I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Salvation Day by Kali Wallace Published by Berkley on July 9 2019
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Pages: 320
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
The nitty-gritty: A thrilling story set in space with elements of horror and mystery, well-drawn characters, and even a cautionary message or two.
Kali Wallace, where have you been hiding? Salvation Day is Wallace’s adult debut, if I’m not mistaken. She’s written for middle grade and YA audiences in the past, which might be the reason I haven’t read any of her previous books. But wow, I am certainly going to check out her backlist after absolutely loving Salvation Day! This book has it all: a fascinating take on alien invasion, well drawn and developed characters, perfect pacing, a tense and horrific idea that kept me on the edge of my seat, and stellar writing. All these elements together make this one of my favorite recent science fiction stories.
The story takes place in the future after an event called the Collapse, when humans were forced into space exploration. We’re introduced to two main characters, and the chapters alternate between the two points of view. First is Zahra, a young woman who has been drawn into the circle of a psychopath named Adam, a man who has gathered several hundred people together to form a community of followers. Adam speaks out against the Councils, who—he says—ignore the plight of refugees unable to become citizens. Adam has hatched a bold and dangerous plan: he wants to take control of an abandoned spaceship called the House of Wisdom which is big enough for his “family” to live out their lives in peace. The only drawback? Ten years ago, the entire crew of the ship died from an unidentified viral outbreak, and the ship has been under quarantine ever since. Adam has put Zahra in charge of a small crew who will board the ship and make sure the virus is contained, preparing it for the arrival of Adam’s flock, who are headed toward the House of Wisdom aboard a ship called the Homestead.
The other point of view is a young man named Jaswinder Bhattacharya, the only survivor of the House of Wisdom outbreak. Forced into an evac ship by his mother before she died, Jas lived to tell the tale, but he lost both his parents on the ship. Part of Zahra’s plan involves taking Jas hostage in order to gain access to the ship, since he’s the only person alive with the necessary genetic signature to get past the security drones.
But when they arrive with Jas and a few other hostages in tow, things do not go as smoothly as they expected. The ship is still littered with the bodies of the dead, and even worse, the virus turns out to be much more malevolent than anyone realized—and it’s still on the ship.
I’m going to stop my recap there, even though there is a whole lot more going on in this story. Wallace creates a spectacularly creepy atmosphere, from the hundreds of dead bodies floating throughout the House of Wisdom, to the discovery of what the virus really is, to the snippets at the start of each chapter of recordings from the House of Wisdom as the virus started to break out, as well as an older ship called the Mournful Evening Song, which might have been responsible for the outbreak in the first place. Stories set in deep space are already terrifying to me, but when you add in elements like a deadly virus that no one understands, as well as a bunch of characters who are using each other and hiding secrets, that terror multiplies quickly.
The author puts her characters through a lot, and this is one of those stories where you need to be careful who you grow attached to, because there is no guarantee that person will survive. Salvation Day isn’t just about the action and the fast-paced plot, it’s also about the emotional angst and growth of the characters. Jas and Zahra start out on opposing sides, but what they find on the House of Wisdom forces them to work together to solve the mystery of what happened to the crew. They each have poignant family stories as well. Zahra is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her fifteen-year-old twin siblings, Anwar and Nadra, who are also caught up in Adam’s web. In fact everyone on the Homestead is in grave danger, it turns out, so the fact that Zahra has loved ones who find themselves in a life or death situation through no fault of their own, makes her decisions even more stressful. And Jas confronts his terrible past on board the House of Wisdom, which I won’t go into because I don’t want to spoil anything for you.
For me, the weakest part of the story—and trust me when I say this is a very minor complaint—was the character and story arc of Adam. Adam grated on me the moment he opened his mouth, which in retrospect was probably what the author intended. He’s a classic example of a volatile cult leader, charismatic when he needs to be, but full of rage and hatred when his followers try to defy him. I thought his dialog was ridiculous and over the top, and as a villain he wasn’t very nuanced. But he does serve a purpose, because ultimately Zahra needs a reason to grow a backbone and make her own decisions, and when she finally opens her eyes and sees what Adam really is, it’s a wonderful moment of character growth for her.
Several big events converge at the end of the story, which made the last twenty-five percent even more thrilling. You think the stakes are already high for our characters, but then Wallace raises them even more. She deftly handles a complicated ending and wraps everything up fairly neatly, ending on a contemplative note that deals with whether telling the truth about the events on the ship is the right thing to do. Salvation Day surprised me again and again, and I can hardly wait to see what Kali Wallace does next.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
yesss, this was SO GOOD, it’s one of those books I was counting down the days to release for MONTHS and it totally lived up to expectations! I LOVE sci-fi horror and the whole ‘ship filled with corpses, new team goes to explore, BAD THINGS HAPPEN’ trope is just *chef’s kiss* perfection. I really admired the author’s twist on it to make it fresh and different, I was enjoying it for what it was and then she blindsided me!
