Salvage (Salvage, #1)

by Alexandra Duncan

"Ava, a teenage girl living aboard the male-dominated, conservative deep space merchant ship Parastrata, faces betrayal, banishment, and death. Taking her fate into her own hands, she flees to the Gyre, a floating continent of garbage and scrap in the Pacific Ocean. How will she build a future on an Earth ravaged by climate change?"--

• ISBN10: 0062220144
• ISBN13: 9780062220141
• Publish Date: 1 April 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 528
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I knew I had to read Salvage as soon as I read the blurb and saw the "continent of garbage." This concept immediately fascinated me as someone into environmental issues, which happen to include large quantities of trash in our oceans! Of course, I knew the book wouldn't be all about that, it's just the setting, but still, I had to read it. Plus I love outer space! Salvage begins with Ava aboard her home ship, and soon she's faced with the prospect of marriage. Her groom is a childhood friend, so it's not as bad as it seems, until things go wrong. Very wrong. Ava is running for her life, and ends up on Earth, on the Gyre where she must essentially relearn to live while wondering if her love is still alive and if he ended up "groundways" too.

Salvage and I did get off to an awkward start. I was aware that it was written in the futuristic English dialect, but it still took me several chapters to adjust. There's just so many new words and phrases, and for some of them it's hard to decipher their meaning even in context. But once the story got going and the words/phrases were used more, I was able to get use to it and actually quite liked it. It made it feel more real. Also, as the story progressed, and Ava spent more time on Earth, her speech patterns changed and became the English we're use to. It was a great and subtle way to show her character growth.

There wasn't much of an overall plot to Salvage. It was more about Ava's personal journey. She was raised in a place where women were put into historically female gender roles: mothers, cooks, and clothing. Men also take multiple brides, which the women have no say in. Ava had no education to speak of, since apparently women don't need it to raise children or make breakfast. However, Ava has managed to teach herself some basic math and she has an interest in (and talent for) mechanics, something women can never, ever do. Her lack of any formal education wasn't a problem on her ship, but once she's on Earth, the tables are turned. I actually enjoyed reading about a character who isn't some genius who knows how to do everything. Ava struggles a lot, and she knows she'll never be like other girls her age, but she does work hard at what she's good at and strives to better herself in the ways that she can. Very admirable.

I really liked Salvage. I was never bored, despite the slow pace and considerable length. I thought the world building was great, but I do wish there had been some more information about the Gyre (I mean, it's the reason I picked it up!). I also loved that ending! Ava is faced with what she's been wanting for most of the book, but comes to an important realization. She's not the girl she was in the first several chapters. She has her whole, new life ahead of her. I do wish there was more, but that was a perfect ending.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Amber]

This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

Salvage is one of those books that has so much promise, and yet is an epic fail when it comes to the delivery. When I saw that Salvage was about a girl who lived on a spaceship ruled by men, I immediately requested it. It was supposed to be about this girl breaking free and escaping those who rule over her, and about her discovering that there is more to life than serving those with the Y chromosome.

The novel starts off with Ava introducing us to her world, which is limited to the four walls of a spaceship. Well, the parts that she is free to access, anyway, which isn’t many. I was immediately intrigued as to just how Ava was going to escape this life where she and the other girls were assigned to do duties that are classed as feminine, such as sewing, and where the men of the ship were the “protectors” (read: abusers).

I love how Duncan provided contrast with Ava’s friend (whose name I have forgotten) in the beginning. Said friend was from another spaceship, which although still in no way ideal, was slightly more lenient when it came to male versus female roles. It really hit home as I read about it, since although the second spaceship was a horrible place for women to live, Ava’s ship was even worse.

And while all of those things should have appealed to me – and I guess, in a sense, they did – this book still fell short of the mark.

The biggest problem I had was the slow pace, which I feel was somewhat caused by Duncan’s writing style. The prose was dangerously close to being purple, and the fact that Duncan invented a new dialect didn’t help matters at all. In fact, it made things downright confusing. Ava and the other characters were using all of these new terms and phrases, and it took a long time for me to even understand what they were talking about, let alone actually get used to it. It really stunted the writing and the pace of the story for me.

In addition, since this is a science fiction novel, I was expecting more action and suspense. Although I only read this book a couple of weeks ago, I would struggle to tell you what went on after the 30% mark. Once Ava hit Mumbai, I was ready for everything to kick off, but it never happened. It was as though the author was dangling a What Could Have Been carrot in front of my face for the entire second half of the novel. I felt like something exciting was definitely going to happen around the next corner, and yet it never did. It was a huge letdown.

If you’re looking for a better take on this subject matter, I would definitely recommend reading The Handmaid’s Tale, which is what Salvage is being compared to. Both contain the same themes, but The Handmaid’s Tale is 100% more engaging. Salvage has a lot of lost potential, and I’m highly disappointed in this book.