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Necrospace #1
Salvage Marines
It is the Age of The Corporation.
The common man toils under the watchful eye of the elite and their enforcers. The rules of law have long been replaced by the politics of profit. The dark ages of feudalism have returned with capitalistic ferocity. There is no peace among the stars of mapped space and business is booming.
Samuel Hyst is an indentured worker who seeks to better his fortunes by joining the ranks of a militarized deep space salvage operation as a hired soldier. The young man's hope is to earn enough hazard wages to pay off his debts and expatriate his growing family away from the totalitarian industrial society ruled by Grotto Corporation. To reach his goals he must survive a grueling tour of duty in Necrospace, a name given to the abandoned scrapyard quadrants of a war-torn universe.
The common man toils under the watchful eye of the elite and their enforcers. The rules of law have long been replaced by the politics of profit. The dark ages of feudalism have returned with capitalistic ferocity. There is no peace among the stars of mapped space and business is booming.
Samuel Hyst is an indentured worker who seeks to better his fortunes by joining the ranks of a militarized deep space salvage operation as a hired soldier. The young man's hope is to earn enough hazard wages to pay off his debts and expatriate his growing family away from the totalitarian industrial society ruled by Grotto Corporation. To reach his goals he must survive a grueling tour of duty in Necrospace, a name given to the abandoned scrapyard quadrants of a war-torn universe.
232 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 2, 2015
161 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
Sean-Michael Argo
65 books43 followersSean-Michael Argo is an author and independent film producer from the backwood swamps of Arkansas. He writes the kinds of books he likes to read and makes the kinds of movies he likes to watch, so his expanding body of work is a testament to his love of gritty urban fantasy, epic tales of swords & sorcery, horror movies, and the post-apocalyptic wasteland. His films are available on Amazon and presented by Dark Roast Releasing. He spends his time traveling the country for work, making art, and raising his son.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
April 2, 2017
This book is about a pair of friends that end up joining the military. Sounds kinda boring, don't it? Well let me bend your ear to make it a little more savory to the brains. Earth and the known space extending far beyond it are run by corporations. This is a deeply harsh and brutal view of the world and universe in the future. Corporations run and own everything, and explore and capture, war and dominate to own everything else. Penny pinchers squeeze every credit they can from everyone toiling under their thumb. If your father or mother dies, you inherit their debt and the debt from their funeral. Parents go into Life Debt just to afford to send their kids to school. The two friends I mentioned before? They and their families are in so much life debt that they go desperate and join Reaper, a military salvage unit. Basically this is Special Forces scrappers. They are sent to fight and salvage any of their parent corporations' acquisitions. These are hostile negotiations in the most literal sense. They fight off pirates and claim salvage on the space hulks they have rightfully stolen. They go where and when they are told and fight and die for the corporation. Their motto is "This Is The Job".
I really enjoyed this book and the others in the series. This is a stark and disturbing view into a future that may well be, if our world continues down its path. It has highs and lows, points where you whoop for triumph and tear up for the losses that happen. Overall a really good experience and a very quick but fulfilling read. More reviews of the other three books in this series incoming.
Danny
I really enjoyed this book and the others in the series. This is a stark and disturbing view into a future that may well be, if our world continues down its path. It has highs and lows, points where you whoop for triumph and tear up for the losses that happen. Overall a really good experience and a very quick but fulfilling read. More reviews of the other three books in this series incoming.
Danny
January 24, 2018
This book starts out really rough, showcasing the fact that it's a novice outing from an unpolished writer. Though I notice these things, I don't necessarily mind it if the story intrigues me. And this story definitely piqued my interest because of its political stance. I wouldn't say it's ANTI-capitalist, but it certainly deals with the sleazier sides of capitalism, taken to their extreme (but not by much) through the guise of science fiction.
This is a book about ... civilian mercenaries in space, I guess would be the best way to describe it. It's its own universe, but it definitely reminded me of WH40K ... pretty noticeable echoes here & there (grinding bureaucracy and the meaninglessness of human life, and ... basically tyranids). That was nice because it kind of felt like I was coming home in a way. Some slight editing & terminology changes, and this could be a Rogue Trader story.
Frustratingly, the best part of this book is a conversation with a more professional mercenary at the end, and while I wouldn't say it's a SPOILER, per se, it feels wrong to discuss giant philosophy dumps near the end. But I'll say that that conversation ALMOST bumped my review up to three stars. The rough writing still kept it down there, but that conversation definitely made me interested enough to put book 2 on my wishlist.
The action scenes are quite enjoyable, and I rarely got confused about what was going on (when you're writing big action scenes, even in professionally published stuff, this is often a potential pitfall).
I read one review that basically scoffed at it as an anti-capitalist piece of garbage. I find this so strange. Like, I myself identify as a Communist, so, sure, I'm probably a little more forgiving of something like this, but I also loved Animal Farm. No matter how much you love a political ethos, I think you've got to allow yourself to see that it's not perfect and allow shots to be fired across the bow (and, hopefully, have a rebuttal beyond "that's stupid").
