developed but Roux gives lots of attention and detail to our main point of view character Roselyn. That said the narrative is a third person and we get many points of view. I think this effective and used for moments of suspense and character.
So Roslyn is a deep space salvager and that gives the book it's space truckers feel. She is sent to clean up ships that lost all the crew. She is a drunk and fuck-up with a very interesting past I won't spoil. She is close to losing her job when she has given one last chance a salvage gig with a partner no one can stand. Once they arrive at the ship they find the crew is not dead - not yet however they have come under the control of a sentient parasite.
The comparison to ALIEN is setting pure and simple. While ALIEN has psychological fear involved most of it comes from the characters being hunted. The thing that separates Salvaged is the paranoia at the heart of the story, in that sense this novel is almost more in the neighborhood of John Carpenter's The Thing. As a Phil K Dickian nerd I enjoyed that this novel puts the characters through their worst fears guided by the ones they most love. As a horror concept that is great.
I didn't find the story or the concept to be very groundbreaking and I felt like I had seen this story before. That said it was very well told even if the concept didn't totally hook me. I did, however, enjoy the writing enough to want to read more from the author. I enjoyed the book enough to give it a positive rating and most importantly I had fun reading it. Madeleine Roux is clearly talented and I will be reading more of her work.
Salvaged is highly recommended for those looking for deep-space horror you can't go wrong with this novel that is less cosmic than ALIEN but far more psychological.
The opening pages drip with gruesome details and the writing is pretty great. The prose is not overly pretty but I enjoyed the fact that Roux is a simple but confident storyteller. We are pushed into this world and have to hold on for most of the experience. The characters are well developed but Roux gives lots of attention and detail to our main point of view character Roselyn. That said the narrative is a third person and we get many points of view. I think this effective and used for moments of suspense and character.
So Roslyn is a deep space salvager and that gives the book it's space truckers feel. She is sent to clean up ships that lost all the crew. She is a drunk and fuck-up with a very interesting past I won't spoil. She is close to losing her job when she has given one last chance a salvage gig with a partner no one can stand. Once they arrive at the ship they find the crew is not dead - not yet however they have come under the control of a sentient parasite.
The comparison to ALIEN is setting pure and simple. While ALIEN has psychological fear involved most of it comes from the characters being hunted. The thing that separates Salvaged is the paranoia at the heart of the story, in that sense this novel is almost more in the neighborhood of John Carpenter's The Thing. As a Phil K Dickian nerd I enjoyed that this novel puts the characters through their worst fears guided by the ones they most love. As a horror concept that is great.
I didn't find the story or the concept to be very groundbreaking and I felt like I had seen this story before. That said it was very well told even if the concept didn't totally hook me. I did, however, enjoy the writing enough to want to read more from the author. I enjoyed the book enough to give it a positive rating and most importantly I had fun reading it. Madeleine Roux is clearly talented and I will be reading more of her work.
Salvaged is highly recommended for those looking for deep-space horror you can't go wrong with this novel that is less cosmic than ALIEN but far more psychological.
dnf
December 11, 2019I tried, this just wasn’t interesting enough to keep forcing myself through it. I won this from the publisher, I think through a Shelf Awareness newsletter giveaway. I really enjoyed other books I'd read by the author, and this one started out okay. But it soon devolved and got boring, and I just kind of gave up waiting for anything major to happen. I could totally see it as a movie, and I might still go see it since that would hopefully have some good special effects. But I just couldn't force myself to keep reading.
October 6, 2019
Read this review and others on my blog: https://thriftybibliophile.com
Salvaged by Madeleine Roux is a science fiction adventure that takes you to outer space.
Rosalyn Devar is a woman of many talents. Daughter of a famous business-owner, Rosalyn is a bioengineer who’s on the run from her current life. She takes up a job as a salvager, which is essentially a janitor for dead bodies in space. It’s mindless work but it allows her freedom from her life on earth.
Dead bodies here. Dead bodies there. Everything is normal and run of the mill until it’s not. Rosalyn’s life changes forever when one job is a little more than she can handle. She boards a ship affected with an alien parasite, and that parasite desperately wants Rosalyn on its side.
Taken hostage, Rosalyn is now adrift on a hostile ship. But all is not lost. Edison, the captain of the infected ship, is fighting the parasite. The two form a connection as they try to figure out how to save Rosalyn’s life. Will they save her life–and the human race–before time runs out?
I enjoyed reading Salvaged by Madeleine Roux. While it wasn’t a book that blew me away, it was certainly entertaining.
I thought Rosalyn’s time on the infected ship was awesomely tense and terrifying. Rosalyn was fierce despite her terrible odds, and it was fun watching her puzzle through a plan with the already infected captain.
