I wanted so much to like this queer space opera but off the bat there were so many characters on top of world building. It’s a story I enjoy when I pick it up but I never think to pick it back up later. There is something defining about Ray Ryan’s writing style but this story wasn’t for me.

A space found family that has Long Way to a Small Angry Planet vibes. The two main (and POV) characters are a human woman and an alien man, who have been friends for a long time, and they're both kind of messy, but especially Sierra. The book is very queer-normative, there is a nonbinary character, queer relationships, etc. There are also droids that are animal-shaped and specifically built to be companions, which is really cool and I want 5.

I liked the bits of worldbuilding - the history of humanity is that they fucked up TWO planets, so the Council went "no more planets for you" and now legally humans cannot settle a new planet anymore. Harsh, but I can see how we would end up that way. There's also a race (or many races?) that came from gene-modified Earth animals, resulting in intelligent bears, wolves, etc that can communicate like a person.

Overall, I liked the worldbuilding and the characters... but I feel like the plot was lacking. The pacing was off - at 80% in I felt like we haven't really got anywhere, and then it all happened at once, and then it was over. This is why it didn't fully grab me. The ending twist will probably make me read the sequel, though.

This was a great read! I really enjoyed the world and the different groups of people. The main two characters were easy to get invested in and I found both of their arcs satisfying. I also liked the aesthetics of this book, the mech fighting ring was such an interesting and unique inclusion. I would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys sci fi novels and road trips.

Rae Ryan’s The Scavengers and the Stray is less a clean-cut space adventure and more a raw exploration of survival and stubborn connection in a bruised corner of the galaxy. This is a book about wreckage, emotional, mechanical, and moral, and what you salvage from it.

The story doesn’t spoon-feed; it immerses. World-building is revealed in fragments, relationships are jagged and real, and the tech, from mech pits to sentient animal constructs, carries thematic weight. The characters aren’t meant to be easily adored. They’re layered, sometimes unlikeable, always complex.

Ryan refuses to sanitize space or smooth out flaws, and that refusal makes for an oddly intimate experience. If you enjoy science fiction that isn’t afraid to be scrappy, imperfect, and character-driven, this one’s worth orbiting.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sierra, Tovi, and the crew of the Who Wants To Know are scavengers, salvaging from abandoned ships. They need to make enough money to pay off their debts — and soon, before collection agencies come for the ship. But, more than that, Sierra wants enough money to buy her own mech to repair and upgrade, with which she can enter fighting competitions. The money would be nice, yes, but Sierra just likes fighting with robots.

When one of the crew finds them a new job, one that will earn them quite a bit of money, it’s impossible to say no. But they have been set up — and it’s not the first time — though this job is even worse. While picking through what is left of the colony ship, Hope of Trappist, they find one of the ten ship AI cats, which shouldn’t be active. But Lulu is more than active. She’s curious, charming, and Tovi loves her. So, of course, they can’t let anyone know they have her, and they most certainly can’t sell her!

Now, they’re arguing with pirates, being accused of murder, in the hospital for injuries — and who will pay for that? — and Sierra is left having to crawl back to the people she left behind in the hopes that they’ll be willing to help her out. Because she’ll be damned if she lets someone take Lulu away from Tovi.

Sierra sets bridges on fire like she’s freezing to death. She’s rude to her debt holder (think banker or landlord), snippy to her employers, and snappy and snarky to anyone and everyone; she’s not just rude, but hostile to the uncle of a friend who offers her a job, careless of the large amount of damage she’s caused and the cost to repair it, and unwilling to either apologize or explain. So not only does Sierra come across as an asshole, so do her friends who get lumped in along with her, and it’s implied she does this all the time, sometimes with other people getting hurt in the process. To her credit, Sierra seems somewhat aware of these giant flaws and does make small efforts to mend bridges with past friends, but that credit is wiped away when the author has everyone accept her tepid apologies and instantly forgive her of every flaw.