This is a book about ... civilian mercenaries in space, I guess would be the best way to describe it. It's its own universe, but it definitely reminded me of WH40K ... pretty noticeable echoes here & there (grinding bureaucracy and the meaninglessness of human life, and ... basically tyranids). That was nice because it kind of felt like I was coming home in a way. Some slight editing & terminology changes, and this could be a Rogue Trader story.
Frustratingly, the best part of this book is a conversation with a more professional mercenary at the end, and while I wouldn't say it's a SPOILER, per se, it feels wrong to discuss giant philosophy dumps near the end. But I'll say that that conversation ALMOST bumped my review up to three stars. The rough writing still kept it down there, but that conversation definitely made me interested enough to put book 2 on my wishlist.
The action scenes are quite enjoyable, and I rarely got confused about what was going on (when you're writing big action scenes, even in professionally published stuff, this is often a potential pitfall).
I read one review that basically scoffed at it as an anti-capitalist piece of garbage. I find this so strange. Like, I myself identify as a Communist, so, sure, I'm probably a little more forgiving of something like this, but I also loved Animal Farm. No matter how much you love a political ethos, I think you've got to allow yourself to see that it's not perfect and allow shots to be fired across the bow (and, hopefully, have a rebuttal beyond "that's stupid").
September 10, 2020
A quick and easy read for fans of military sci-fi. Style is clear without effect. The introduction to the way of things is somewhat abrupt though and could have been more developped. Argo sure doesn't beat around the bush! He wants to go to the action parts, on the double.
Plot is decent with a radically anti-capitalist stand.
What the book really lacks is characters. Sam is blander than bland and the crew are mere shadows. Nobody's really interesting and personalities are sacrificed to action.
Still, I enjoyed the few hours it took me to read it and those who like sci-fi action books going straight to the point should too.
Plot is decent with a radically anti-capitalist stand.
What the book really lacks is characters. Sam is blander than bland and the crew are mere shadows. Nobody's really interesting and personalities are sacrificed to action.
Still, I enjoyed the few hours it took me to read it and those who like sci-fi action books going straight to the point should too.
July 2, 2016
Action Oriented Quick SciFi Read
"Salvage Marines," is a quick, action oriented SciFi read. There is not great depth nor deep characterizations; it runs from one action sequence into the next. The writing is adequate, as is the proofreading. The editing is lazy, as too many repetitive phrases or passages (eBook readers do have reading comprehension). The science is standard "lame" eBook level-nonexistent or farcical, but not so heavy handed as to derail the ride.
Basic storyline: humanity throughout the universe (sic) and technologically advanced. Civilization is corporate-fiefdom based, with minority elites having power/money/control, while the vast majority are serfs and endlessly enslaved by indentured servitude. It's dark, dismal, and in the main hopeless; but, hey, what do you expect from a Medieval Baron, Corporate, Intergalactic civilization?
Main character and his buddy "escape" planetary serfdom by enrolling in corporate "salvage marines" - think iron workers in spacesuits with guns and welding torches or maybe space SeaBees. There's combat action, little downtime, only really "on the job training," and author's poorly disguised, shallow political philosophy regarding capitalism.
It's mediocre SciFi, but pretty much painless and flows quickly.
"Salvage Marines," is a quick, action oriented SciFi read. There is not great depth nor deep characterizations; it runs from one action sequence into the next. The writing is adequate, as is the proofreading. The editing is lazy, as too many repetitive phrases or passages (eBook readers do have reading comprehension). The science is standard "lame" eBook level-nonexistent or farcical, but not so heavy handed as to derail the ride.
Basic storyline: humanity throughout the universe (sic) and technologically advanced. Civilization is corporate-fiefdom based, with minority elites having power/money/control, while the vast majority are serfs and endlessly enslaved by indentured servitude. It's dark, dismal, and in the main hopeless; but, hey, what do you expect from a Medieval Baron, Corporate, Intergalactic civilization?
Main character and his buddy "escape" planetary serfdom by enrolling in corporate "salvage marines" - think iron workers in spacesuits with guns and welding torches or maybe space SeaBees. There's combat action, little downtime, only really "on the job training," and author's poorly disguised, shallow political philosophy regarding capitalism.
It's mediocre SciFi, but pretty much painless and flows quickly.
February 13, 2023
Salvage Marines feels like a book written by a gamer who enjoys writing, rather than someone who's really honed the writing craft. Long sections of it are very info-dumpy, and there really is no overarching story or character development. The action sequences are done quite well, except for the lack of a consistent POV (for long segments, Samuel seems almost incidental) and extended moments of introspection and infodumps even right in the thick of combat.
