Sci-Fi & SALVAGE

I grew up on shows like Star Trek, SeaQuest DSV, and Earth 2, along with movies like Apollo 13 and Contact. More recently, I became a fan of the new Battlestar Galactica, Fringe, and Joss Whedon’s Firefly (because who doesn’t love cowboys in space???). These are just a few, but enough to prove that I’m a sci-fi girl. When sci-fi’s done well, I love it.

I have a harder time finding sci-fi books I love. I liked Ender’s Game, but have never felt compelled to run around recommending it. I’m a huge fan of Stephen King’s The Stand, Under the Dome, and 11/22/63, but I feel like those are pretty unique.  Justin Cronin’s The Passage reminds me a lot of The Stand, but then there’s the vampire element that sends it over to fantasy.

In YA, things get rougher. Many YA sci-fi are actually dystopia, which is okay, but not what I love about sci-fi. I want sci-fi that isn’t about the problems with society and one strong character that’s destined to change that world. I want sci-fi that’s about something else, where the world is what it is and the story takes place within that world. I also don’t want sci-fi so heavy on world-building that the story’s buried in there somewhere. There are a few YA books that fit my tough criteria. I love Marissa Meyer’s CINDER and the sequels, Rick Yancey’s THE 5TH WAVE, Melissa Landers ALIENATED, and Kasie West’s PIVOT POINT.

I’m always on the lookout for some new sci-fi book, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll find it. Clearly, I’m picky. When my husband forwarded me an email for a 15% off coupon for Barnes & Noble, I took it to the store knowing that I might see something I wanted that day. After all, I have a lot of books on my to-read shelf.

But when I rounded the corner to the last row of YA books, I spotted one that I had to pick up (because yes, I judge books by their covers). The top left of the cover was shrouded in darkness, but the darkness gave way to the blue and white of a planet. Below the planet, an ocean. And below the ocean, stretching across the bottom of the cover, sand…and a dark-haired girl in a white dress lying motionless, her skirt melding with the waves. SALVAGE by Alexandra Duncan.

I picked up the book, read the inside cover, and knew I wanted to take it home. Now, I love it. It’s everything I want from sci-fi and from YA.

SALVAGE is about a girl in love with a boy she can’t have. The girl lives on a ship that travels between planets, worlds she’s never allowed to see. She’s supposed to work with the livestock, sew and dye clothes, make food for the ship’s crew. But none of that stops her from dreaming. She teaches herself math and how to fix things and wanders the ship at night when she can look at the stars alone.

It’s not just the story that I love—it’s also the language.  Alexandra Duncan uses phrases like right so, half a turn, raveled right, so girl, and they mean to bury you with the stars, all of which help build this ship’s world and stick in my mind so bad (no, good) that I find myself wanting to talk this way.

It doesn’t matter that I have all these other books I want to read. I wish I had more SALVAGE, more of that world and that story. I wish I could write like that and pull in readers like this book pulled me in. It’s YA sci-fi at its best and I love it. If you like YA or sci-fi, you should check it out, see if the cover and the first few paragraphs grab you like they grabbed me.