A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe is the first novel in Alex White’s The Salvagers series, and as seems to be the case in my recent reading provides a fun, thoughtful look at some of the basic tenets of hard science fiction.
More thoughts:
- It’s cool to see a series that features salvage crews as the protagonists. Salvage features prominently in every hard science fiction series written after the 1930s (when ships were big and perfectly clean and seemed to have no rough edges), and some series like The Expanse depict entire economies built on the idea of salvage.
- The salvagers have a back story, though, and it has to do with a failed rebellion and the choices that a couple of the crew made in the final battle for their planet.
- There are interesting class commentaries happening here, along with a couple of stereotypes.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this novel is its characters. They’re dynamic and believable, and I ended up caring whether or not they found that big ship of the title. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series…