Some of the language (eg, "fragged") belongs more to the gaming world than anything else, and there was precious little here that didn't seem borrowed from franchises like 40k or Aliens. I didn't hate it, but was a little bored in places just because there wasn't much in the way of stakes or a character to be invested in. There was a sort of 'final thought' on Samuel's part, which I appreciated, but it also felt a little contrived since the idea had been obvious to me from early on, and I thought it was understood by Samuel from the outset.
A decent first try at a book, and the author obviously has the enthusiasm and drive to write, but needs to spend more time understanding what makes a good story.
Some of the language (eg, "fragged") belongs more to the gaming world than anything else, and there was precious little here that didn't seem borrowed from franchises like 40k or Aliens. I didn't hate it, but was a little bored in places just because there wasn't much in the way of stakes or a character to be invested in. There was a sort of 'final thought' on Samuel's part, which I appreciated, but it also felt a little contrived since the idea had been obvious to me from early on, and I thought it was understood by Samuel from the outset.
A decent first try at a book, and the author obviously has the enthusiasm and drive to write, but needs to spend more time understanding what makes a good story.
August 26, 2025
This is book is not what I expected, but it is very interesting. What I thought I was going to read about were some bad-ass tough Marines going through space killing and creating havoc every where they went. Instead, I got a more thought provoking book with a story about a young man growing up in a civilization very, very different from mine.
Everything in this future/alternative civilization is ran by corporations. Big business is an understatement. Galaxy-wide business is more like it and everyone is indebted to a corporation of one kind or another. There certainly are classes of citizens since those that run the corporations certainly can’t do the dirty work that keeps the corporation running. No, most people work for the corporation at assigned jobs and that’s all they will ever do. You get an education starting at an early age, but you’re also going to pay for that education. Yes, you owe the corporation for you entire upbringing and when you finally become an adult, you find that you have so much debt owed to the corporation that you can’t do anything but work day in and day out for the rest of your life. And that’s what was facing Samuel Hyst.
Samuel’s parents were working for the Grotto Corporation and had done so all their lives. They hope to raise Samuel to do something different. His Dad had done some off-duty work for a few friends and they promised to look after Samuel and maybe get him a position on an assembly line where the pay might be just a little better. Then came graduation from the Citizen’s Academy and Samuel’s prospects for a decent job weren’t that great. An Adminstrator reviewed Samuel’s academic record and determined that Samuel would best serve the corporation in waste disposal, janitorial, or food service. Samuel indicated that he’d like to do something else, but the Administrator was quick to tell him that his desires were irrelevant to the corporation. He was to choose one of those three jobs and do only that for the rest of his life or when his corporate debt was paid off. The latter option was just thrown-in as a kind of joke. No one paid off their debts to the corporation or if they did, it was a very rare feat.
So Samuel finds himself preparing boxed meals for the corporation. He does this every day of the week but does have some time off which he can use to have drinks with his friends at a local bar. Of course every drink and every meal he has goes against his corporate debt so while a little comes off more goes on. Still, Samuel finds the time to meet up with a young woman doing about the same job as him, only she has a hobby of taking pictures. One thing leads to another with Samuel and Sura getting married. Not long after that, Sura says she’s pregnant.
Samuel was talking with his best friend, Ben Takeda, about his situation, well their situations, when Ben mentioned the REAPER card that he had received from the Administrator just immediately before being dismissed. The Administrator had said something about using the information on the card as a last resort. Samuel got his card out and inserted it in his handheld data-pad. It basically said that REAPER card stood for “Resource Exploration and Procurement Engineer Regiment”. It further went on to say that as a REAPER you would be a foot soldier for the corporation and specialize in salvage operations for military expeditions. It came with twice the average works pay and include hazard bonuses!
Samuel and Ben signed up to become REAPERS knowing that they might not be home again for a long time. Sura didn’t mind that Samuel had joined. She knew why he did and with his new pay, she could stay home with their child until the returned. While she wasn’t working, she was still incurring debt especially with the child birth, but that was a fact of life and not going to change. There was the chance that if Samuel could serve long enough, he might earn enough to pay off his, Sura’s and even his son’s debt to the corporation. someday, if he lived long enough! So this is where the real book starts. Samuel gets basic training but only in the very basics of war fighting and then he’s trained in salvage operations. His job will be to fight and kill anyone the corporation decides will increase their bottom line or increase profits. They will do so with the least amount of loss to the corporation given substandard equipment and very few supplies.
So, you’ll read about Samuel’s new life. He’s basically left his family and his wife, Sura, and child behind. He has no idea of when or if he’ll ever see them again, but they will benefit from his service. Samuel just needs to learn how to do his new job to the best of is abilities because his very life depends on it.
Good start to an interesting series. I have an idea that Samuel isn’t going to stay working for the corporation for a very long time. It will be interesting to see how things turn out or even if we will read more about Samuel Hyst. His story might just end with this book although his life didn’t. I can’t tell if every book will be about someone new or not. Not sure how I’ll like changing characters in every book, but I’ll give it a try in book 2, “Dead World”, now available on Amazon.