Edison stressed me out! While he was doing everything in his power to fight the parasite, it still wanted to control him. It was a nail-biting experience reading about his struggle to control the demon from within.
While the story itself was interesting, I wish the book would have covered more of Rosalyn’s backstory, especially her father and his company. It was touched upon briefly–towards the end of the book–but I felt like much of it was missing. I felt like the absence of this additional backstory was a hole in the book. I wanted–no, needed–to know more.
The ending was good. I wasn’t entirely sure how it was going to end, but I’m glad everything seemed to work out for the characters I cared about.
If you enjoy books about alien invaders and strong female characters, check out Salvaged by Madeleine Roux!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing the Kindle version of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Salvaged by Madeleine Roux is a science fiction adventure that takes you to outer space.
Rosalyn Devar is a woman of many talents. Daughter of a famous business-owner, Rosalyn is a bioengineer who’s on the run from her current life. She takes up a job as a salvager, which is essentially a janitor for dead bodies in space. It’s mindless work but it allows her freedom from her life on earth.
Dead bodies here. Dead bodies there. Everything is normal and run of the mill until it’s not. Rosalyn’s life changes forever when one job is a little more than she can handle. She boards a ship affected with an alien parasite, and that parasite desperately wants Rosalyn on its side.
Taken hostage, Rosalyn is now adrift on a hostile ship. But all is not lost. Edison, the captain of the infected ship, is fighting the parasite. The two form a connection as they try to figure out how to save Rosalyn’s life. Will they save her life–and the human race–before time runs out?
I enjoyed reading Salvaged by Madeleine Roux. While it wasn’t a book that blew me away, it was certainly entertaining.
I thought Rosalyn’s time on the infected ship was awesomely tense and terrifying. Rosalyn was fierce despite her terrible odds, and it was fun watching her puzzle through a plan with the already infected captain.
Edison stressed me out! While he was doing everything in his power to fight the parasite, it still wanted to control him. It was a nail-biting experience reading about his struggle to control the demon from within.
While the story itself was interesting, I wish the book would have covered more of Rosalyn’s backstory, especially her father and his company. It was touched upon briefly–towards the end of the book–but I felt like much of it was missing. I felt like the absence of this additional backstory was a hole in the book. I wanted–no, needed–to know more.
The ending was good. I wasn’t entirely sure how it was going to end, but I’m glad everything seemed to work out for the characters I cared about.
If you enjoy books about alien invaders and strong female characters, check out Salvaged by Madeleine Roux!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing the Kindle version of this book in exchange for an honest review.
July 3, 2020
2.5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews
Summary
Rosalyn Devar has sunk pretty low - low enough that her job is cleaning up decomposing bodies on failed spaceships. When she's drunk on duty again, the company gives her one last chance, and she's determined to straighten up and get her act together. Only, a parasitic, mind-controlling fungus can ruin your day...
Review
The story starts well, if not particularly innovatively – down on her luck protagonist with dark secrets, having a hard time. And the characterization is mostly strong throughout the book. Unfortunately, the structure and pacing doesn’t hold up as well.
The perspective shifts frequently among several characters, and that largely works. However, the piece also frequently slips into flashbacks and memories, and they are, by and large, poorly signaled and demarcated. The net result was that I found it hard to be sure whose perspective we were seeing, and when. There were also significant plot points that simply didn’t make sense to me. While some details seemed perfectly reasonable, the larger actions (a mind-influencing parasite respecting the bodily autonomy of a person it desperately wants to recruit) often weren’t logical. The characters rush back and forth through spaces that seem awfully convenient to their needs. While much of the revealed backstory was entirely predictable, I didn’t find the end credible at all.
All the right elements were in place for a good, if familiar, story, but I didn’t feel Roux did a good job of placing and using them. Much of my appreciation was not so much for the story that’s here as for the story that I assume she intended. A good effort, but in need of substantial editing and polish.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
Summary
Rosalyn Devar has sunk pretty low - low enough that her job is cleaning up decomposing bodies on failed spaceships. When she's drunk on duty again, the company gives her one last chance, and she's determined to straighten up and get her act together. Only, a parasitic, mind-controlling fungus can ruin your day...
Review
The story starts well, if not particularly innovatively – down on her luck protagonist with dark secrets, having a hard time. And the characterization is mostly strong throughout the book. Unfortunately, the structure and pacing doesn’t hold up as well.
The perspective shifts frequently among several characters, and that largely works. However, the piece also frequently slips into flashbacks and memories, and they are, by and large, poorly signaled and demarcated. The net result was that I found it hard to be sure whose perspective we were seeing, and when. There were also significant plot points that simply didn’t make sense to me. While some details seemed perfectly reasonable, the larger actions (a mind-influencing parasite respecting the bodily autonomy of a person it desperately wants to recruit) often weren’t logical. The characters rush back and forth through spaces that seem awfully convenient to their needs. While much of the revealed backstory was entirely predictable, I didn’t find the end credible at all.