Sierra’s ex, Ching Shih, is a powerful pirate. I had no idea Sierra was interested in her until it was hastily mentioned, but even during the sections of the book in Sierra’s head, there’s no indication of romance or even friendship with Ching Shih. I honestly don’t consider this a romance. It just feels like Ching Shih and Sierra had a past, and may one day try again.

Tovi, the other main POV character, is looking for his family. His personality is … nice. Friendly. He doesn’t really develop much beyond that, despite being in a large portion of the book. While Sierra is thinking about pirates and mechs, Tovi is thinking about his family from whom he was kidnapped and conscripted into the army. His family seem to have never forgiven him, always moving one station ahead in efforts to get away from him. He doesn’t seem sad about this, or interested in why, he just wants to see them one more time. Tovi’s sections were the least interesting in the book as his agency is mostly wandering around, thinking about his family or Sierra. Sometimes he thinks about Ryan, his ex, often in a way that feels as though he has to remind himself who Ryan is every time.

With characters, slang, and the oh-so-random quirky humor of the mid-90s and early 2000s, this book uses a slew of older pop culture references that date it and its humor a bit, which might work well for people who want to read a book that reminds them of Firefly, Real Steel, or Farscape, but for readers looking for sci-fi, this book may not be quite what they’re looking for. Personally, while it’s not my favorite thing to read, it was decently done, though it resulted in very shallow world building, with constant references to the Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean, or a number of other books and shows that honestly left me feeling less and less interested in this book each time. For me, the lack of world building, the relying upon other influences and other works to inspire the feel and look of a world only works if the book has something of its own to offer, something that those other constantly referenced franchises don’t have. And this one didn’t for me. If you removed every pop culture mention, every aesthetic choice, every trendy moment, I don’t think this book can stand on it’s own, and that’s an honest shame because the early pages of this book were so strong and there is one idea in here that really did almost work.

The mechs in this book — giant robot suits used for labor and fighting — are interesting, and they are the one thing in this book that feels real and lived in. The way they’re described, whether broken down, rusted and battered and patched, or shiny and gleaming with smooth motions, create interesting moments with pit fights, warehouse raids, and space encounters; there are even some interesting races, such as the Taconites who, in pairs, speak only through electronics, taking over computers and personal devices to communicate. And there are uplifted animals — wolves, bears, badgers — who are scattered through the myriad worlds and stations, not as furries, but as actual animals with sapience and intelligence.

There are three main plot lines running through this book: the AI robot cat and what it means to find a still functioning one on a destroyed ship; Sierra and Tovi’s desire to go play battlebots with giant mechs; and Tovi’s family being hunted by a mysterious group. While the second storyline is given ample room to breathe, and the first has some solid moments of being established and fleshed out, the third feels shoehorned in. It’s all in Tovi’s memories, so it’s a lot of info dumps and exposition and feels clumsy and as if it belongs to another book. I think it’s being used to set up a possible second book, but it’s not well handled in this one.

There is potential in this book, but as it stands, I think it’s audience is going to be limited to those who enjoy hunting Easter eggs in all the many, many, many references to other works. I’m not one of those people and for me this is a pass.

📖 Bookish Thoughts
I was excited for a queer space adventure, but this one just didn’t work for me. The premise had a lot of potential, but the pacing felt slow. The flashbacks made the timeline hard to follow—I found myself rereading sections trying to figure out where we were. The info dumps didn’t help—everything felt a little bogged down and made it tough to stay engaged.

That said—Lulu the cat absolutely stole the show. She was the real MVP.

What You Can Expect:
• Found family
• Robots
• Space opera vibes
• Queer rep
• Space pirates
• AI cat

📖 Final Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Rounded up from 2.5)
🗓️ Pub Date: May 1, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley, SFWA, and Dark Ruminations for the ARC. All thoughts are my own.

3.5 stars rounded up

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for a copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

This is a sci-fi book told in the third person. The book is about Tovi, Sierra, Cecil, and Iz on their adventure together. They come from different backgrounds and circumstances, but after they’ve found each other they became a family. (I might’ve missed how they all came together).

