This wasn’t for me. The writing felt clipped and unnatural. Almost AI like at times. Normally books with these plot elements are catnip to me but this one just didn’t workout. Good idea, but the execution wasn’t there.

This book really exceeded my expectations. At first it feels like it's a pleasant but uncomplicated story of a main character bumbling along through a series events that happen to them, fantastically set in a future flooded Florida former coast. But, the plot is tight, and all those events start painting a pretty sophisticated picture. It lands squarely outside of cozy with some villains, murders, tragedy, and a fairly grim but plausible take on the future, but it's not overly dreadful or gruesome. The main character, Triss, is very likeable though opaque. This is a show not tell kind of story, despite the first person point of view. Part of the intrigue is piecing together what makes her tick, and even her gender. The concept of salvagia is also really well thought through and sophisticated, though at first glance ridiculous. Sort of like cryptocurrency or virtual real estate, it's something intrinsically worthless but given value through weird machinations of human behavior. The elusive Third Way is also appealing, though tenuous.. In all, more than just an interesting romp through a future landscape, and well worthwhile!

Today’s review is brought to you by Salvagia by Timothy Chawaga. It takes place in the yoreshore of a flooded future Florida. There’s feds, organized crime, a dangerous computer, boats, people trying to live free, and our protagonist Tess who is just trying to live a quiet life. It was very Florida. All that was missing was controlled substances.

One thing that needled my weird lil brain was how to say ‘salvagia.’ I ended up sampling the audiobook just to answer that question. Essentially, pretend it’s Italian.

This falls in a strange little niche of quirky dystopian stories full of colorful characters. There are stakes but there’s a levity to the drama brought on by a subtle humor and the oddity of the place and characters. I’ve only encountered this one other time with FKA USA. I liked it then too.

In this strange world, I wanted a tiny bit more exposition. Chawaga does a good job with the exposition. I’m just overly curious about these fictional places. Two small children simultaneously getting software and/or hardware updates didn’t help either.

The ending was bittersweet in the best way. If everything was too perfect and tidy, it wouldn’t fit. It has hope and possibility and that’s enough. It’s very genre so I won’t speak too much on the plot. If the blurb speaks to you, go for it. I had fun. 4/5

Thank you NetGalley and Diversion Books for the ARC.

I really wanted to like this book, I really did. The plot of the book sounded so interesting. A post-apocalyptic world where pieces of salvage, like old shoes and trading cards, have tremendous value and instead of racing on a track races take place in space. But there really was just too much going on in this book for me to know what was happening at any point.

The plot of this book was really confusing, I think especially because the world building was not the best. I think that if this book was longer and the world was able to be explained, the plot wouldn’t have been as confusing. But as it stands it feels like there were a bunch of plot points strung together with a smattering of world-building interspersed.

I liked the idea of most of the characters but there wasn’t much if any character development in the whole book. The reasons that most of the characters did anything was not clear and was actually really confusing most of the time. It was difficult to know who to trust in the book, which may be due to the book being told from the main character’s point of view, but even her actions didn’t always make much senese.

Finally, I think that the setting of this book was a little confusing. This book is set in Florida but I felt like if you didn’t know a lot about the landscape of Florida it was difficult to understand where the characters were, where they were going, and how long it would even take to get there. I don’t know if there is a map in the final copy of the book but I think that the lack of a map made it difficult to get my bearings in this book.

The only people that I think would really love this book are people who love dystopian books and love Flordia. Other than that, I think that this book should probably be a pass.

I loved that this takes place in Florida: I was excited to read this near future story. This was such a fun dystopia book that at times, felt very real. The entire book was very original and creative. The imagery was incredible and the story was captivating. I don’t usually go for sci-fi books, but this might have changed my mind. It’s totally worth checking out, even if you’re not usually into the genre.

Sci-Fi book about a future flooded Florida and a salvager who lives on a sentient boat and finds flooded pop-culture relics to sell. The author lists John D. MacDonald as an inspiration and you can see some of the languid Florida pace of his books. Full of lots of interesting ideas, that don’t always fully pay off, but I enjoyed spending time in the world.

Tim Chawaga’s Salvagia is one of those debuts that makes you sit back and go, “okay, this writer gets worldbuilding.” It’s set in a half-drowned Florida where corporate mafias and a retreating federal government have left chaos in their wake, and at the center of it all is Triss Mackey—a diver, hustler, and reluctant hero just trying to keep her sentient CabanaBoat afloat. The setup sounds wild, but it’s grounded in character: Triss is sharp, resourceful, and perpetually one dive away from losing everything.

The book pulls from both classic noir and eco-sci-fi, which gives it this fascinating hybrid vibe: neon-lit mystery meets climate crisis realism. When Triss stumbles upon the corpse of Edgar Ortiz—the most infamous man in Miami—the plot kicks into high gear, layering murder mystery with political intrigue, survival hustle, and even a splash of space-racing adrenaline through her uneasy partnership with Ortiz’s son. Fans of Kim Stanley Robinson will love the environmental detail, while mystery buffs will appreciate the Travis McGee–style grit. Salvagia is both a warning and an adventure, reminding us that even in a drowned world, people will cling to nostalgia, greed, and hope.

Rating: 4.5/5. Atmospheric, inventive, and gripping—like New York 2140 with a shot of noir and a dash of Blade Runner salt spray.

This book was such a fun and easy read! Set in the nearish future, the book mostly takes places in Florida, except the Florida coastline has been swallowed by the sea, so really most of the story takes place on a boat, on constructed islands, bits of land not fully swallowed, or underwater as the FMC Triss dives looking for salvagia.