All the right elements were in place for a good, if familiar, story, but I didn’t feel Roux did a good job of placing and using them. Much of my appreciation was not so much for the story that’s here as for the story that I assume she intended. A good effort, but in need of substantial editing and polish.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
October 14, 2019
This is the kind of sci-fi I love. Smart, nuanced, diverse, and an alien parasite of unknown origins messing with the main character's shit. Taking this journey with Rosalyn was not only empowering but also humbling. I identified with her hardcore, due in part to the well-written mental health rep, and because she isn't some cocky hero. This salvaging job is her last chance to change her life, and damn it if she doesn't try when the odds want to kill her.
Besides the horror elements (scary parasite on a non-working spacecraft alert!), I found it quite emotional getting to know the affected crew members, and I was afraid for just about everyone pretty much all the time. And that exciting ending grabbed me by the throat and had me turning pages, wishing there were more. Loved it!
Fans of The Expanse and Planetfall series, this might be right up your street.
Besides the horror elements (scary parasite on a non-working spacecraft alert!), I found it quite emotional getting to know the affected crew members, and I was afraid for just about everyone pretty much all the time. And that exciting ending grabbed me by the throat and had me turning pages, wishing there were more. Loved it!
Fans of The Expanse and Planetfall series, this might be right up your street.
April 5, 2020
I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
A young woman, from a rich family rebels and becomes a crime scene cleaner on spaceships. There's a mysterious disease that causes human bodies to disintegrate, and the authorities don't want it to get out. She is sent to clean up a ship, but there are still people aboard. Not really alive, but sort of zombies controlled by an alien intelligence.
Pretty good. Some tension, and a good portrayal of claustrophobia.
A young woman, from a rich family rebels and becomes a crime scene cleaner on spaceships. There's a mysterious disease that causes human bodies to disintegrate, and the authorities don't want it to get out. She is sent to clean up a ship, but there are still people aboard. Not really alive, but sort of zombies controlled by an alien intelligence.
Pretty good. Some tension, and a good portrayal of claustrophobia.
December 29, 2019
Roux is an author I enjoy a lot, even though (until Salvaged) she is a YA author. Young Adult novels aren’t really my thing, but I find them much more tolerable when there is less romance and more horror. I have been reading Roux’s Asylum series, which I find very fun. When I first heard she was working on a new novel for adults, I was very intrigued. When I finally got a plot description of said book, I was basically already hooked! I’m not a huge sci-fi fan either, but I LOVE sci-fi horror and some space alien parasite / abandoned space ship sounded super epic to me. I could not wait for this book to come out. I was not disappointed!
This book was a lot of fun. There were so many things I liked about it, I’m not sure where to start. 😀
I enjoyed all the characters in Salvaged. I’ve seen a lot of reviews saying how the characters were uninteresting, flat and one dimensional. *shrug* I honestly don’t get that at all. The whole main cast had depth, even the crew members who had lesser roles. You get a taste for what their lives were like before this cluster fuck on board happened to them. I thought the author did a very nice job of showing passion and emotion with them. Each person, in different ways, struggled with what was happening to them. It was interesting to see what they used to try to fight off the invading parasite. Each crew member dealt with it in their own unique way. Watching these people struggle, made you have all the feels! I wanted them to survive. I wanted them to keep fighting. And I was sad when they couldn’t anymore. Even the bad guys were tragic and emotional.
Roux created a very diverse cast of characters, especially the main cast. Several of the main characters are people of color, with the main character, Ros, being of Indian descent. I can’t even remember the last time I read a US horror book or sci-fi book where the main character was Indian (or is it India?) American (not Native American, but actually from India), if ever? That is a severely underrepresented minority in fiction it feels like. Other main characters are Asian-American, Italian, Muslim, and a few LGBTQ+. I thought that was pretty cool to see so many people being represented like that.
I absolutely love the plot of Salvaged. Nothing says creepy like going to clean up an abandoned space ship, only to find it’s not abandoned and there is some sort of icky alien fungus, the Foxfire, growing all over the ship and crew. Gross. D: We get some truly lovely descriptions of the nastiness going on in the ship. Not to mention the way it is damaging people. It was pretty entertaining watching Ros try to figure out what had happened, why the Foxfire was in the ship, and where it originated from. There were a few small predictable parts here and there in the plot, but it didn’t matter. The tension and suspense was too gripping to be upset about a few twists being spoiled. I found myself on the edge of my seat, waiting for Ros to come to the same realizations with what all was going on.
