Good little action novel. I did find the anxiety and self-doubt of the protagonist a little off-putting, but maybe that's because it hit close to home.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately, while the blurb really interested me, I have been unable to get into the book.

Set in space and involving a few planets, the author has a good feel for world building and provides enough detail to be able to really get a feel for how things look. She also writes action and fight sequences really well, ensuring the movements are realistic and the consequences make sense. The action does, however, have one issue that many steampunk novels with airships deal with – battle scenes detailing how the ships maneuver just aren’t very exciting.

The characters are relatable and the main ones are well-developed. It’s nice to have a female captain leading the way too, though the overall feeling of the ship’s crew wasn’t as cohesive as it could have been. But it was good to have the inclusion of a nonbinary character; though a secondary character, there was a lot of plot development that depended on it.

Fans of steampunk and sci-fi/fantasy in general will like this one. It stays interesting throughout and has a conclusion that both wraps things up and keeps the door open for further tales.

Flotsam is the first book in a new series (Peridot Shift) and the debut novel from new voice R. J. Theodore. This book had me at hello. It promised everything in my ideal book checklist. Fantasy, touch of magic, aliens, steampunk, strong female characters with ensemble cast, pirates/junkers on a treasure hunt, some humor, good dialogue and plot driven narrative.

This was a solidly readable good book . I really saw a cliffhanger coming for 300 pages but when I had read the last page, I immediately started jonesing for the next book in the series.

This is high fantasy with cool world building, well thought out races, alien tech (the wasp-aliens with carved exoskeletons made me squee out loud. Ok, almost...but damn that was cool!), betrayal and survival and teamwork and...

It's a brick of a book, 535 pages, but doesn't suffer from book bloat in the slightest. It's not slow, doesn't drag, and the author isn't so fond of their own voice that they can't bear to cut anything they've written (I'm lookin' at you, Stephen King).

Released 27 March, 2018 by Parvus Press, it's available in ebook, paperback and audiobook formats. Really well written. Looking forward to the sequels.

Four stars

Flotsam is a really intriguing read. It isn't flawless but I'm definitely interested enough to continue on with the series. It is a fun steampunk adventure book for middle grades readers. The world of Peridot is very interesting and unique.

Space pirates! Or maybe Steampunk pirates? But still, what's not to love? This was such a fun book. It's set in a world that basically used to be a 'normal' planet but something happened that they call the Cataclysm and it got 'blown up' I guess for lack of a better word, but now their 'planet' is made up a lot of little islands [that somehow still have gravity and air? But I'll suspend my disbelief because I really love it] and the 'flotsam' is basically the outer atmosphere that is littered with all these crashed ships and other stuff. There's also a lot of stuff with the different races of people that live there [and some aliens as well] and their gods, but I don't want to rehash the entire plot here. It's some really cool world building and made even more impressive by the fact that this is the author's first book.

All the characters were really fun too. The main crew of the pirate ship consists of four people but there's another character that is fairly prominent as well as one of the aliens. It's a very interesting group of people and they all have their own things that they bring to the team. This book reminds me a lot of the Sunken City Capers series (first book: The Solid-State Shuffle), which I love, mostly just in terms of mood but both series are about thieves/pirates although hilariously enough the pirate one takes place in space and the other one takes place mostly under water because it's set in a world where the coastlines have moved up drastically. Anyway, this was just a really fun book that went from being your average heist story to a very involved political plot. I can't wait for the next one!

I really enjoyed this novel. It's steampunk/sci-fi/fantasy which is a new combination to me, but it works really well. It took awhile for it to click for me, but once it didn't, I couldn't stop reading.

For me personally, the first couple chapters were a bit...much. There was a lot happening and lot of information being thrown at you and it's a bit overwhelming. However, once you just sink into the world that RJ Theodore wrote, it all becomes slick and amazing. The world is just fantastic and all of the lore explored is great.

The characters are fantastic and really well thought out. Plus, their interpersonal relationships are so interconnected and there is so much history that isn't explained until certain spots or at all. There are about three things that happen in the book that I never saw coming, which I won't tell you about, because spoilers.

I really, really want to read the next book in this series because I need to know what happens.