==[Note: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be published on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. Once the ban is lifted, assuming it does get lifted, I’ll go back and post this to Amazon.]==
Everything in this future/alternative civilization is ran by corporations. Big business is an understatement. Galaxy-wide business is more like it and everyone is indebted to a corporation of one kind or another. There certainly are classes of citizens since those that run the corporations certainly can’t do the dirty work that keeps the corporation running. No, most people work for the corporation at assigned jobs and that’s all they will ever do. You get an education starting at an early age, but you’re also going to pay for that education. Yes, you owe the corporation for you entire upbringing and when you finally become an adult, you find that you have so much debt owed to the corporation that you can’t do anything but work day in and day out for the rest of your life. And that’s what was facing Samuel Hyst.
Samuel’s parents were working for the Grotto Corporation and had done so all their lives. They hope to raise Samuel to do something different. His Dad had done some off-duty work for a few friends and they promised to look after Samuel and maybe get him a position on an assembly line where the pay might be just a little better. Then came graduation from the Citizen’s Academy and Samuel’s prospects for a decent job weren’t that great. An Adminstrator reviewed Samuel’s academic record and determined that Samuel would best serve the corporation in waste disposal, janitorial, or food service. Samuel indicated that he’d like to do something else, but the Administrator was quick to tell him that his desires were irrelevant to the corporation. He was to choose one of those three jobs and do only that for the rest of his life or when his corporate debt was paid off. The latter option was just thrown-in as a kind of joke. No one paid off their debts to the corporation or if they did, it was a very rare feat.
So Samuel finds himself preparing boxed meals for the corporation. He does this every day of the week but does have some time off which he can use to have drinks with his friends at a local bar. Of course every drink and every meal he has goes against his corporate debt so while a little comes off more goes on. Still, Samuel finds the time to meet up with a young woman doing about the same job as him, only she has a hobby of taking pictures. One thing leads to another with Samuel and Sura getting married. Not long after that, Sura says she’s pregnant.
Samuel was talking with his best friend, Ben Takeda, about his situation, well their situations, when Ben mentioned the REAPER card that he had received from the Administrator just immediately before being dismissed. The Administrator had said something about using the information on the card as a last resort. Samuel got his card out and inserted it in his handheld data-pad. It basically said that REAPER card stood for “Resource Exploration and Procurement Engineer Regiment”. It further went on to say that as a REAPER you would be a foot soldier for the corporation and specialize in salvage operations for military expeditions. It came with twice the average works pay and include hazard bonuses!
Samuel and Ben signed up to become REAPERS knowing that they might not be home again for a long time. Sura didn’t mind that Samuel had joined. She knew why he did and with his new pay, she could stay home with their child until the returned. While she wasn’t working, she was still incurring debt especially with the child birth, but that was a fact of life and not going to change. There was the chance that if Samuel could serve long enough, he might earn enough to pay off his, Sura’s and even his son’s debt to the corporation. someday, if he lived long enough! So this is where the real book starts. Samuel gets basic training but only in the very basics of war fighting and then he’s trained in salvage operations. His job will be to fight and kill anyone the corporation decides will increase their bottom line or increase profits. They will do so with the least amount of loss to the corporation given substandard equipment and very few supplies.
So, you’ll read about Samuel’s new life. He’s basically left his family and his wife, Sura, and child behind. He has no idea of when or if he’ll ever see them again, but they will benefit from his service. Samuel just needs to learn how to do his new job to the best of is abilities because his very life depends on it.
Good start to an interesting series. I have an idea that Samuel isn’t going to stay working for the corporation for a very long time. It will be interesting to see how things turn out or even if we will read more about Samuel Hyst. His story might just end with this book although his life didn’t. I can’t tell if every book will be about someone new or not. Not sure how I’ll like changing characters in every book, but I’ll give it a try in book 2, “Dead World”, now available on Amazon.
==[Note: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be published on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. Once the ban is lifted, assuming it does get lifted, I’ll go back and post this to Amazon.]==
February 6, 2017
Meh
I can enjoy derivatives. I can look past plagiarism. But suffers from George RR Martin school of writing.
Spoilers: interesting character and dead.
I can enjoy derivatives. I can look past plagiarism. But suffers from George RR Martin school of writing.
Spoilers: interesting character and dead.
December 9, 2024
In Depth Review: Where do I begin with Salvage Marines? I guess we should start with the good. I liked the premise and thought it was interesting enough to justify ordering a copy off of Amazon. The idea of being gun-totting garbage men going out to collect the recyclables for a soulless interplanetary megacorporation's bottom line is so unique that I had to see how the author executed the idea.
