Salvaged by Madeleine Roux

Salvaged

by Madeleine Roux

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.

Reviewed by shannonmiz on

5 of 5 stars

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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.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 1 September, 2019: Finished reading
  • 1 September, 2019: Reviewed