This ARC was provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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The blurb really pulled me in for this one. Vivid worldbuilding was what I was looking forward to and I was not disappointed. The setting is Peridot, a afractured planet held together by the energy known as Nexus. It is inhabited by 5 distinct races and is visited by an alien race that comes from outer space. The mix of steampunk elements (in the form of flying ships the likes of which I admired and loved in the animated Treasure Planet), science fiction (the advanced alien race that seems to know more about Peridot than its own inhabitants and has created simula) and a story that puts a mirror to the issues of today's multicultural society is what I loved about this book. The worldbuilding was mostly done in digestible chunks dispersed throughoutt he story, However, some parts felt like infodumping, I wish those had been less as they interrupted dialogue.

The main character, Talis, is admirable and quite realistic. She makes questionable decisions but does not deny her mistakes or shortcomings. Talis, Dug and Scrimshaw were developed well, in my opinion, however, the rest of the cast could do with some more attention. The book is not long so I do believe that more time could have been dedicated to giving us some backstory on Sophie, Tisker and Jasper. The simula, Meran, was intriguing too and her character was pulled off well when considering what she is (no spoilers!). Scrimshaw's character was very intriguing. I really, really wish it had been developed more, because I was dying to know what goes on in his head as he's the translator for the alien visitors and does not seem to share his fellow species' interests. The Five Alchemists only appeared properly near the end of the story but I think that was fine, I did not feel that they needed to be shown more. Onaya Bone's scenes were enough to satisfy my questions about what exactly 'alchemy' meant in the context of the world of Peridot (I was not disappointed; it really reminded me of Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns series which is also set in a post-apocalyptic world with hints of advanced races that existed pre-cataclysm). I also really wish that to add to the worldbuilding in general, it would have been a good idea to involve the governing forces of Peridot more in the plot. The Veritors of the Codex and the Imperials had a role to play, but it was not major and could have been exploited more. An example of a series (of a similar genre-bending style) that does do this is Chris Wooding's Tales of the Ketty Jay.

The pacing of this story was good, however I felt that some scenes were very deus ex machina in their execution. The scene where Talis 'came across' Meran the first time. It could have been done better.

Overall, this was a good readand I am looking forward to continuing this series. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys a blend of sci-fi, fantasy and steampunk and fans of Chris Wooding's Tales of the Ketty Jay and Mark Lawrence's The Broken Empire series.
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Short review posted on Litsy

A novel with a good mix of sci-fi and steampunk elements. The worldbuilding was unique and done well. The character development could be better for some side characters. It would also help if the elites and governing forces were involved more in the plot, to give an expanded view of the world, rather than restricting it to the crew of the ship. There are some deus ex machina scenes. Overall a good debut. I'll be continuing the series. 3.5/5stars.

With a new perspective on interstellar treasure hunts, Flotsam knocks the steampunk genre out of the park. Whereas Cherie Priest gave us beautiful cities and ships and characters in her stylish penmanship, Theodore does the same on a bigger scale and on a more demanding stage; steampunk science fiction.

Although there are many fans of the genre, I really do think Theodore wrote something I'll most likely keep in my collection of highly-valued books I'll probably reread dozens of times through the years to come.

Overall, this book is good and not great. I liked the plucky cast of characters (very reminiscent of Firefly) and the science fantasy world (airships plus aliens, wheee!). The worldbuilding left something to be desired, even though more was explained as the story went on, I had trouble with some of the physics and mechanics of the world (giant floating light producing pumpkins? Why??).

I think you get basically everything the lovely Julie Dillon cover promises, really. It's a bright, interesting world with an interesting assortment of races, who I hope get explored more in further books.

The main conflict shifts a bit as the book goes along, which ends up working out perfectly well, although I don't care for how the main antagonist is handled with the shift.

The aliens, though, that certainly is the part that is most interesting, and does the most good for this book. Challenging assumptions is always something I like, and coupled with the great character interplay, it redeems the worldbuilding issues I had.

Great for folks who want aliens and weird magic and involved gods, also great for people who can't get enough airships. As mentioned, also a solid one for those who like a good crew as the main characters.

"Flotsam" eBook was published in 2018 and was written by R. J. Theodore (https://www.rjtheodore.com). This is Ms. Theodore's second publication.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in another world. It is a combination science fiction and steampunk tale. The primary character is Talis, Captain of the airship Wind Sabre.

Talis and her crew take on a dangerous, but conventional recovery job. The job turns out to be anything but conventional. The ring that they recover has powers that many different forces want. Included in those wanting the ring are aliens that arrived in their starship at the planet Peridot several months earlier.

