Quirky Cat
Written on Dec 7, 2019
Madeleine Roux’s Salvaged is the ideal example of a dark science fiction novel. It hits all the right tones, while being disturbing and graphic and oh so enthralling.
Rosalyn Devar is a woman with a big secret – namely her family’s history. In an attempt to run from all of that, she’s found herself in deep space doing the most inglorious of all jobs – she’s a glorified waste disposal janitor. And more often than not that means she’s the one cleaning up the bodies on wrecked spaceships.
But all of that is about to change, with the latest mission she’s been assigned to. The ship has been dark for months – but what she ends up finding is nothing like what she expected. And so the fight for her life begins.
“Rosalyn had endured disappointing birthdays before, but never one in ankle-deep corpse sludge.”
Warnings: Madeline Roux is not afraid to touch on some seriously heavy tones in Salvaged. Inside this book, you’re going to find lots of graphic descriptions involving human bodies (in various states of decay), as well as an animal death or two (again as part of her cleanup job). There’s also some sexual assault moments that occur – but they’re all set in the past.
Salvaged was perhaps one of the darkest science fiction novels I’ve read this year. It was gory and intense, and yet at the same time, it was brilliant. I was captivated by Rosalyn’s tale, the depth, and tragedy of it all.
There was a lot to enjoy about this novel. For one thing, the writing style and tones alone are simply divine. I loved the way Roux established her story and her main character. Her writing is beautiful and yet unavoidably tragic.
Then there’s the plot, which does not shy away from the graphic nature. It was a fascinating story, and not at all what I expected. It’s also not like anything I’ve ever seen before, despite some of the familiar threads Roux clearly picked up.
And lastly, there are the characters. Salvaged may be focused mainly on Rosalyn, but there’s actually a variety of other characters to be found within these pages. Roux’s study on human nature is a poignant one, heartwarming at times, and chilling at others. It was the icing on the cake in this novel. I honestly don’t think it would have had nearly the same impact without such powerful characters to follow.
Salvaged is the first novel I’ve ever read written by Madeline Roux, and I’m kind of regretting that now. As I made clear above, I really enjoyed a lot about Salvaged. And thus I’m going to have to keep an eye out for Roux’s next book, while also adding all of her backlog to my ever growing TBR list (worth it).