As for the bad... terribly, that's how the author executed the idea. Very little of the book's word count is given over to the character's surroundings, making them feel like they're floating in a vaguely defined white void. The protagonist is rushed through the events that lead to him enlisting in the titular Salvage Marines and after his enlistment we are rushed from one bog-standard sci-fi action set-piece to another. Zombies on an abandoned mining colony? Got that. Refugees and anti-corporate rebels desperately trying to hide on a Space Hulk barely legally distinct enough to avoid an angry letter from Games Workshop? Got that too. A final show-down with a rival corporation's military unit in a Vespene Gas refinery... I wish I was kidding but apparently the author didn't check to see if Vespene Gas exists outside of the Starcraft Universe and thought we were too stupid to pick up on that (spoilers: it doesn't exist.)
Often times there is barely a paragraph of downtime between these combat set-pieces with most of that spent with the author ranting about how evil corporate authoritarianism and the debt economy is. Which... yes, they are evil. Which is why you need that downtime between fights to develop the characters in the squad so the reader can be motivated to care about the people trying to survive this dystopia and make sure your research on hyper-capitalism and debt economies comes from somewhere with more intellectual substance then the University of Twitter/BlueSky. Mr. Argo did not and the story suffered accordingly. By the time you reach the end, you're thankful that your misery is over.
Summary: An interesting idea and premise for a military sci-fi unit marred by being hands down one of the worst books I've ever read in any genre. The world is barely developed, the main character and his best friend get barely a paragraph of development between them, every other character doesn't receive a shred of development beyond their name and rank, there is varying degrees of plagiarism from infinitely better military sci-fi franchises ranging from the barely tolerable to the completely unforgivable, and overall it feels like something even a high-school English student would have written better.
If you feel tempted to pick this book up... run a group of tech-savvy space marines through a dungeon crawl in a sci-fi tabletop RPG of your choice instead. You'll get a much better story for far less money.
As for the bad... terribly, that's how the author executed the idea. Very little of the book's word count is given over to the character's surroundings, making them feel like they're floating in a vaguely defined white void. The protagonist is rushed through the events that lead to him enlisting in the titular Salvage Marines and after his enlistment we are rushed from one bog-standard sci-fi action set-piece to another. Zombies on an abandoned mining colony? Got that. Refugees and anti-corporate rebels desperately trying to hide on a Space Hulk barely legally distinct enough to avoid an angry letter from Games Workshop? Got that too. A final show-down with a rival corporation's military unit in a Vespene Gas refinery... I wish I was kidding but apparently the author didn't check to see if Vespene Gas exists outside of the Starcraft Universe and thought we were too stupid to pick up on that (spoilers: it doesn't exist.)
Often times there is barely a paragraph of downtime between these combat set-pieces with most of that spent with the author ranting about how evil corporate authoritarianism and the debt economy is. Which... yes, they are evil. Which is why you need that downtime between fights to develop the characters in the squad so the reader can be motivated to care about the people trying to survive this dystopia and make sure your research on hyper-capitalism and debt economies comes from somewhere with more intellectual substance then the University of Twitter/BlueSky. Mr. Argo did not and the story suffered accordingly. By the time you reach the end, you're thankful that your misery is over.
Summary: An interesting idea and premise for a military sci-fi unit marred by being hands down one of the worst books I've ever read in any genre. The world is barely developed, the main character and his best friend get barely a paragraph of development between them, every other character doesn't receive a shred of development beyond their name and rank, there is varying degrees of plagiarism from infinitely better military sci-fi franchises ranging from the barely tolerable to the completely unforgivable, and overall it feels like something even a high-school English student would have written better.
If you feel tempted to pick this book up... run a group of tech-savvy space marines through a dungeon crawl in a sci-fi tabletop RPG of your choice instead. You'll get a much better story for far less money.
June 18, 2017
I have enjoyed reading this book as I have been reading more from indy self-published authors.
Some other readers have complained about the hero's repeated infidelity and the distance he puts himself from his family. Both are traits are realistic of a service member.
As someone who served in two branches of the military, I saw couples who had similar arrangements. While the service member was deployed, both spouses had the understanding that they could have sex with other people as long as it was just sex - nothing more. While I may not agree with this practice, as long as everyone is upfront and open about, I have no complaint.
Having an arrangement so that both partners can have sex while the service member is deployed would not be something that I would choose, but who am I to tell someone what they can and cannot do?
Yes, there were service members of both sexes who chose to cheat on their partners - infidelity is not the sole purview of males. While this maybe upsetting, it is realistic and part of something that a servicemember must deal with.
Lots of good combat action with realistic outcomes. Sex is mentioned, but no graphic details. If you are looking for sex in space, or a tawdry space opera - look elsewhere.
The e-book is a little short - more novella length than novel. A quick read, but I am already planning on buying the next novella in the series.
Some other readers have complained about the hero's repeated infidelity and the distance he puts himself from his family. Both are traits are realistic of a service member.