We mainly get backstory and perspective from and about Tovi and Sierra, who are like brother and sister and have known each other for a long time, though they were forced to spend a period of time apart.


I liked:

✨ The world building overall – politics and use of futurism
✨ The relationship between Sierra and Tovi
✨ The action

I liked less:

🥲 The pacing – some parts were faster paced, some felt slower
🥲 The placement of the flashbacks – events happening out of order confused me since we’re already learning so much information about the world and the character’s lives

There were a lot of moving parts, which means there at least felt like there were lot of characters and a few different subplots that influence the overall plot. There was only one I was completely invested in until the end.

Read this for:
🚀 Found family
🚀 Queer Leads
🚀 Robot Fights
🚀 Space Pirates
🚀 Space Adventures
🚀 AI Animal Companions

OVERALL

Overall, I give this a 3.5 out of 5 stars. I think this is going to be a series. I’d read the 2nd book out of curiosity. I’d recommend to this to people who like Sci-fi and futuristic aspects and who like space adventures.

This was a fun, easy to read space opera which I found super unique and included LGBTQI representation, which I really enjoyed.

The addition of an AI cat made this really different to other scifi books I personally have read, however I just found it ok. I was really hoping for more of the cozy cat vibes, but rather was tied up in a conspiracy which was great, just not really what I expected.

I did feel as though I was pushing myself to get to the end with so much going on that I wouldn’t say I really resonated with, but if you’re searching for a scifi that’s a bit lighter on the scifi and heavier on the relationships of characters and their goals in life rather than a big world drama, this one may be for you.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Brief synopsis of the book: "The crew of the Who Wants To Know never met a wreck they couldn't salvage or a fight they couldn't win. But when their latest find drags them into a deadly corporate conspiracy, Sierra discovers old flames burn just as deadly as new enemies."

This book was interesting! I think fans of Junker Seven would really enjoy this book as well. It's captivating and I love the vibes of the story.

Honestly, after the first few chapters of The Scavengers and the Stray I was sceptical if I would end up liking it, as there was a lot of description, but not much lore. I needn’t have worried though, as the lore came in gradually in later chapters, both on worldbuilding as well as the characters.
The characters and their relationships to each other were my favorite part of this book. All of them are three-dimensional, side characters included, and the MCs and their crew are extremely loveable. I especially adored Iz and Lulu.
I also loved the idea of the animal companions and they were all adorable and funny.
The plot had a bit too many strings, but they all came together neatly in the end, so that turned out great as well and kept me on my toes while reading, it definitely never got boring.
Most of the world building was interesting, although one detail bothered me: humans going from being exiled off two planets for their capitalist behavior, and being doomed to be a people without a home planet, so essentially ostracized, to leading one of the most powerful companies in the entire consortium and being able to use other alien races as cannon fodder in their wars (also typically human, if you ask me). There was never an explanation on how that happened.

Still, this was a great book and I highly recommend it for queer Sci-Fi lovers.

I really enjoyed this book. I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy lately and have wanted a good sci-fi story to push me back into exploring the genre. This is found family done so well. I love the natural inclusion of queer characters and subtle romance. This book was funny and sweet and full of adventure.

Tovi was a personal favorite character of mine but I enjoyed how each character was written and the different flow the author used for some chapters while going back and forth in time. Lovely story building and I want to read more about this crew.

I requested this book with the cover as my motivation. In addition to this being LGBTQIA+ and Sci Fi/Fantasy tagged!

The humor of this story I found to be funny. There were a few points that everything went over my head, but I still enjoyed the story overall. Sierra kicks butt, for example when she kicks a character in the abdomen. All while she is welcoming and loyal when it comes to her friends or business partners (the fellow crew members of "Who Wants To Know"). I love reading about them fighting and working as a team to protect the cat they stumbled across. Also, Sierra and Tovi's friendship dynamic is an enjoyable part of this read. Not to mention how Sierra meets conflict with her love life while the members of "Who Wants To Know" are working on their team goal. To me, Tovi also has a conflict with his love because he used to be attracted to another side character. With that my reaction was "Oooh do I see two queer romances within this story?!"

