(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!

Decent steampunk fantasy with space opera elements. Did liken the fact protagonist lead is female, who can handle flying around on an airship.

Historically for me stories of space travel reminded me of Star Trek which I had been ambivalent about at best as a child. So to say I was uninspired by the long running galactic TV series to ever read books set in space was probably an understatement. However, after reading Meagan Spooner and Amie Kaufman’s acclaimed Starbound series a whole new genre of books was opened up to me. This led me to Flotsam and how very glad I am.

Talis is captain of her own ship, Wind Sabre and along with her small crew survives by taking contracts of a somewhat dubious nature. When she accepts a deal to retrieve a ring from the flotsam layer of dead junk that surrounds the space islands of Peridot, it seems too good to be true. Probably because it was. The contract takes Talis and her crew on an uncomfortable journey for survival. An old flame turned adversary, Hankirk, now an Imperial Captain is hot on her tail with the might of the Cutter Government behind him. Add to that the strange Yu-Nyun alien spaceship trailing her and she’s in a race for funds, new parts for the space ship and her survival.

Occasionally in a book, I read a line that I enjoy so much I go back to read it again. And again. Then I savour it like a really good Merlot. This book didn’t have one such line. It had many that I loved, so wonderfully crafted, like “she’d start the questions on the outside. Find a chink, wedge it open, and ease in” This author can paint a picture as vividly as if she had acrylics and a brush in hand and she isn’t afraid to use a cutting sense of humour. When referring to the reluctantly accepted resident alien she tells us that Talis thought ‘it’ was “always agreeing while simultaneously correcting. Not her favourite conversationalist this one”

Talis is a complex character, beautifully written. She is fiercely protective of her crew, especially the (figuratively and literally) tortured Dug. She is a tough, resilient woman on the outside whilst constantly self-doubting her thoughts and decisions on the inside. Her musings again give free rein to the author’s ability to write a dry sense of humour. When in trouble Talis thinks “what an incredible honour to have such a target painted on her back”

The plot jogs along at a very respectable pace and the world building was excellent. One of my favourite quotes comes at the end of the book, so I can’t include it without adding a huge ‘spoiler alert’ warning. Rest assured, the book’s end has left me waiting with bated breath for book number two. I genuinely can’t wait to read it to find out where the story goes next.
An ARC was greatly appreciated from NetGalley, the author and publisher and this review has been in no way affected by that.

Tails and crew are down on their luck so accept a contract that will tide them over, trouble is this simple job to salvage an old antique ring is not so simple and they're not the only ones with an interest. A fabulous SteamPunk adventure with Airships, Aliens and God's.
I really enjoyed this and I loved Scrimshaw the Yu'Nyum Alien who ended up on the Wind Sabre and I hope we see more of his character in the next book, which I'm really looking forward to.

I thought this book started off really well. It is written from single perspective and you get a really good feel for the main character. You get a good feel for all the main characters really, but you get a little bit of a slant on them from the main character's perspective. Talis seems to be a strong willed heroine and one who, despite being a little lacking on the planning side of things, is a capable leader. The author also does a good job with the world development, doesn't data dump, but does give you a good feel for the world, what it looks like, and how it feels to be there. The author's style and prose was very readable and kept the story flowing. I didn't note anything that threw me out of the story.
***Spoilers***
The plot itself was going along well, but then when the opportunity to take the simple and entirely too expectable turn of the aliens using her to attack the gods, it seemed like the author avoided the simple twist in the plot, but jumped to an entirely ridiculous level out of nowhere. Okay, so it's sci-fi fantasy and ridiculous is somewhat expected, but the mermaids and the vial were out of nowhere, then they never did tie back in. If that was a setup for something in a later novel I would have to say it was not particularly well done. I doubt if I wasn't writing this review about it that I would remember that scene once I finished the novel, but scanning back through trying to pinpoint why I felt lost in the plot of things, here with the mermaids is really where my lost feeling began. At this point in the story as Talis is taking the aliens to meet Onaya Bone, the reader is not sure if the aliens will turn on Talis, but we're assuming that. My first assumption is that these supposed gods aren't really gods at all and as the reader I'm waiting for this moment as a potential big reveal. The description here of the goddess was pretty brief and I didn't have a good mental image of her. The whole scene left me feeling a little disoriented for what had happened until I read it a second time. The first time I guess I had been sidetracked and didn't catch the reference to Silas Cutter's death and then the next chapter opens with Talis acting ill. I thought she was just ill from disappointing the goddess and the spiked drink the first time. The 2nd time after reading the whole book already, it's clear to me that part of her nauseous feeling stems from Silas Cutter's death. I think Silas Cutter should have been played up as more important to Talis somehow before this point. I know it was referenced, but I kinda felt like these gods weren't likely real gods of any significance up to this point and we still don't know that these gods have any significant power yet. The references to pre-cataclysm tech allude to their being a much more sophisticated culture before the cataclysm. I read this as the gods just likely being normal people who had access to the most advanced tech and set themselves up as gods with some of this technology that is now long forgotten by the people. So this is where the plot loopholes get a little sketchy for me truly and this is probably the biggest reason I can't give this book a higher rating. These aliens just went to talk to this goddess, who is really just on a screen and not there, with no real plan to tell her something they had told here before and they wound up dead. Now if they were a known aggressive force by Peridot's gods, why would they have relative free reign to run around and go wherever they please? Why would they go in to make a threat of war a second time and not be armed? Why would Onaya Bone give Talis this job, alone, to retake this ring from the hostile alien force, knowing the ring is likely there only chance at a successful defense. The whole plot just stops making sense here basically. It just feels like the author gave up and had to move the story on somehow, already knowing where she wanted it to go. Everything else in the book leading up to and after this point is acceptable plot structure, but this most pivotal scene is totally screwed up in my opinion. The judgement of gods here sucks, because Talis couldn't have even been successful had they actually killed Scrimshaw. Convenience of him living is one thing, but the fact that the rulers of their world are morons, I can't handle. Then everything from there on was pretty interesting. I thought the ending and just running away from Meran was a little odd, but probably not unjustifiable so it could work. Then there is another smaller climax that leaves the story wide open for the next novel, but unfortunately I didn't feel like it brought this one to a full close. We really have no idea what the state of Peridot is, at the end of the book. I don't think this hurt the book much, but I don't like loose endings like this particularly well. In the end because of how well I liked the creativity of the story and world, as well as how likable the majority of the characters are, I am going to give this 4 stars. I feel like maybe it should have only been 3.75, but I enjoyed so why not round up.