As someone who served in two branches of the military, I saw couples who had similar arrangements. While the service member was deployed, both spouses had the understanding that they could have sex with other people as long as it was just sex - nothing more. While I may not agree with this practice, as long as everyone is upfront and open about, I have no complaint.
Having an arrangement so that both partners can have sex while the service member is deployed would not be something that I would choose, but who am I to tell someone what they can and cannot do?
Yes, there were service members of both sexes who chose to cheat on their partners - infidelity is not the sole purview of males. While this maybe upsetting, it is realistic and part of something that a servicemember must deal with.
Lots of good combat action with realistic outcomes. Sex is mentioned, but no graphic details. If you are looking for sex in space, or a tawdry space opera - look elsewhere.
The e-book is a little short - more novella length than novel. A quick read, but I am already planning on buying the next novella in the series.
February 9, 2020
I saw that Casper Van Dien was involved in a TV Series based on these books, so I thought I'd give it a go.
It's okay, the concept is interesting, in a world run by corporations and where you are placed into a specific job to pay of your life debts, you can up the ante by joining one of the armed forces. The Salvage Marines are the first in to dangerous situations and then spend their time making money for their employer through salvage rights.
The book is full of action and marines getting offed in different ways but you don't know enough about any of them to really care, even the leads Samuel and Ben are really bland and I had trouble caring if they lived or died, but even if they got severely injured, miraculously they were going to be fine the next chapter.
I love a book about space marines and about alien fights and this gives it to the reader aplenty, but I just need to care more about the characters involved. I'll read the second one and see if I learn more about the characters or if random marines appear and disappear like the variety of buses you can catch from outside the market.
It's okay, the concept is interesting, in a world run by corporations and where you are placed into a specific job to pay of your life debts, you can up the ante by joining one of the armed forces. The Salvage Marines are the first in to dangerous situations and then spend their time making money for their employer through salvage rights.
The book is full of action and marines getting offed in different ways but you don't know enough about any of them to really care, even the leads Samuel and Ben are really bland and I had trouble caring if they lived or died, but even if they got severely injured, miraculously they were going to be fine the next chapter.
I love a book about space marines and about alien fights and this gives it to the reader aplenty, but I just need to care more about the characters involved. I'll read the second one and see if I learn more about the characters or if random marines appear and disappear like the variety of buses you can catch from outside the market.
July 13, 2017
This was a fun bit of Warhammer 40k fan fic. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but it is so obviously influenced by the 40k universe as to be basically a novel set there. Right from the intro which bears such a resemblance to the intro to every 40k novel as to practically be plagiarism. This author must have read Space Marine by Ian Watson and played a lot of Necromunda given the way this novel starts and the storytelling as well as having a Ulanti Squad. Also Marsters isn't that common of a word. But since I am a 40k fan, this was a fun novel to read.
January 11, 2020
all reviews in one place:
night mode reading ;
skaitom nakties rezimu
Have you ever read book "Sten" by Chris Bunch and Allan Cole? It is similar with the whole debt designed to keep you trapped and working stuff. But the characters were written poorly. Unmemorable, and hard to like or even sympathize with, they took down the story too. It might be the problem of the first book, so I'm okay with trying another one to see.
night mode reading ;
skaitom nakties rezimu
Have you ever read book "Sten" by Chris Bunch and Allan Cole? It is similar with the whole debt designed to keep you trapped and working stuff. But the characters were written poorly. Unmemorable, and hard to like or even sympathize with, they took down the story too. It might be the problem of the first book, so I'm okay with trying another one to see.
January 15, 2023
The corporations rule, you are born in debt and spend your life trying to pay it off, before it is passed to your children on death. Samuel Hyst wants to pay off his debt and save his unborn child from the burden. He signs up the the Reapers, high rewards but at high risk, can he stay alive and reunite with his wife and child, debt free
January 20, 2026
Flat, monotone, singularly lacking in pathos.
Two dimensional world. One dimensional characters. Harping on a single social issue for a society that doesn't exist. Lots of death and horrific wounds, often more than once. Significant infidelity. No hope. No purpose. No pathos. If this appeals to you, you'll probably like it. Obviously, this book didn't appeal to me.
Two dimensional world. One dimensional characters. Harping on a single social issue for a society that doesn't exist. Lots of death and horrific wounds, often more than once. Significant infidelity. No hope. No purpose. No pathos. If this appeals to you, you'll probably like it. Obviously, this book didn't appeal to me.
February 10, 2018
Absurdly higher quality than expected. Figured it would be cheap zombie space horror. Turns out to be indictment against military- industrial complex and capitalism at large wrapped in space thriller. Highly enjoyable. Reminds me of Forever War & Fallen Dragon.
October 2, 2020
Short, fast paced, military sci-fi novel. Heavy on the action, and paints a picture of a Nightmarish future, where capitalism on steroids is the rule of law. Definitely interested in reading the others in the series. If you like this kind of thing (I do) then grab this asap.