Talis and her crew sell the ring and take on a mission that seems to be too good to be true. They soon find that they have been drawn into a plot that may well be catastrophic for Peridot.

This was an interesting 11.5 hour read. While I liked the steampunk angle and the science fiction twist of the world with an alien presence, the physics of this world is a little chaotic. The planet has undergone a cataclysm some years in the past that has broken it up into many floating, inhabited islands. A layer of flotsam floats below the islands. I liked the characters and the overall plot, but the physics of this world seemed more like fantasy than science fiction. Then there are the five 'gods' that turned the result of the cataclysm into this world of floating islands. Very chaotic in my opinion. I think that the cover art is a good choice. I give this novel a 3.8 (rounded up to a 4) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

Sorry, but this is just a mess. The beginning is way too slow. Long passages about architecture and decoration where nothing happens. About 60% the plot took off and begin to become very interesting, then it just all fell apart. Things happen with absolutely no explanation. Lots of detail about the ship falling apart, which doesn't seem to matter once it's gone. The ending puts the seven remaining characters in very dire straits, apparently they are going to continue on but to what purpose or goal I have no idea. Reminded me of Scarlett O'Hara, "I'll think about that tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day."

Flotsam is a bit of an ambivalent read: superb world building coupled with very nuanced and fallible characters should have been a great read. But plodding descriptions, heavy writing, and an endless feeling of dreariness and hopelessness made for a very difficult story to love. This is more sci fi than steampunk and it is wholly original in many places. But I can't help but feel that despite the author's excellent writing chops, she missed the heart and appeal of both steampunk (adventure! exuberance!) and sci fi (wonder! exploration!). In a word, it feels overwritten.

Story: Peridot is a world exploded - sections float together, held in place by a center energy, and controlled by a handful of mage gods. Talis commands an airship and motley crew loosely - each has a checkered past and could abandon her at any moment if she didn't produce an income. When she takes on a job to retrieve a signet ring from a floating wreckage, she becomes embroiled in a galaxy-wide conspiracy with the fate of her world at the center.

From the cover, I expected a light hearted and perhaps even youth-oriented read. Nothing could be farther from the truth; this is a very mature book definitely written with adults in mind. Author Theodore has really thought through the world building, how the airships work, even the religion systems and history. This isn't a bunch of modern day people interacting in a fantasy world - the world has been changed as has the people into a very unique look, feel, and set of mores. I applaud Theodore for the distinctness of that world building, especially since I was completely unprepared for its originality.

But perhaps because this is so well thought through, it is also greatly overwritten. Adventure, joy and wonder were jettisoned for mind numbing descriptions of the airships, the world, the weapons, the culture, etc. Nothing really grows organically in the info dumping except the plot, which unwinds in a precise and obviously well-designed manner. But to get to the plot you have to trudge through a LOT of words that honestly could have been jettisoned for a smoother story. I can't help but feel that a harsher editor would have done much to increase the enjoyment of this novel. It doesn't need to be dumbed down; rather, streamlined and the technical information less detailed and invasive/antagonistic to the plot development.

Perhaps the other really important aspect of the book is the mood: from the beginning to the end this is a very depressing book veering on "life sucks - and then your ship blows up" type of mentality. It makes for a hard read because there is no humor or bright moments to offset the dark. That missing balance slowly but effectively leeched much of the enjoyment that could have been had from this very fascinating world. Couple that with archetype characters (the girl who can hack anything, the boy who can sneak into anywhere, the hard captain with a heart of gold, the powerful and intensely loyal first mate, etc.) and it could also be a disappointing experience.

Because this takes place in another place in the galaxy, overly detailed and overly emphasized technical details, and because of the prevalence and importance of the aliens and space ships, I would categorize this as hard sci fi and not steampunk. There are action scenes in here but they are eclipsed by detailed descriptions of weapons or the airship features - even descriptions of the world overshadow the battles. It's a shame, really, because there is really a gem at the heart of this book; you just have to slog through a lot of info dumping and dreariness to get there. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

Flotsam has one of the strangest non-dream settings I’ve experienced in books. The planet Peridot underwent a catastrophic event, known as the Cataclysm, that resulted in the world being split into pieces that are loosely held together by the power of the Nexus. Each piece is an island, floating in space. One assumes that the Nexus maintains the loose configuration, atmosphere and gravity that allows the islands to support thriving populations. Oh, and the gods live within the Nexus and seem to have some responsibility for creating life, maintaining the balance of the Nexus and controlling all magic (alchemy).

