This propulsive tale is recommended first purchase for collections where sci fi is particularly popular, but would also be a solid secondary title for more general collections.

There are so many reasons that I should I loved this book. As someone who loves science fiction and horror, I normally love books that blend the two genres together. This was still a decent science fiction thriller, but simply not the five star read that I hoped that it could be.

Even though Roux normally published young adult novels, this one certainly felt like an adult novel. The writing was quite strong with a good balance between dialogue, description and action. The characters were decently drawn, but I never became attached to them, which affected my overall immersion in the story. Since I did not care about the characters' well beings, I did not get a sense of suspense while reading this one. It took a while, but eventually I did get pulled into the story. The horror aspects were easily my favourite part of this novel. Once those elements moved to the forefront of the story, I became much more interested. While not overly scary, the horror elements were pretty darn cool.

For a piece of science fiction, this was a very accessible novel with very little focus on the technology or world building. I prefer hard science fiction stories, but that is my personal preference, rather than an unbiased criticism of the book.

While I did not love this one, I would still encourage readers to try it out for themselves and form their own opinions. There was nothing wrong with this one, but I just didn't connect to the story.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC copy of this book from the publisher.

Salvaged is a science fiction thriller that gives off alien vibes. If you've been searching for a book that will deliver action and mystery, then check out Salvaged. Salvaged stars Rosalyn a recovering alcohol addict who finds herself in the middle of an alien infection and a conspiracy. Salvaged is a thriller that delivers mystery, conspiracy, and sacrifice. It's entertaining and a fast read. What surprised me was that we get a few chapters of perspective from some of the alien parasite victims which was a refreshing twist on a story that feels vaguely familiar to me.

Yes, I just had to read this book! I've enjoyed her YA books, and I wanted to see this adult thriller! And it didn't disappoint, I really enjoyed reading about this world, and with this threat that they faced! Such a great read!

For some reason, Rosalyn ran away from her dad and her job. We got hints that something really awful happened, but we didn't get the full story until at least halfway through the book. But it's why she's there to do salvage on this ship that wasn't what it seemed!

The threat that Firefox-Mother-posed, was pretty scary. After all, it's so easy to spread and it wants to spread. That it has an intelligence and was in the heads of those that it infected, well, it made it hard to plan how to face off against it!

I really enjoyed the mystery, from what happened to the one crew mate, to why Mother seemed so interested in Rosalyn, that she seemed familiar to all the people that hosted Mother. That was so interesting, and I did guess, but yeah, that was so great to read!

Loved this book, it was such a great read, and I can't wait to read more by Madeleine Roux!

DNF 44%

Salvaged feels like a mashup of John Carpenter's "The Thing" (with a spreading alien/human identity crisis), the desolate ship from "Event Horizon," and the protomolecule from "The Expanse."

Sounds amazing! So why didn't I like it? A few reasons.

Rosalyn wasn't a great protagonist. We get snippets of her horrible past, but we didn't get to know her personality. Instead the author focuses primarily on her current battles with alcholism and referencing the trauma she is dealing with from being an assault victim. Those are extremely difficult issues to deal with, but there's not much else to Rosalyn other than her outright determination to survive this ordeal.

The 'twists' were projected without subtlety, and the reveals didn't come as much of a surprise. I found myself less and less stimluated as the book went on, which is the opposite direction I want to feel as I go deeper into the story.

The changing POV between the various characters on the ship started out cool, but then got old quick. I wish they had been used more sparingly so they would have had greater effect on the reader.

5.0 / 10

I really enjoyed this. It was a fun sci-fi deep in space and it made me think about the expanse and the Alien material in that but what if it had been sentient. Fun quick read nothing earth-shattering.

Maybe I'm not as into Sci-Fi as I thought I was? If you like Sci-Fi, you'll probably like it more than me. I did think the storyline was interesting.

It took until about halfway through to feel truly immersive / cohesive. At first, it felt like scenes and characters were often... okay, so "shoehorned in" is way too strong a term, the author is clearly experienced and talented, but also to my experienced reader's eye, it was clear when an element was added in without sufficient context, to serve a specific purpose later. It broke the fourth wall a bit for me.

Additionally, maybe it's just not my style, but I feel there was a large reservoir of tension that was sacrificed in favor of an omniscient narrator. The strength of stories like ALIEN, or John Carpenter's THE THING is that not only do you not know who might be infected, but you don't even understand the motives or mechanisms behind how the organism operates. I felt like there was the potential for a deeply compelling, claustrophobic narrative here that unfortunately was watered down by too many peeks under the hood, so to speak. I guessed the twist at the end within fifty pages, which once again would not have happened without that omniscient narrator...

