Scavenger Blood

Scavenger Exodus #2

by Janet Edwards

2408. Humanity has travelled to the stars through interstellar portals, but the rebels and criminals were left behind on a ruined Earth. Eighteen-year-old Blaze is one of the last seven hundred people scavenging a living in an increasingly lethal New York infested by alien predators. Forced to step into the spotlight to help her father defeat a leadership challenge by her old enemy Cage, she’s now adjusting to being deputy leader of the uneasy alliance between the remnants of the Earth Resistance and the old criminal gangs.

As a child, Blaze escaped the firestorm when the London power grid exploded, and a similar firestorm will soon hit New York. The alliance must leave New York this spring or die, but they’re facing the twin threats of a fugitive Cage hiding somewhere in the area, and his old supporters causing trouble within the alliance. When a hunting party fails to return, the situation starts spiralling out of control, and the alliance’s off-worlder guests have a key part to play.

Scavenger Blood is the second book in the Scavenger Exodus series. This is set in the same future timeline as the Earth Girl trilogy, but takes place several centuries earlier, and features an ancestor of the trilogy’s main character, Jarra.

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, British Literature, Young Adult Science Fiction

393 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 8, 2019

About the author

Latest release:- Adversary, the fifth book in the Hive Mind series. 

Please visit Janet's website to get more information, and sign up for her newsletter if you'd like to be kept informed of future releases.

SET IN THE HIVE FUTURE
PERILOUS: Hive Mind A Prequel Novella  
TELEPATH
DEFENDER
HURRICANE
BORDERLINE
ADVERSARY

SET IN THE 25th CENTURY PORTAL FUTURE 
SCAVENGER ALLIANCE 
SCAVENGER BLOOD

SET IN THE 28th CENTURY PORTAL FUTURE
Set in 2781
HERA 2781: A Drago Short Story
HESTIA 2781: A Drago Novel
ARRAY 2781: A Drago Novel
SOL 2781: A Drago novel

Set in 2788, the year before the Earth Girl Trilogy
EARTH 2788: The Earth Girl Short Stories
EARTH AND FIRE: An Earth Girl Novella 1
EARTH AND AIR: An Earth Girl Novella 2
FRONTIER:  An Epsilon Sector Novella

Set in 2789, the Main Earth Girl Trilogy
EARTH GIRL
EARTH STAR
EARTH FLIGHT

Set in 2789 directly after the Earth Girl Trilogy
EARTH PRIME: The Earth Girl Aftermath Stories 1

SET IN THE GAME FUTURE
REAPER

EARTH GIRL:-
◾Voted an American Library Association YALSA Teens' Top Ten title for 2014.
◾A Tayshas 2014 choice.
◾Kirkus starred review for a book of exceptional merit.
◾A Kirkus best book of 2013.
◾Booklist starred review for being outstanding in its genre.
◾Booklist Editors’ Choice: Books for Youth, 2013.
◾An Amazon.co.uk best Young Adult book of 2012.
◾A Kobobooks.com best Young Adult book of 2012.

Reviews

[Elisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a good followup to the first book. There are some little info dumps that catch the reader up from the first book actions that bothered me a bit, they explain things to the reader as they speak. Sometimes it is a reach. People just don't talk like that. But good action and character development. Looking forward to the next one

[Xander Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy these books! OK, I'm going to start my review with my one complaint. Ms. Edwards isn't always great at writing realistic dialog. Often the lines people are given to say don't really reflect the way people actually talk--everything is too on the nose. She uses dialog to explain things when that sort of description would be better left for other elements of prose.
But beyond that these really are great little tales. I have great appreciation for the Earth Girl tales and now the adventures of Blaze with the Scavenger Exodus series (basically anything set in the "Portal" future).
I often judge a book by how compulsively I want to read it and these books are consistently among the best at inspiring me to plow through in a few reading sessions. There is adventure, great characters, some action, some intrigue, good pacing, etc. There is basically everything (with, again, perhaps the exception of believable dialog) that you'd want in a genre pleasure read!

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book as a continuation to the first one. While the dialogue does not seem realistic to how people actually converse I still grew to love so many of the characters. It isn't the best work of literature as far as writing skill, but it pulls you in and doesn't let you leave.
It's been 3 years since this came out, will we ever see what happens to the alliance? I hope the answer to that question is yes

[S.J. Higbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scavenger Blood is the second book in the Scavenger Exodus series. This is set in the same future timeline as the Earth Girl trilogy, but takes place several centuries earlier, and one of the protagonists featured is an ancestor of the trilogy’s main character, Jarra.