I did enjoy the ending and the mix-up of emotions that it caused within me.

One word to describe this book: fun. It was filled with intriguing characters that kept you rooting for them throughout the story. Sierra and Tovi create a rag-tag team that develops into a found family trope naturally. I loved the deep love the characters have for one another and the bonds they make along the way. If you are looking for a book that you can kick back and read for fun, this is the book for you.
I’m not usually huge into sci-fi, but the worldbuilding tossed me right into the environment. Great for a sci-fi novice who wants to dive deeper into the genre. Be warned romance lovers, while there isn’t romance it is still worth your time!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

DNF. I couldn't even make it to through the bulk of the story. The writing is incredibly bland with fancier big words sprinkled in for no reason that makes it read like the author heavily used a thesaurus, but for what purpose? Write what you know. It's okay! Disappointing to say the least.

This space opera has fun, Firefly vibes, with a found-family crew, a couple of silly space pirates, and cute AI animal companions. I love the concept, but unfortunately, this one didn’t quite land with me.

The story follows a spaceship crew across a series of jobs, with two main character POVs and several flashback chapters. I found the flashbacks to be some of the more enjoyable parts of the book, though they didn’t ultimately feel essential to the main plot. The book drops you right into the action with little exposition, which might work for some readers, but I struggled to connect with the characters early on and found the pacing a bit disjointed. I found myself skimming frequently and ultimately had to push myself to finish.

There are some fun moments, the main female character is chaotic, and the male is a sweetheart. They are dealing with their conniving exes, which adds some interesting conflict. This isn’t a romance but more of a buddy dynamic between the leads. There are several LGBTQ characters and relationships, but no romance.

I never got invested or fully immersed in the story, but that could be my taste. There was quite a bit of action and ups and downs. However, the writing style, especially the use of modern pop culture references, pulled me out of the futuristic setting.

This may be the start of a series, if so I could see future installments benefiting from deeper world-building and a prequel that fleshes out the crew and their backstories.

Spice: 1/5
Plot: 3.5/5
Writing: 3.5/5
My Enjoyment: 3/5

What a fun read!! What first caught my eye was the description: Firefly meets A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. As a big fan of Firefly, I couldn’t resist. The story absolutely captures that found family theme and does it very well. It’s charming, funny, heartfelt, and full of adventure.

This is a warm yet action-packed journey through the stars, following a chaotic but lovable crew. Sierra and her team make their living scavenging derelict ships, but their latest haul throws them into unexpected danger. They uncover an AI cat that holds secrets others are desperate to get their hands on, desperate enough to kill for. Sierra and her crew then are forced to work alongside pirates, and their leader just happens to be Sierra's ex.

The worldbuilding is well done, and we learn about different characters through flashbacks, which were also well done. The relationships between the characters, especially among the crew, were what I enjoyed the most about this story. This is where those Firefly vibes come in which I really enjoyed.

If you like Firefly, Star Wars discovery, even if you like romantasy I think this would be a great fun read
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

Ｅｂｏｏｋ Ｒｅｖｉｅｗ
🌟🌟.5
"Scavengers and Stray" by Rae Ryan is my first book by this author. The cover art is gorgeous; I could look at it forever. The bright colors are so eye-catching. Unfortunately, the storyline wasn't for me and didn't really keep my attention. I finished the book just to finish it, but I honestly couldn't tell you what was going on. The writing style was confusing. If this is available as an audiobook, I would definitely try it again.
𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬:
•Cozy Space Opera
•Found Family
•2nd Chance Romance

Thank you, NetGalley, and Rae Ryan for the ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, I DNF’d this book about 20% in.
Although I cannot give a rating of the entire book, I thought I would provide my reasons why I decided not to continue. First, I found the writing confusing at times. Although the book is written in third person, it was difficult to figure out whose perspective we were in at the beginning of each chapter. It also felt at times that the author spent more time explaining the characters instead of revealing who they are. The book had a lot of stage direction, but I wish there was more focus on the character’s internal feelings or thoughts so I could have related to the characters better.
In terms of the plot, I felt that not much happened by the time I decided to stop reading. Considering the length of the novel, I expected to know where the plot was going relatively early in the book.
I gave the book three stars because I think there are still some positives about this book. The concept is interesting, and I hope the right audience finds this book! Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to read this book.

