Salvage by Alexandra Duncan

 Sci-Fi isn't a genre I automatically gravitate towards, but I'm always willing to make an exception, especially for a YA book that catches my attention, which is exactly what I did for Salvage by Alexandra Duncan. Salvage is the story of a teenage girl, Ava, who lives on a male-dominated space ship and ends up fleeing to earth, where she learns that not everything she was told was true.

There are a lot of things that are great about Salvage. Ava is easy to relate to and a very strong narrator. Her voice felt real and authentic, and even when the world around her was unfamiliar, she helped make it an easy transition for me as a reader. Part of that is Duncan's fantastic world-building, as I thought the setting was unique and there was an unusual twist with the male-dominated ship. Salvage was definitely a book with strong female characters! Both Ava and that component reminded me a bit of Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien, which I loved, and I think fans of that series would also likely enjoy this one.

I really appreciated that Salvage is a full story in one book, and as far as I know there are no sequels in the work. Although it's pretty long (about 500 pages) that's still rare in Sci-Fi YA and it was great to a get a full, detailed story in one novel. No cliffhanger endings! As much as I loved the book and would easily pick up a sequel, I kinda hope it remains complete on its own. There is a bit of a love triangle. It's not something I generally enjoy, but it was a bit unusual here and not quite as annoying as it can sometimes be.

Although the world Duncan created was really neat, the way the trains and ship worked, the best part of the book that kept me hooked was definitely the characters. Ava's character progression felt so real and that is what made me love Salvage, sci-fi or not.

Release Date: April 1st, 2014 Pages: 520  Format: Egalley
Source: Edelweiss  Publisher: Greenwillow  Buy It: Book Depository