Whether dealing with the demons of their past, or the main villain, Mother Foxfire, the underlining theme to Salvaged is of surviving abusive relationships- family, friends, work and loved ones- and never giving up hope. Never stop fighting. Even the title reflected this theme. Don’t let your past control your life. In the words of the wise Kesha, “Don’t let the bastards hold ya down.”
The audiobook was narrated by Emily Woo Zeller. She did a really solid performance on Salvaged. Accents, gender and age were all on point. The older scientist legit sounded like an old woman. Ros had a slight British accent, Piero had a heavy Italian accent. Very well done. I was pretty impressed. Zeller is normally very good at her job, and this one really showed off a lot of range.
I seriously don’t get all the negative reviews. I was highly entertained the whole time. Super fun plot, creepy story, high tension, strong characters, evil corporations, gross alien parasite. What more could you want from a book?? 😮 Oh well, to each their own I guess.
This book was a lot of fun. There were so many things I liked about it, I’m not sure where to start. 😀
I enjoyed all the characters in Salvaged. I’ve seen a lot of reviews saying how the characters were uninteresting, flat and one dimensional. *shrug* I honestly don’t get that at all. The whole main cast had depth, even the crew members who had lesser roles. You get a taste for what their lives were like before this cluster fuck on board happened to them. I thought the author did a very nice job of showing passion and emotion with them. Each person, in different ways, struggled with what was happening to them. It was interesting to see what they used to try to fight off the invading parasite. Each crew member dealt with it in their own unique way. Watching these people struggle, made you have all the feels! I wanted them to survive. I wanted them to keep fighting. And I was sad when they couldn’t anymore. Even the bad guys were tragic and emotional.
Roux created a very diverse cast of characters, especially the main cast. Several of the main characters are people of color, with the main character, Ros, being of Indian descent. I can’t even remember the last time I read a US horror book or sci-fi book where the main character was Indian (or is it India?) American (not Native American, but actually from India), if ever? That is a severely underrepresented minority in fiction it feels like. Other main characters are Asian-American, Italian, Muslim, and a few LGBTQ+. I thought that was pretty cool to see so many people being represented like that.
I absolutely love the plot of Salvaged. Nothing says creepy like going to clean up an abandoned space ship, only to find it’s not abandoned and there is some sort of icky alien fungus, the Foxfire, growing all over the ship and crew. Gross. D: We get some truly lovely descriptions of the nastiness going on in the ship. Not to mention the way it is damaging people. It was pretty entertaining watching Ros try to figure out what had happened, why the Foxfire was in the ship, and where it originated from. There were a few small predictable parts here and there in the plot, but it didn’t matter. The tension and suspense was too gripping to be upset about a few twists being spoiled. I found myself on the edge of my seat, waiting for Ros to come to the same realizations with what all was going on.
Whether dealing with the demons of their past, or the main villain, Mother Foxfire, the underlining theme to Salvaged is of surviving abusive relationships- family, friends, work and loved ones- and never giving up hope. Never stop fighting. Even the title reflected this theme. Don’t let your past control your life. In the words of the wise Kesha, “Don’t let the bastards hold ya down.”
The audiobook was narrated by Emily Woo Zeller. She did a really solid performance on Salvaged. Accents, gender and age were all on point. The older scientist legit sounded like an old woman. Ros had a slight British accent, Piero had a heavy Italian accent. Very well done. I was pretty impressed. Zeller is normally very good at her job, and this one really showed off a lot of range.
I seriously don’t get all the negative reviews. I was highly entertained the whole time. Super fun plot, creepy story, high tension, strong characters, evil corporations, gross alien parasite. What more could you want from a book?? 😮 Oh well, to each their own I guess.
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January 29, 2020This is a DNF unfortunately.
It's decent enough science fiction but I was here for the scares and there didn't really seem to be, after 150 pages or so, a sense of tension building or anything truly horrific going on. Things should not be compared to Alien lightly and perhaps I had the wrong impression going in but alien spores that take over ones mind are not as scary as aliens. I don't want to be told something is monstrous, I want to read about it and be so disgusted I get there organically. I'd recommend Nic Cutters The Troop for this sort of story.
*If I DNF I do not leave a star rating.
It's decent enough science fiction but I was here for the scares and there didn't really seem to be, after 150 pages or so, a sense of tension building or anything truly horrific going on. Things should not be compared to Alien lightly and perhaps I had the wrong impression going in but alien spores that take over ones mind are not as scary as aliens. I don't want to be told something is monstrous, I want to read about it and be so disgusted I get there organically. I'd recommend Nic Cutters The Troop for this sort of story.
*If I DNF I do not leave a star rating.
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