Most of the action takes place in the skies on board the Wind Sabre, an airship, lending the steampunkish feeling. Though the presence of gods and magic/alchemy also give it a fantasy feeling. The non-earth space-like setting gives it a scifi feel. Plus there are aliens. So it is hard to define the genre of Flotsam. But, since I enjoy steampunk, fantasy and scifi, I really savored the combination.

There are many vividly described locations throughout Peridot that are part of the story. I appreciated the author’s descriptions of all these fascinating places.

I loved that the adventure never, NEVER slowed down. Will Captain Talis next decision be a good one, or will she get her crew into even more trouble? Spoiler – there was a lot of leaping from the frying pan into the fire. Followed by more leaping…..

There are plenty of colorful characters in this book. The least well known major character is the lead, Talis, as only parts of her story come out. But this is a series. There will be opportunities for Talis’ secrets to come out in a future story. Throughout Flotsam, you get to know about the crew of Wind Saber as you learn how Dug, Sophie, and Tisker came to be part of the crew. An there Talis’ ex-boyfriend, Hankirk, who is stupid and dangerous. And, I suspect, he will not go away easily.

There was a cliffhanger ending, which I am not fond of. I really liked this book, so Flotsam gets 4 stars – minus one star for the cliffhanger.

Through NetGalley, I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 17%. The writing was too stiff, descriptive and plodding, especially noticeable during action sequences, when they were bogged down with prose describing every single minute movement. Likewise, scenes with simple exchanges between characters were slow and lethargic because of the unnecessary description forced between dialogue. Not for me, but this book might suit other people's tastes better.

Flotsam was a fun read, although a little too all over the place for me, and could have benefited from a bit more editing. Talis, our heroine, was capable and believable. The elements of Steampunk were there, although it wasn't entirely steampunk, with strong rather sci-fi and fantasy elements. If the excess was trimmed, and the action was allowed to shine, it would be a very exciting read.

Peridot is a particular world, fruit of the ingenuity of half a dozen creative divinities and of their abilities with alchemy.
The illustration of this world, made by the author herself in the first pages of the book, reminded me of a video game, one of those in which you need to pass a mission to move to the next region, up to complete the game.
In this world, captain Talis travels through the space with her airship, trying to gather enough money to keep it up and hold the crew members together.
Talis problems worsen when she successfully completes a difficult mission: to retrieve a ring from the wreckage of a ship dispersed in the midst of generations of wreckage. Immediately, there begins a game of cat and mouse, in wichs become involved the imperial fleet, the emissaries of an alien race, various and fantastic creatures of earth and space, even the deities. Why do they all want the ring?

About this book, I have mixed feelings. Interesting is certainly the world of Peridot, with the peculiarities of its regions and creatures. The story is full of adventure and twirls. The characters are pretty well developed. Sometimes, however, they are too full of scruples and doubts, slowing down the rhythm of the story, with the risk to lower the reader's interest.
Even so, if you like steampunk stuff and stories, you should try this book.
My rating: 3 rings on 5 (ho my, is this a spoi ... rring?).

This is the second steampunkish novel I've read recently featuring airships plying between the floating remnants of a planet long after a catastrophe has torn it apart, and I have to say, if this is a new genre, I like it. For one thing, both of them have been better, from a copy editing viewpoint, than the vast majority of steampunk books, but they've also shown a good grasp of story structure and characterisation. (The other was Curtis Craddock's <i>An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors</i>.)

I have to say that I never did quite figure out the physical layout of Peridot. There's gravity, but there doesn't seem to be anything causing it; things just fall into the flotsam layer and stay there. It was never clear whether the aerial islands formed a disc or a sphere, either; it seemed like a disc, but I could be wrong. A lot of the early worldbuilding consisted of unexplained references that I had to set aside in the hope of understanding them later, and some things, as I say, never did get clarified. Near the end of the book, an island boasts a volcano, which seems at odds with the way everything is laid out; where's its magma coming from? And the river and fountains of sand, while cool, didn't seem particularly likely.

All this is background, though, really, and the focus is on the plot. It starts with a well-worn premise - plucky captain, who's rebelled against the injustices of society and become a smuggler, has to take risky jobs to keep her battered old ship maintained and flying. Despite its familiarity, the trope is played well, and the escalation of stakes is smoothly handled. Before we know it, the captain and her crew are in the middle of an alien invasion, and making choices that affect the fate of gods.

