Review: Salvage

I received this book for free from FTC: Exchange for honest opinion, Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Salvage is a thrilling, surprising, and thought-provoking debut novel that will appeal to fans of Across the Universe, by Beth Revis, and The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood. This is literary science fiction with a feminist twist, and it explores themes of choice, agency, rebellion, and family. Ava, a teenage girl living aboard the male-dominated, conservative deep space merchant ship Parastrata, faces betrayal, banishment, and death. Taking her fate into her own hands, she flees to the Gyre, a floating continent of garbage and scrap in the Pacific Ocean. This is a sweeping and harrowing novel about a girl who can't read or write or even withstand the forces of gravity. What choices will she make? How will she build a future on an earth ravaged by climate change? Named by the American Booksellers Association as a Spring 2014 Indies Introduce Pick.

Okay so I am taking a Woman’s Literature class (a whole other experience) and one of the books we read was The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Okay so I loved that book and when I saw that this book will appeal to fans of that book, I just knew I was going to love it.

This book so reminded me of bits and pieces of The Handmaid’s Tale that I zoomed through this book and I just wanted more and more. It was not as graphic as the other book but the idea of how women were treated resembled it. A science fiction novel mixed with an stunning adventure that will leave the reader wanting more.

Ava is the perfect character to resemble how women were treated in the past. The women were trained in domestic activities and pushed away from reading and writing. However, that doesn’t stop Ava when she secretly learns new skills. However, things go haywire when she makes the decision to speak up when things were already going downhill. Escaping and leaving down to “planet side” where a new journey awaits her. She meets characters that all play an important part in her new life. Another thing that fascinated me about Ava was the way she spoke.

The romance in this novel is something that I am really glad it turned out the way it did. I think Luke would have been good for Ava but I really felt she needed to escape from the ship and from the women’s assigned role. I am glad that the person she might end up choosing will help her change to way things are being run and will, one day, impact the future women and people overall.

Another thing that stood out to me and I feel I need to bring up is the view of women in this novel. I am totally disagreeing with how the women are viewed and the lack of education they receive. I feel that this novel brings up an issue that women faced in the past and in some places are still facing today. It is an issue that should be brought to peoples’ attention.

Overall Salvage is a book that captured my heart and will forever have a place there. It is a novel that tells you to stand up for what you believe. It is a novel that tells you it’s okay to be different. I recommend this stunning book to all readers. Take a journey with Ava and see what Salvage  brings to you.

I give this book  5 bites!