All that being said, I do recommend it as a quick read and I will be purchasing it for my library collection, as it does have interesting worldbuilding, more than competent writing in general, and several climactic scenes which are especially well-written and engaging indeed.

This stories main character, Roslyn, is a former scientist turned salvager due to a traumatic experience in her old job and she wanted to get away from it as much as possible. She tries to dispel those demons through alcohol and cleaning up wreckage or accidents up in space. When her drinking nearly gets her fired she is given one more chance to prove herself on a mission to clean up what could be the forth in a series of fatal expeditions.
When she arrives on the scene she quickly finds out that there are survivors but that something alien has taken over and it might lead back to her families company she has been running from.
I think that the characters were well written with believable flaws that made them believable. I thought that the story itself was quite good and could easily be made into a movie. I just felt that the ending was wrapped up too quickly and conveniently and definitely left questions to be answered.

I did not think I was going to become as obsessed with this book as I did. The characters are expertly drawn. They have real flaws that make them fully realized. The story line kept me guessing. The story built on itself until it came to a satisfying conclusion. This is one I will for certain read again, both for the excellent writing and to see what clues I may have missed.

This book is for fans of Jeff VanderMeer, The Illuminae Files, and The Expanse. And while I enjoy all three of things, Salvaged fell a bit short of the mark for me. While the future in space she created felt full and exciting ( party of Tokyo Bliss Station, anyone?), I was underwhelmed by Roux's true antagonist, Mother/ Foxfire. I always appreciate when an author can give me full stand alone fantasy experience in about 400 pages, but this is a rare time when I think the reading experience could have benefited from something longer. There is a tantalizing world somewhere beyond these pages, and I wish Roux would have leaned into the weird and let us explore it more.

OMG this book was so good! It was creepy and cinematic. I can totally see this being turned into a movie. Roux's YA books have been some of my students' favorites, so I could not wait to read her adult sci-fi book. This did not disappoint. Her description and personification of the alien lifeform was incredible and so believable. I adored the characters in this book and couldn't wait to see if anyone was going to survive. The relationships that develop between the characters was realistic and interesting to watch. I loved the twist with Angela! This was an excellent read!!!!

Rosalyn, a former scientist turned space salvager (janitor) is sent on a routine cleanup mission to another ship, only to find out that the circumstances have drastically changed.

This novel is action packed with gripping scenes, espionage, and mind control. Rosalyn tries to remain in control, while also trying to get back on a safe ship—and the only way to do that would be to trust the enemy.

I found this book extremely well written and the idea was fresh. Thank he ending, however, felt flat and fast/unresolved with a lot of questions unanswered.

Madeleine Roux writes fabulous books. I was intrigues to see this newest was a sci-fi instead of horror. The book takes a little while to get going but has so many subtleties scattered throughout that bring a breath of air into the book.

I don’t think that sci-fi is for me. There are a few books in the genre that I have really come to love, but others are just fine with me. When I first found out that Roux was coming out with a sci-fi novel, I was really excited to give it a try. I’m a huge fan of her House of Furies series and was really interested to see her take on this genre, plus to read her writing an adult novel.

I can honestly say this certain was interesting. I like the idea of this company being out there and collecting the bodies of those gone in space. I honestly never really thought about what would happen to them or their families and it kept my attention for the most part, but then I kept reading and I don’t know if the novel was just really fast paced, or I couldn’t keep up but everything happened so fast. That and there was this one part where I swear Rosalyn was going to be the first ‘person to die in a horror movie’. Obviously it wasn’t going to happen that way because she’s the main character and all, but I wanted to hit my head against the wall over her choices.

I think the story itself is definitely interesting, but I couldn’t quite figure out why I wasn’t connecting with this book.

I had high hopes for this book. I enjoyed it, however the ending completely ruined the book for me. I felt like the author took the easy way out. I also felt that we didn't get enough backstory on foxfire, It was obviously sentient. Where did it come from? All in all it was just lacking for me.

A smart, resourceful heroine will keep you interested. The all encompassing terror will keep you awake. Hope will see you through to the end.

There are a few holes, but they are easily overlooked when you are so intently worried about the characters and what happens to them.

Rosalyn is uniquely equipped to deal with the threat that Foxfire presents, and for humanity, it's lucky she is a survivor.

Rosalyn works as a salvager, a space janitor cleaning up ships that have run into problems on expeditions. She’s taken the job as an escape from several bad situations, but soon runs into a worse one. The Brigantine, a ship with no life signs, reports life signs when the crew arrives and a horrifying fate has taken the crew and, if it escapes, the whole of humankind. A well-paced horror adventure story in space with some good twists.