Edwards writes young women learning to cope in difficult situations very well. I thoroughly enjoyed the excellent Earth Girl series featuring young Jarra, as the scenario of portal travel off-world leaving Earth virtually uninhabited works really well. While reading the Earth Girl series may give you the historical backstory, this spinoff series effectively stands alone as Edwards gives an insight into the outlaw remnants scratching a living amongst the ruins of New York. A terrible fate awaits them if they continue to stay in the city – but while a vengeful killer is on the loose with a hidden gang of supporters within the community, they cannot consider safely moving everyone out of the city, either…

I was soon fully back in the world and alongside Blaze as she has to negotiate the tensions within competing factions, in addition to coping with everyday danger such as nasty aliens who have developed a taste for the humans hiding amongst the ruins. The pace and tension steadily ramped up in this dangerous world where death is a daily occurrence. Blaze is a sympathetic protagonist, who struggles to overcome insecurities caused by a tough upbringing. This progression is really well handled by Edwards, leaving Blaze in quite a different place at the end from where she was at the start of the book.

The only major grizzle I have is that now I’ve finished this one, I would love to find out what happens next – right now! I’m looking forward to the next phase of this story, as there are bound to be all sorts of adventures in store for these embattled people, many of whom are only guilty of having been born to folks on the wrong side of the law. This series is highly recommended for science fiction fans who enjoy a well-written dystopian scenario featuring a feisty young female protagonist.
9/10

[Connie Genert · Rating 3 out of 5]

They say the middle child is often awkward and a little overlooked. There was a lot of fill from book one here and the pacing was a bit off. When the action moved, it was good but it just wasn’t a great book over all. I will still grab up book three when it comes out because I want to see where the overall story goes.

[Unilove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amaz book!

[Sandi Dreer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scavenger Blood is the continuation of Scavenger Alliance. Edwards has shown her excellent world-building skills in series and the Earth Girl series. One thing that popped out to me was the discovery of lost art mentioned in this novel that was actually found centuries later in Earth Girl by Jarra.

It is a dystopia story and does touch on topics that are relevant in today's society such as gender equality and environmentalism.

You can empathize with the characters and the choices they make. I'm already ready for the continuation of the story.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 out of 5 stars!

I loved it so much it wouldn't let me go and I read it like in nearly one sitting! A worthy successor to Scavenger Alliance!


So now to the book! Due to this being the second part I need to mark everything I'm writing about the plot and so on as a spoiler duh^^

The events in Scavenger Blood start only a short time after the ending of Book 1. Blaze is still finding her way into being the deputy; Her and Ted's relationship is still new; Raenis bit for power in Queens Island just happened a few days prior; An most important Cage is still on the loose in New York.

The book focusses heavily on the divisions trying to catch Cage and bringing him to justice. But that's not the only thing that happens in the book. So much happens, and I loved it a lot!
We learn so much more about the past of the Resistance, New York, the world and every major character in the story. Some characters that were only on the sidelines in Book 1 are more present in this one, but on the other hand, some characters that were heavily featured in Book 1 appear less. I mean we see Cage in person only like three times- and one of those three times he is like a big ass projection^^ But we constantly are reminded of the danger he is posing. But yeah he and his supporters are facing what they deserve - imprisonment in a dying city.

What I really loved was the dynamics between the division leaders. After Rouges death I was really worried about Raenis actions, but she came around and proofed to be sensible and have a brain. But my favourite is still Ghost, but Ice and Wall too had their moments.
What I found a bit unnecessary were the infodumps in some of the conversations. Especially those dumps that only repeated whole chunks of Book 1. Yeah, true, not everyone would have re-read Book 1 just by chance only a few days prior, but some of the things recounted weren't necessary in my eyes. Maybe I would have thought differently if I haven't read the book, but we'll never know.

I'm really really looking forward to Book 3. I mean we need the move out of New York, the travel to Philadelphia and if they really manage to pass Fence - from what I understand, the "citizens" living in the settlements aren't that fond of the Alliance and I doubt that they'll freely allow them to pass through only because of Tad, Phoenix and Braden.
But we'll need to wait and see.

[William Saeednia-Rankin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book, wonderful character development, fascinating and original setting, excellently written action scenes that mean all the more for having characters you care about swept up in the events.

This is the second time that I've read this book and I'm not sure how to write a review that does this justice. I love it.

I really hope that Book 3 gets written when the author has finished her current (excellent) projects.

[Bellevonte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had so much fun in this world!!! Could have lessened the info dumps and developed the relationships wayy more tho all the happenings in the stories always seem to hit out of nowhere and seemingly pulled out at the last minute to solve the situation. But the vibes of the alliance was so fun and I genuinely was sucked into it and had to come up gasping for air a few times. Impeccable world-building.

[Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot thickens, someone I really liked dies, and there is a silo prison.

Now what will book 3 have? Seamus?