Salvaged by Madeleine Roux Review

Title: Salvaged

Author: Madeleine Roux

Age Group: Adult

Genre: Science Fiction

Series: Standalone

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

                I borrowed this book from my local library and reviewed it.

                When I went to book club last month, before the coronavirus ground the world to a screeching halt, I was browsing and noticed this book sitting on the new display. I’ve been obsessed with Roux ever since I read her House of Furies series, so I took it home that night. I’ve been chilling at home, trying to work, read, watch TV; anything to take my mind off of how stressful my real life has become. Stay safe, all, practice social distancing and stay at home! But don’t forget fresh air. As soon as I finished Serpent and Dove, I dove into Salvaged; this book might be one of my most recent favorites. I’m a huge sucker for science fiction, but to call this book a sci-fi would be to lie. It was like science fiction and deep space, Alien-esque horror had a love child, and I absolutely loved it. This book may be my favorite in Roux’s entire body of work. I finished it in less than two days; it was nothing less than a masterpiece, and its characters will stay with me for a long time.

                Rosalyn ‘Roz’ Devar knows that her life is an absolute trainwreck; why else would she be stashed on a distant planet, working on an intergalactic janitorial detail? She’s an intelligent and prickly xenobiologist, running from a tumultuous past on Earth. But she receives one final chance to redeem herself: salvage the Brigantine, a vessel gone dark, her crew assumed dead. But when Rosalyn arrives at the ship, she finds the crew very much intact, if not entirely human. Rosalyn finds herself trapped on a dead ship, with a crew kept alive by an insidious, parasitic alien. The captain, Edison Aries, seems able to still control himself and his crewmates, but only just. Time is running out, and they may be the only thing standing in the way of Earth’s utter destruction…

                This book was such a cerebral, dry and layered surprise! It was completely different from anything else Roux has ever written. The pacing was breakneck, and one of my favorite parts of the book was Rosalyn’s dry, fractured narration. Deep space dread seeped into every word of the book, and there were several times I had to put it down and go back to it. It was so vivid and strange that it even slipped into my dreams. Dark, menacing, beautiful and thoughtful; this book will never leave me! It was also so human; I loved every single character all the more for their flaws. And the freaking villain of this novel; I’ll never look at fungi in the same way again! Madeleine Roux is one of my very favorite authors; this book was unique, dark, and wholly original! Easily one of my favorite books of all time! The bottom line: Dark, terrifying in more ways than one, thoughtful and human, I loved Salvaged! Next on deck: Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles!