Oh man. Everything I want from a space horror — including politics and a mystery. Is there more where this came from?? ( )

I've read one of Kali Wallace's previous YA books, [b:Shallow Graves|22663629|Shallow Graves|Kali Wallace|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1434989166l/22663629._SY75_.jpg|42162445], about a teenage girl who wakes up after being murdered and discovers she can see auras around bad people, leading her into a paranormal world she never knew existed. I thought it was great so when I saw that this book was coming out I was totally willing to give it a chance, perhaps even eager.

Salvation Day is Wallace's first adult novel and boy, is it a ride. Set many centuries in Earth's future, it takes a lot of my favourite science-fiction tropes and uses them all with aplomb. The blending of action and politics elevated the story beyond a simple 'abandoned spaceship is more dangerous than it appears' plot; it gives depth to the characters and their motivations, and creates an imaginable future as a result.

The book alternates perspectives between Zahra Dove Lago, a disenfranchised young woman angry at how her father was scapegoated after a massacre, and Jaswinder Battacharya, a post-graduate student and only survivor of the aforementioned massacre. Zahra is part of a desert cult that believes the site of the massacre, an abandoned ship floating in space, is perfect for their family of exiles and refugees - they just need Jaswinder to open the ship. Everything starts to go wrong from there, as hostages never behave themselves and neither do the long-dead corpses of the massacre.

To start with there's no romance, it's far more of a sci-fi action-horror story, but Jas' unrequited love for his best friend, Baqir, is a driving force for him. So there's a tiny bit of gay content. Jaswinder is a great character, thoughtful and full of compassion, but deeply haunted by the violence he's seen and the losses he's endured. Likewise Zahra is another interesting character. She's determined and desperate to prove herself to the leader of her group, she thinks well on her feet and is also driven by the pain of the losses she's endured.

I just really enjoyed it. I even teared up a bit at the end. Despite taking place hundreds of years in the future, the characters are very human and recognizable, easy to sympathize with and connect to, which is essential to me as a reader. ( )

I'm not a SciFi fan, however, this was an ok story. half horror/half sci-fi. I Would recommend to a student who is into this type of story. It had its moments of tension and excitement but nothing that truly pulled me in. ( )

Desperate members of a cult excluded from the Councils—which govern the parts of Earth that are easily livable—plot to steal a spaceship and find their own place to live. But the plot goes wrong when the ship, a prototype abandoned after a previous disaster, turns out to be highly dangerous. Maybe not more dangerous than the cult leader, though. The sole survivor of the previous disaster—now a hostage—and the daughter of the man blamed for it—now a hostage taker and cult member—have to decide what they’ll do to protect what they love. It’s a good adventure story and also a story about the effects of inequality and abuse. ( )

Received via NetGalley for review.

This book ticks all my boxes: science fiction, cults, horror, and alien parasites. I knew I HAD to read it. And I am so glad I did. There are a few VERY minor quibbles I have (sometimes Jas and Zarah's narrations are too similar, and there are two instances where information is repeated almost verbatim), but the horror and slow reveal of what had happened was so well done and engaging that they don't distract anything from the reading.

House of Wisdom floats in space, surrounded by a deadly impenetrable security net, as evidence of humanity's greatest failure: a research vessel meant to spend years traveling space but instead was infected by a virus deployed by a jealous ex-employee, killing all those aboard. There was one survivor, a young boy who claims to have no memory of what happened. 10 years later, when a cult decides that the sprawling abandoned ship is the prefect new home for their family. But when they force their way aboard with the lone survivor, they quickly realize that what they knew was a lie, and there was so much more violence and terror on the ship than they had imagined.

The story is told by both Jas and Zarah, the survivor of the initial outbreak and the leader of the cult's seizure mission, respectively. It was a good choice to lead with Zahra - her belief in Adam was solid and true, and it seemed as though there was no reason for it to be otherwise. The world was a dangerous place, and the government wasn't helping. Why not take control of an abandoned and (as far as they knew) harmless ship so they could escape peacefully? By the time Malachai reveals that Adam has made it all up, so many things have gone wrong that Zarah could no longer deny the sense of wrongness that was always there. Zahra is a true believer, yes, but she is pragmatic and only wants a better life. I wish we had spent a little more time on the Homestead, to see what Adam was truly capable of, but Zahra's fear and reverence of him, combined with the flashes of the deteriorating situation on the ship, did the job.

Jas's sections were the truly scary ones (the scene where Anita's parasite reawakens his father's and starts repeating his mother's last words to him? Truly chilling and dreadful). He never fully elaborates on what he experienced before his mother sent him on a suicide escape pod, but the information we do get and the state of the bodies left behind are more than enough to fill in the blanks. And when the parasites begin to reawaken, struggle, and repeat phrases, to imagine that happening ship-wide... no wonder he doesn't want to remember.

All of the actions and choices undertaken by the characters rang true, and the history of the future and the current situation, while never fully explained, didn't need to be. It's all too easy to imagine the hope the stars bring, and the terror and despair when we realize that hope was in vain. ( )