Adam was the WORST. the WOOOOORST. but kinda realistic, I think? or at least, what tv wants me to think is realistic for cult leaders, lol.
the ending was. ouch. but it was kind of necessary? I cried, but I thought it was done well and I understood and I couldn’t see it going any other way, tbh.
on a minor note, I love all the diversity in her books and I wanted to applaud when I saw the male protagonist’s name. it’s like she went ‘screw it, I don’t care if Westerners can’t pronounce it, that’s what I’m going with’. obviously he goes by Jas, but you see his full name enough and there’s his aunt as well, so yeah, kind of weird, but as a mongrel half-Indian, I was fist-pumping over it.
SO GOOD, I WANT MORE.
I loved the diversity too, and I completely forgot to mention it in my review. It was just all around so well done. I can’t wait to read your review!
This book sounds like something I would love! Thank you for the review:)
Hope you get to read it, Burma:-)
Good timing! Me review of this book posted today as well. I really enjoyed this one and will certainly be reading her backlog. I always meant to. Now there be no excuse! Arrrr!
The Captain recently posted…The Captain’s Log – salvation day (Kali Wallace) – A sci-fi thriller set in an abandoned spaceship!
Exactly! I was so impressed and I can’t believe I’m unfamiliar with her other books.
Your review makes me extremely glad I’m on the hold list for this one at my library. I’m actually kind of craving a sci-fi read but honestly, hope it doesn’t come in until September because August is looking pretty full!
Hopefully it’s popular and you’ll get it in September. It was a quick read:-)
Ooh, sounds amazing! I hadn’t even seen this book mentioned anywhere before, but I’ll have to go looking now. Great review!
It’s so exciting, and scary!
And here goes another enthusiastic review about this book, one that promises to keep me awake into the small hours (because with the themes you describe, who could sleep once they pick this one up?).
Thank you so much for a very intriguing review! 🙂
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…Review: CHILDREN OF RUIN (Children of Time #2), by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This was hard to put down for sure!
Oh wow I think I need this. Deep space and viruses always work for me haha, and I loved Contagion by Erin Bowmn. I think I need this one too! Sounds amazing. Too bad about the cult leader- I don’t like it when villains aren’t nuanced or are just two dimensional- but it sounds like it’s worth it since the rest of it is so good! Can’t wait to read it now 🙂
Greg recently posted…Song Lyrics #9 – Bad Romance
You’d love this, Greg! Luckily, Adam the cult leader wasn’t in the story that much, he’s almost a side character, and the rest of the story was so good it didn’t matter much.
This book is new to me but I really need it after reading your glowing review. It sounds fantastic! I will definitely heed your warning and try not to get too attached to any characters though. Makes me think of Game of Thrones, lol.
Suzanne @ The Bookish Libra recently posted…Review: THE BOOK CHARMER by Karen Hawkins
I was really surprised when characters started dying, but it was handled really well and not as stressful as Games of Thrones!
Definitely sounds like something I might enjoy. Added it to my list. Thanks for the great review, Tammy.
Thanks Todd, definitely a book to consider:-)
Yay, I’m so glad to hear you loved this! I was quite impressed with the the writing and the way the story read like a movie, I practically saw it play out in my mind 😀
It was very cinematic! I was just so impressed. Can’t wait to see what she does next:-)
This is the second positive review I’m seeing for this tonight- now I’m super excited to check it out!
I don’t think I’ve read a negative review yet:-)
I haven’t either, and I’ve actually seen a few more since I commented. I need to get to it faster!
This sounds compelling and hard to put down, Tammy, just how I like this kind of read. I’m adding to my list, and I loved reading your thoughts.
Thanks Jennifer, it was hard to put down!
I’ll add this one to my wishlist. It sounds so good.
Lynn 😀
It was a lot of fun, and I’m really excited to read more of her work.
Ooo… I love the sound of this one, Tammy! I think I could even stomach ranty old Adam… Thank you for an excellent review:)
Tons of fun, Sarah, next time you’re in the mood for a scary space story:-)
I’m so glad you enjoyed this one! The author seriously does put her characters through a lot in this book, haha. This was a hard one to put down. And I totally agree about Adam–he definitely could have had a betty arc and nuance in general. Wonderful review!
Thanks Jordan, it was quite the page turner:-)
Wow, this sounds like such a great read. I do want to try more sci-fi, and also more varieties of that genre. This sounds like something I might have to pick up.
I might not notice Adam’s cartoonish villainy–this sounds like a great yarn!
This sounds terrifying, but I want to read more…
GREAT REVIEW, Tammy, and I am so glad you also loved the book! I really was blown away with how everything tied together at the end, Wallace masterfully created this world and the people within it. My main beef was also with Adam, but he wasn’t that big of a detractor for me.
Kal @ Reader Voracious recently posted…This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1) by Victoria Schwab
Thanks Kal! I’m excited to read her next book
Ohh, great review! I have this one and tried reading it last month but couldn’t seem to get into it (or anything else – it wasn’t this book’s fault), so I put it down to try again later. Not gonna lie, your review has me wanting to make “later” ASAP.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries recently posted…Saturday Smalls — August 24th, 2019