September 13, 2019
Didn't finish.
January 13, 2020
Pretty good alternative to Imperial guard 40k.
June 3, 2020
Can't say it was a great book, but it was interesting enough to get through it.
Read
June 24, 2021Necrospace, a dark and dangerous place. The series of books is entertaining and contains both elements of scifi and horror. I found the Necrospace series a good read.
December 24, 2021
DNF'd pretty early on. Cool premise, but the writing style was distractingly unpolished.
June 21, 2023
Started off slow and unmemorable. Then it turned into action action action. Had some nice tech and lots of gunplay with minimal gore
October 17, 2024
I took a chance on this one asn was not disappointed. Though the characted development was quick and the book moved fast, it was still an enjoyable read for me. I will look at book 2 now
March 25, 2025
finally got to read it
I worked on this series and although it was a labour of love I always wanted to read the series enjoyed the first book. This is the job!
I worked on this series and although it was a labour of love I always wanted to read the series enjoyed the first book. This is the job!
April 8, 2025
An uneven but entertaining grimdark tale. POV hopping between characters is a common occurrence and the world building starts strong before petering out. Overall, fun but not memorable.
March 15, 2017
Hard Day's Night
Argo has written a gritty, hard-scrabble novel in this first venture into Corporate World gone wild.
Citizens are born into a no win life, and their only alternative is joining the Salvage Marines. We follow our hero through several combat and salvage ops while he copes physically and philosophically with life. Its a good read over all and is a recommended read.
Argo has written a gritty, hard-scrabble novel in this first venture into Corporate World gone wild.
Citizens are born into a no win life, and their only alternative is joining the Salvage Marines. We follow our hero through several combat and salvage ops while he copes physically and philosophically with life. Its a good read over all and is a recommended read.
June 28, 2018
It was an enjoyable story. It doesn't get too complicated on the technical issues but does make an effort to provide you with a decent picture. The pacing is good and doesn't let you get bored.
December 4, 2016
This is Military Sci-Fi as it should be, fast paced, actioned packed and in your face.
The story follows Samuel Hyst, who lives in this rather horrific system where you inherit debt as well as get debt for everything you do. What you earn is not really enough to pay off your debt.
Although you can get an education (that is added to your debt), you are assessed and given a job based on this assessment. If you don’t like your job, or just have enough of things, you can join ‘The REAPERS’.
These are the Marines, and once you read into this, you understand that in this budgetary society, that the Marines are the cheap option for resolving problems. They have low grade gear, very basic teaching, the only benefit is that they earn more money than any other occupation. And huge bonuses for active duty. Of course, they have to survive long enough to actually earn this. Or avoid getting wounded and having to pay for expensive medical care.
They fight on the front line, and once the battle is done, they then salvage the site/ship/hulk, shredding it for all the resources they can, swapping out rifles for blow torches (again, it's all about the bottom line on the budget sheet).
Samuel ends up joining the Reapers with his lifelong friend Ben, so that he can raise money for his young family. His relationship starts quite strong with his family, his wife and young child, but as the book progresses, it seems to drop off as his Military career becomes the focus. In reality, this is probably not far from the truth as a lot of military people tend to lose a bit of contact with their families when deployed.
There are multiple other characters that appear in the book, but all of them revolve around Samuel to some point or another. The other Marines in his unit, his best friend Ben, his Wife and their child. These relationships are all written with a real understanding of how military life impacts on a person.
Argo does a masterful job of describing the Marines in action, the shear brutality of combat, and the impact it has on Samuel, in his role as one of the Marines and as their Medic. We quickly see how it impacts his relationships within his unit and with other Marines, as well as other Military units. The writing is clever and intuitive, giving us real insight into the psychological impact this is having on him, without going so far into it so as to lose the feel of the Military Sci-Fi story.
This is a well-crafted, captivating story, and that if you love your Mil Sci-fi, you won’t put down once you pick it up.
I will be getting the 2nd book as I really enjoyed this one.
The story follows Samuel Hyst, who lives in this rather horrific system where you inherit debt as well as get debt for everything you do. What you earn is not really enough to pay off your debt.
Although you can get an education (that is added to your debt), you are assessed and given a job based on this assessment. If you don’t like your job, or just have enough of things, you can join ‘The REAPERS’.
These are the Marines, and once you read into this, you understand that in this budgetary society, that the Marines are the cheap option for resolving problems. They have low grade gear, very basic teaching, the only benefit is that they earn more money than any other occupation. And huge bonuses for active duty. Of course, they have to survive long enough to actually earn this. Or avoid getting wounded and having to pay for expensive medical care.
They fight on the front line, and once the battle is done, they then salvage the site/ship/hulk, shredding it for all the resources they can, swapping out rifles for blow torches (again, it's all about the bottom line on the budget sheet).
