The Salvagers

4.5 stars! This was such a cool ride! Star Wars meets a world of magic and conjuring. It was energetic, refreshing, new and familiar all at the same time. The writing was detailed and the action scenes and space battles felt very immersive. Boots, Nilah, Orna, I loved the characters as their personalities were very flushed out and relatable. The glyphs and the different ‘specialites' of sigils pulled in a tiny bit of the D&D, we know there are Mechanists, Shieldmasters, and an Influencer. I can't wait to see what new magic and characters pop up in the rest of the series. I'm excited to dive into Book 2!

??It is fantasy in a sci-fi setting which I found unusual and refreshing. I liked the diverse group of characters in a “found-family” kind of setting. I missed having more information about the villains, they seemed undeveloped. Some action scenes where magic, space battles, or spacewalking were being described seemed a bit confusing to me, it was hard to understand exactly what was going on. It is a light read, with lots of action scenes and I tried not to overthink the magic to enjoy it. I don't think I will continue the series, but the book builds nicely for the sequel without ending in a cliffhanger.??

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe was a quick and easy read that started off really capturing my attention but in the end fell a bit short of a four-star review. First the positives. I found the idea of magic in a sci-fi fresh and interesting. The magic powered racing, the tattoos and the way people used their abilities and the technology that resulted was unique. I loved the ragtag crew of the Capricious and their quest to find a legendary spaceship. The characters were interesting and diverse. Lots of great female characters too. The negatives are few, but I felt like the second half of the novel became a bit too action-packed. It was battle after battle, and while I do like a good space battle, there wasn't a whole lot of down time in between to develop the characters a bit more. I came away at the end thinking that the story had spread itself a bit thin. Like it had a lot of great ideas that I would have loved to learn more about, but as the battles took up a large chunk of the story these ideas were not really explored much. At the end of the day though, I would recommend giving this story a shot. I hope that in future novels we get to explore this interesting universe that Alex White has created in a little more depth.