Ava is a teenager living on a space ship. In her world, women are to be seen and not heard. They do the dirty grunt work -- cleaning and taking care of the animals. There is a hierarchy, and Ava has a good position as "so girl" of the ship. Not sure what that means, but she gets some advantages. Marriages are arranged, but Ava has met a boy from another ship called Luck, and they hit it off. Ava is also friends with his sister. So, when Ava is told she's going to be married to someone from Luck's ship, she assumes it's Luck since he's the son of the captain of the ship and Ava is "so girl."
Women are never allowed to go to (a very different) Earth. They are told they will die if they do. So when things fall apart and Ava and ends up on her way to Earth, she assumes she is dead. Well if that happened, this would be a short story, and since it's a novel, we can guess she survives and finds a very different life on Earth.
I don't really want to say too much more. Suffice it to say, Ava is a strong character who fights for herself and those she loves. She makes some bad decisions, but mostly because she in such a foreign situation. She can't read or write, which makes her predicament even worse.
I did think the plot lagged a bit after Ava gets to Earth, but this is a minor complaint. For the most part Salvage is well paced and kept my interest very easily. While it is science fiction, there's no technical jargon or space talk to separate you from the story. Ava has a unique jargon she speaks, but it's subtle and doesn't hinder your understanding.
I loved the ending. Just...well, that's all I'm going to say. Except, it's romantic and Ava shows great strength. Not that this book is heavy with romance. As a matter of fact, I think boys would also really like Salvage, even though the main character is a girl. Wow. I just realized this is 528 pages long. Sure didn't seem that long....
I'm going to love handing this one to my teens. It's a great adventure with great characters and a unique setting.
Published by Greenwillow Books, April 1, 2014
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
528 pages
Rating: 4.5/5
I've been seeing the book cover around, but this is the first review I read! It looks really interesting, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteThis one does sound like an intriguing read. I'll have to give it a try. Thanks for the head's up!
ReplyDeletegreat review. I have seen mixed reviews on this book and glad to see you enjoyed it. Its coming out on audio... may have to get it that way.
ReplyDeleteWow now you have me so curious to read this! I'm glad to hear you liked the ending and it somehow was romantic while keeping Ava strong. This sounds like something I have to read! Lovely review Annette :-)
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