I loved that the Ghost (the boat) was sentient. It felt like it added a bit of fun and personality to the murder mystery story. Honestly though, it felt like every chapter added to the high-stakes adventure. From the corporate intrigue to the underwater dives for treasure to the mystery of who killed the legendary Edgar Ortiz, I felt immersed in the story the whole time. I loved Triss too. She's the kind of character I love to root for - smart, stubborn, and a badass in her own right. Her character felt relatable. She's spent a lot of time trying to gain her freedom and she will do whatever she needs to to secure that freedom.

Overall, I felt like this was a solid book, though I did want a bit more world building a bit more character development. That's more a personal preference though than a criticism, because I had a great time reading this one!

My many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read this as an ARC! While I did receive an ARC copy, all thoughts and opinions are, as ever, my own.

Salvagia has a retro vibe despite being set in a future Florida where coastlines have moved inland, Miami has been destroyed, and the most popular sport is atmo-breaking. With miles of towns underwater, salvagia, or nostalgic salvage, has become big money. The action begins almost immediately as Triss and Kohl, a sometimes diving partner, find an exceptionally high value sneaker. Collecting the shoe leads to murder, cartel battles and running away from giant robots. What more could a reader want?

If you like reading about dystoprian futures or speculative fiction, definitely give Salvagia a try!

3/5 stars: This is Chawaga's Sci-fi Dystopian Thriller set in a Florida which follows a diver searching for nostalgic salvage who after discovering the most infamous man in flooded Florida's body finds herself right in the middle of a plot pitting the feds and corporate mafias and she'll have to play all the angles if she and her friends are going to survive. Chawaga's non-stop action-packed tale is set in the dystopian world of flooded Florida and will leave you on the edge of your seat until the final page. Heartfelt and humorous, Chawaga's writing and character work are well done; the characters are well-rounded and complex while remaining likable. Triss is a complex and tough character, I enjoyed getting to know her and her friends and her semi-sent boat Ghost. Additionally, there's a diverse and inclusive cast of character's that make up Triss' world. An interesting and quick read.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Diversion Books in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

I recieved this as an ARC from Books Forward in exchange for my honest review. Thanks Books Forward!

A diver who looks for nostalgic treasure ends up finding the dead body of one of the richest and most powerful men, which leads to a lot of dealings with both the feds and various mafia-like organizations.

Unfortunately, I did not like this book as much as I thought I would. The concept sounded cool but I felt like there was a lot missing. For me, this book was filled with a lot of information in the beginning and it didn't get easier to parse through and fully understand what was going on. I felt that there was also a lack of world building and fleshing out characters. I could tell you what happened in this book but at the same time I don't know what was really happening.

Though I did not enjoy the book overall, I appreciated the opportunity to read it.

The premise of this book is highly compelling, presenting a future where a flooded world is ruled by the forces of capitalism—a concept that feels all too real. However, the execution didn't fully resonate with me. I found the world-building to be a bit disjointed, and it was challenging for me to connect with the main character, Triss. That said, the narrative was saved by its fast-paced action, unpredictable twists, and an engaging mystery that made for an enjoyable read overall.

Thanks to BooksForward for the ARC of this book.

This book throws you right into a highly original and complex post apocalyptic future. It was intriguing and fast paced. Though I felt like some of the supporting characters and relationships could have been more fleshed out I thoroughly enjoyed this underwater futuristic mystery.

The book takes place in a future where Florida is under water. I enjoyed the premise of the book but felt the concept of life being soooo cheap to be a little unbelievable.

I really, really enjoyed this book! It’s about a near-future where Florida is submerged, and about a salvage diver doing her best to make it in the midst of this challenging new world. I appreciated the mystery elements, and it was great world building as well. Definitely worth a read!

The book was an interesting read. Set in an odd future version of apocalyptic Florida, a salvage diver tries to keep her boat from becoming one of the wrecks she dives, but becomes entangled in a tangled web of criminal enterprise politics. There was a lot going on throughout this novel. Some of the time jumping was difficult to understand, and the world building was never fully hashed out to my liking. You just have to make your mind cover some of the gaps of where some of these groups are living and surviving, and how the world was left that they are existing in. Sometimes, the author became overly descriptive and went on philosophically and I just wanted to skip over these sections, but when the plot came back around it was hard to put down. Unfortunately, I don't think there was enough for me to come back for a follow up.

this was a good science fiction book! it was intriguing and it kept me entertained. I think it had a great storyline and it was entertaining!!!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

Based on the “near future” this mystery/sci-fi story was a really fun read. The expansion of the world based on our actual world was really fun and original. The story took a little to click for me and the names can be confusing but that could also very well be at the fault of myself. But once I got into it, the book read very quick and was full of twists and turns and action. Really fun read with interesting familiar world building elements and an action packed mystery to solve.
Received this book as an ARC through NetGalley.

This near-future sci-fi mystery is set in a dystopian Florida ravaged by climate change and capitalism. The protagonist, Triss, a diver with a complicated past, is struggling to maintain possession of a beloved semi-sentient boat when they get tangled in the mysterious death of a mafia boss, whose son is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. I enjoyed the setting, which is both creative and believable. Although I had occasional difficulty keeping track of the side characters, I grew to appreciate how they held onto their different values while fighting to survive. Thank you Diversion Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Content warnings: some violence, injuries, and light sexual content