Context: I am a hard sci-fi lover. The more science details in the book, the happier I am. Unfortunately this means my brain naturally will be very taken out of a book if the science does not add up. I am not the reader for this book, but if you are a fan of funny space operas, this might be for you. Please know I am super picky when it comes to sci fi. I do not like the marketing idea of “fantasy in space”, I am one of those picky readers. It hinders my enjoyment of the genre, and I would rather read fantasy at that point. That being said, I made it to about 65% in this book before I put it down because I am not the reader for it.

The reasons I ended up DNFing this book at 65% are:
-A weird sui*c*de joke that was not funny (it is a chapter title and just did not hit, it is insensitive and weird, i would rather any other joke)
-I unfortunately still have not laughed, so the humor is just not my sense of humor. Others may find much of the book quite funny. I just personally did not.
-There is a lack of grounding in science, like I do not understand why the characters are able to do xyz in space, for example, going to a liquor store to get wine for a night in. This takes me out of the sci fi aspect so much, as it feels like it could simply take place on earth. I have DNF’d sci fi books in the past purely because the main character was a bartender and it made no sense. Please know there is some genuine world building in this one, but this detail really took me out of it.
-It felt like there was a lot of telling versus showing. This character did this, this happened next. It pulled me out of it.
-Writing style was not my favorite. I was struggling to keep up with what was happening, hindering my comprehension and enjoyment.
-I am not feeling invested enough to pick it back up?


Reasons I made it t 65%:
-I liked the representation
-It was formatted properly
-There are some cute moments
-I enjoyed the first 16% and it kept me going for a bit


This review is not intended to be nit picky or overly critical, but to help other readers who might be interested understand a bit more context. While I would not recommend this book currently due to the odd su*c*de joke I may recommend it a few years down the line to someone wanting a fun queer space opera. I struggled with this review quite heavily as I truly wanted to enjoy this book and it seemed like a book I would find interest in, but I am just not the reader. I didn’t want to rate this under 3 stars as I did enjoy the beginning part and I don’t actively dislike this book, I just don’t think it’s for me.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this eARC! I appreciate the opportunity to leave honest feedback voluntarily.

I have to admit that science fiction is not my usual terrain. I'm more into the romance genre, but the cover just magically attracted me. And what can I say? I really, really enjoyed this book. The writing was really good with lots of wit and sarcasm, so I read the book within 24 hours.

Sierra and her partners live on the edge of existence. They collect metals and machines from crashed spaceships to pay off their huge debts. By chance, they find a little cat, Lulu. An AI cat that contains valuable information/secrets that some would kill for. Sierra and her crew are forced to work with pirates to find a solution to the problem. Unfortunately, the head of the pirates, a very attractive woman, is Sierra's old flame. Can they find a solution together without handing Lulu over to the enemy? And might there be some love in it?

The universe in which the colorful crew of Sierra and Tovi live seemed very complex to me at first and I thought I would never understand it. However, after a few chapters I realized that I was totally wrong. Thanks to the flashbacks to the past, I was able to make sense of everything quite quickly and was then on fire for the story. The characters, especially Sierra and Tovi, have a nice depth and I really liked the flashbacks to understand how they ended up in the current situation. But I also really liked the side characters - Lulu, the little AI cat or the snake Rupert (she wormed her way into my heart). The whole crew of the spaceship “Who wants to know” (isn't that a great name??) was so lovely and sweet. A found family and I was so touched by the way they stood up for each other. The suspense was also good and picked up especially in the last part of the book. Along with a bit of queer romance, I really enjoyed it.

And now I'm wondering.... will there be a part 2???? I really hope so!!! I would love to follow Sierra and her friends again.