This book throws a lot of information at you initially, and most of it I found to be superfluous, however the world was so interesting that I had to finish it. There’s a lot to this book and it could have set the stage for an entire series, but the story it tells here just isn’t very strong. Let me explain a bit.

We follow Triss Mackey, a diver that collects salvagia to sell and maintain her way of life. What is salvagia? It’s the remnants of Florida that remain just off the coast of the US. It’s been hundreds of years since Florida sank into the ocean and the stuff that went down with them is worth a pretty penny. Most of society lives in giant dome cities, at least if they live on the coast (because the storms are pretty bad? I’m honestly not sure.)The government runs the domes, while the mafia and religious organizations have dominion over much else. Anyway, technology has advanced quite a bit, considering the domes, and many people use AI-powered devices to get by. Triss lives outside of all three organizations because of some loophole for salvage divers. She rents a semi-sentient boat to do her work and eventually wants to buy it. However, when diving one day she comes across a dead guy. Actually one of the most famous men in the whole state, Edgar Ortiz, the head of a prominent mafia family. From here she meets people entwined with Edgar and, along with her best friend, embark on a mission to discover why he was killed and find a piece of salvagia that will finally allow her to buy a boat and live in peace.

The story events feature prominent members of all three organizations as they all want to know what happened to Edgar Ortiz, with Triss caught in the middle. She’s abrasive and untrusting, but her backstory explains where much of those feelings come from. I like how she’s always plotting her next move and paying attention to details. There are other characters, like her naive best friend that essentially wants to start a commune based around preserving nature and the son of Edgar Ortiz, who is a general jokester despite the circumstances, but neither leave much of an impression. This story is more a vessel to explore the world as, even Triss, doesn’t get much development through it. So let’s talk about that world a little more.

On top of Florida being underwater, there is also a debris field surrounding Earth from the crashing of satellites into one another. It’s very difficult for anyone to leave the planet (though apparently there are colonies on Mars I think?) and because of this, some daredevils have created a game out of trying to get through the field. They’re called Atmo-Breakers. They fly little pods as fast as they can through the field to see if they can get through. Whoever gets the farthest wins and many people bet on these races. Many of the pods people bet on to explode, and there are casualties every race. Why do they race? For fame? Money? Who’s to say? Many organizations simply want funds to reindustrialize the remaining above-water portion of Florida. The mafia seems to think they can make a ton of cash by conning people into buying homes outside the domes despite the inclement weather. The religious organizations’ motives are unknown as they operate remotely and don’t speak much about their plans. They make below board deals and bets on conflict victors. The feds are a whole other entity that seemingly wants to keep the public safe from not only the planet, but also the mafia and religious orgs. They are order, but they are almost dictatorial in their use of power. Triss deals with each in the ways that most benefit her and her manipulation of them is quite amusing.

The world of Salvagia is really interesting. From the three groups fighting for power, to the planetary conditions (space included) there’s a vessel for a great story here. Unfortunately, the characters and plot of this story weren’t the best use of the setting. At times the writing repeated itself and even felt unedited to the point of incoherence. The characters themselves were shallow and the relationships between them weren’t well-developed. Triss’ history was interesting and I think her mindset and actions were valid, but it mainly felt like she was a bystander in another story. Maybe that’s the point. We’re not supposed to feel important in this kind of society. Everyone is just a pawn to another. A means to an end. You might enjoy this if you like different versions of society, but I’d encourage you to try something more substantial than this.