Right away the first thing that I felt strongly about in Madeleine Roux's sci if novel Salvaged was the main character, Rosalyn Devar's, alcohol abuse. I am very close with a few recovered alcoholics, and so whenever I see an author include alcohol abuse in their stories I'm a little wary. First, because I've seen it used lazily as the only defining personality trait for a character. Second, because I've seen it portrayed in ways that really ring false and take me out of the narrative. And third, because I've seen it terribly overused by specific authors. I was pleased that Roux avoided all of that with her portrayal of Rosalyn's drinking problem. There's even a narrative purpose to it, as the drinking is the reason why Rosalyn is sent on a last-chance type of mission that becomes the plot of the book.
Something that Roux does well from the start which is not so apparent is laying the groundwork for the ending of the book. Right from the beginning, there's foreshadowing and hints, things that seem like they don't matter but do. Normally I pick up on these elements, but in this case Roux wove a lot of it into the narrative in a way that felt natural and didn't stand out at the time. I don't want to include spoilers in this review if I can help it so I won't say what parts were significant, but as I think about this while I type right now I have a feeling that this will be a book I'll wind up re-reading at some point.
Roux introduces Rosalyn's back story gradually, including the fact that she's a survivor of domestic violence. This theme of survivorship is empowering and runs through the book, driving the plot forward in that it's a large part of why Rosalyn has the job that she does that leads her to the events of the book. There was only one time that the theme of being a survivor struck a sour note to me. Rosalyn is talking to another character after everything has gone bad, and she mentions that something bad has happened to her before, and the other character essentially says “good, that's what prepared you to handle all of this.” I may be reading too much into that one line, but I didn't like it. I don't like the idea of someone telling a survivor, “It's good that you were abused, it made you strong.” I understand that in the context of a sci-fi horror novel, Rosalyn needs that strength to make it out alive. But in the context of the real world, saying something like that sounds like it's both excusing a society in which it seems like enduring hardship is viewed as virtuous rather than tragic – in which strength is called upon more often than compassion – and excusing the abuser to an extent by implying that they somehow helped create the strength of the survivor. I do not for a moment believe that this was the author's intention when writing that line, it's a common theme in discussions around abuse survival, and it always strikes me as incorrect every time I hear it.
One thing that I think Roux does handle extremely well in terms of Rosalyn's survival of domestic violence is that the character is given positive reinforcement for removing herself from the toxic situation and cutting out the people who either helped her abuser or didn't believe her. I cannot abide the concept that family must be forgiven for all transgressions simply because they are family – as if blood absolves all. If someone does something unforgivable to you, you are never obligated to forgive them. Rosalyn is never forced to speak with her parents in the narrative. She's not forced to forgive them for taking the side of her abuser over her. Another character praises her for leaving that all behind. By the end of the book, she has still not reconciled with her family, and I think that for her character and what her back story is, that's great and empowering.
The descriptive writing in this book worked well for me. I could picture the scenes and the characters clearly. I do wish, though, that what the writing was describing had been scarier. Again, I don't want to give spoilers, but I was a little underwhelmed by the nature of the threat in this story. It felt not cliché, but like a plot that's beginning to be overdone.
I really enjoyed the character writing. It would have been a little better if two of the more minor characters had not had chapters from their perspectives. I feel that perspective changes in narration should be reserved for the main characters. Otherwise, I really like perspective changes in books, particularly when the author does a good job of giving the different perspective characters their own distinct internal voices and fleshes them out well, which Roux did. She also created a good emotional connection to the characters, which is necessary in a book like this where the reader is meant to be invested in the stakes. Sometimes horror authors focus too much on creep factor or sheer gore and not enough on making the reader care about whether these things happen to their characters or not. Roux does not make that mistake, and I did care about these characters.
The pacing throughout the novel was good. I never felt bored while I was reading it, I didn't skim parts or flip through to see when a chapter would end. In fact there were one or two times when I didn't want to put the book down. Particularly at the climax of the story, the pacing and tension were perfect.
I don't have a whole paragraph to explain it, because again I don't want to do spoilers and also it was short and to the point, but the epilogue was great. Also, this is a book that has a solid ending and can stand alone, but which Roux threaded enough hints through so that it would also make sense for there to be a sequel. If no sequel comes, it's wrapped up and tight. If a sequel does come, it doesn't feel unearned or tacked on. And if you've read the book and you'd like to talk about that, I'll gladly do so in the comments. I love speculating, I just don't want to do it here in the body of the post because – again – I am anti-spoiler.
Links to purchase Salvaged by Madeleine Roux:
https://www.amazon.com/Salvaged-Madeleine-Roux/dp/0451491831/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1580646129&sr=8-1
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/salvaged-madeleine-roux/1130400690?ean=9780451491831#/