Yes, it's a genre mashup: steampunk, aliens, post-apocalyptic, adventure. Fans of Lindsay Buroker will probably enjoy it; it has a competent female lead who keeps questioning her competence to herself; a diverse crew who have their own issues and bicker among themselves, but pull together when the chips are down; and the aforementioned steampunkish setting, aliens, and adventure plot. If the author can be as consistent as Buroker in producing entertaining stories on this model, she's likely to do well, and this one is certainly a promising start.

I received a review copy via Netgalley.

(more like 2.5 stars) I have to say, I started this book off pretty impressed. The world of Peridot is really cool, from a planet made up of thousands of floating islands that's currently in the midst of an alien encounter to there being five different types of humans with various strange additions (extra arms or feathers, for example) to the airships that are used for travel because there's no real ocean in this world. And the worldbuilding only got more interesting as the book went on, exploring the concept of mortal gods and what interstellar travel would mean to a place like Peridot.

The plot also included several interesting plot twists, so there are definitely parts of the plot I look back on favorably. Others, not so much. There were a few scenes that seemed like they were supposed to be action-packed and dramatic but because they basically amounted to longwinded accounts of maneuvering air ships around they just... weren't. I remember thinking at one point that the chase scene I just read felt like an account of two snails racing each other — slow and irrelevant. Not to mention, in the biggest battle of the story the main character does very little, and everyone basically watches this one other character do all the important things. At that point you sort of want the author to just make that character the main one and be done with it.

The other place I feel Flotsam fell flat was with the characters. The main crew and such were reasonably developed, but pretty average. Mostly I think the problem is that while I can see each character's individual personality, I can't really see their bond as a crew. While we see how they each interact individually with Talis, their captain and the main character, the group dynamic just isn't there, which conflicts with the narration's insistence that their group dynamic is so close and important.

I was also disappointed with a few aspects where I feel Peridot's awesome, original worldbuilding reverted to predictable scifi tropes. The little we see of the Bone people and their islands are just very... "barbaric punishments and also a desert?", aka pretty much like every barbaric country that just happens to be the country full of Black people in every fantasy/scifi book ever. Again, it might just be because we don't see enough of their floating islands to see a nuanced view of their culture, but it feels tired. I hope the Bone get a more in depth treatment in the sequel. There's also another one of the human races (the Vein) that are blind, and appear to have the ~magical ability to sense everything around them even though they can’t see~ that every single blind character in fantasy/scifi does. The author could have done something way cooler and original by not using that old trope and instead focusing more on what kind of accommodations would develop for blind people in a strange world like Peridot, in my opinion. It would have been another interesting piece of worldbuilding.

And yet, for all these criticisms, I still would like to know where the story is going in the sequel (mostly because after that ending, I honestly can't predict where).

Now, these are the kind of debuts I love finding! Such a cool blend of steampunk, fantasy, and sci-fi. I am not even quite sure which category to tuck this one in and I loved that about it.

You can tell there was a lot thought put into this world, it’s gorgeous. The setting, the alien cultures, the outfits, everything was so visually stunning and I liked that it was a nice balance of detailed world building and trusting you to be able to keep up. And that there was a very handy glossary for the times when you think you know what something is but aren’t totally sure, or in my case, just terrible with names. I thought it was a definite must-have.

The characters were appealing and the tidbits of back story and their complicated pasts together and apart, were interesting and kept me wanting to know more about them.

Although, there were things that were hinted at that I would have loved more than just allusions to- especially Tallis and the High Priestess Illiya’s, time serving together. And I wished for more about Tallis and Hankirk’s rocky past. I think it would have made some of Tallis’s decisions concerning him less frustrating to have a had a better understanding of their relationship. I am hoping there will be more of that sort of thing in the next book.

The Yu-Nyun had an Earth Final Conflict feel to them in the way you are left questioning if they really are as benign as they seem, or do they have ulterior motives? I was really hoping with the not leading you by the nose style to the writing, for there not to be an obvious answer to that question and others that were hinted at within the plot. Some events in their attempts to get us from one thing to the next felt a bit easy and for me, those moments were some of the weaker parts of the story.

On the whole, this was an enjoyable story and my issues were so minor compared to what I thought were its strengths. It made for a really fun and creative debut. I am looking forward to seeing where the author takes things in the next book.

Thank you to Netgalley, Parvus press, and the author, for the opportunity to read this ARC, it was a trip!