Samuel ends up joining the Reapers with his lifelong friend Ben, so that he can raise money for his young family. His relationship starts quite strong with his family, his wife and young child, but as the book progresses, it seems to drop off as his Military career becomes the focus. In reality, this is probably not far from the truth as a lot of military people tend to lose a bit of contact with their families when deployed.
There are multiple other characters that appear in the book, but all of them revolve around Samuel to some point or another. The other Marines in his unit, his best friend Ben, his Wife and their child. These relationships are all written with a real understanding of how military life impacts on a person.
Argo does a masterful job of describing the Marines in action, the shear brutality of combat, and the impact it has on Samuel, in his role as one of the Marines and as their Medic. We quickly see how it impacts his relationships within his unit and with other Marines, as well as other Military units. The writing is clever and intuitive, giving us real insight into the psychological impact this is having on him, without going so far into it so as to lose the feel of the Military Sci-Fi story.
This is a well-crafted, captivating story, and that if you love your Mil Sci-fi, you won’t put down once you pick it up.
I will be getting the 2nd book as I really enjoyed this one.
September 16, 2016
Check out this and all my reviews at Brian's Book Blog
This is the job!
The world that Sam lives in would be the definition of living to work. You are basically born into debt and work your entire life and can never get out. Faced with hard decisions about his future and the future of his unborn son, he enlists with the salvage marines in an attempt to break free from the corporate tyranny.
Jeffrey Kafer is great in the narration of Salvage Marines. He has the perfect voice to keep the action moving in this story. Kafer has one of those voices that make a scene more believable.
If you are a fan of action, then this book is definitely for you. This feels almost like a Michael Bay movie written out. There is a lot of fighting in different areas, planets, and interstellar ships throughout with very little dialogue (just enough to move the story forward). There were a few parts that felt like they were just thrown in there to stir things up without actually moving the story along. But, it also didn't really take away from the story either.
The sub-plot about the corporate tyranny was my favorite part of the novel. I would love to see more about this. Argo did a pretty nice job setting up the dependence on the company and it was a running antagonist that weaved in and out of the story. But it was definitely the part that kept me intrigued.
My biggest complaint was the choppiness of the story. It felt like Argo wasn't sure what to write about between different missions so it just kind of bounced from one mission to the next and the years just kind of skipped by. I know that it wasn't meant to be a long-winded narrative or anything, but I think it could have used a little more "cool off" time between each new battle.
Overall, Salvage Marines was a really good Space/Sci-Fi non-stop action novel for those of you who like their books to be action packed!
This book was given to me at no charge, in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom
This is the job!
The world that Sam lives in would be the definition of living to work. You are basically born into debt and work your entire life and can never get out. Faced with hard decisions about his future and the future of his unborn son, he enlists with the salvage marines in an attempt to break free from the corporate tyranny.
Jeffrey Kafer is great in the narration of Salvage Marines. He has the perfect voice to keep the action moving in this story. Kafer has one of those voices that make a scene more believable.
If you are a fan of action, then this book is definitely for you. This feels almost like a Michael Bay movie written out. There is a lot of fighting in different areas, planets, and interstellar ships throughout with very little dialogue (just enough to move the story forward). There were a few parts that felt like they were just thrown in there to stir things up without actually moving the story along. But, it also didn't really take away from the story either.
The sub-plot about the corporate tyranny was my favorite part of the novel. I would love to see more about this. Argo did a pretty nice job setting up the dependence on the company and it was a running antagonist that weaved in and out of the story. But it was definitely the part that kept me intrigued.
My biggest complaint was the choppiness of the story. It felt like Argo wasn't sure what to write about between different missions so it just kind of bounced from one mission to the next and the years just kind of skipped by. I know that it wasn't meant to be a long-winded narrative or anything, but I think it could have used a little more "cool off" time between each new battle.
Overall, Salvage Marines was a really good Space/Sci-Fi non-stop action novel for those of you who like their books to be action packed!
This book was given to me at no charge, in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom
August 30, 2015
this is a good book -- no reviews ?
Thought this was a good book -- I certainly enjoyed it. I don't go out of my way to do reviews, keyboard and I don't get along. It's a solid 3.2-3.5. I over rated just a tad because I did enjoy.
I will say that unfortunately, the 'worst' part of the book was the sample. A little slow and reading about someone getting married and having a son isn't the best way to start, entice someone to continue. Really don't know what MC is getting into with a card given to him when his evaluation tells him he'll be a good janitor. Book title kinda clues you.
If you get past the dry, sloooow start -- this turns into a decent read. All of a sudden there's action, good pace through out. Story does not bog down with 200 pages of boot camp, science, technology or a number of author shortfalls, preaching, etc. Thought author did nice job moving story.
I did find it strange that MC's wife wasn't in the story any longer. Joins marines for better life for family and they just get honorable mentions here and there. It's called leave, R&R, whatever but not any more interaction and being in space for X yrs? Especially considering events that occur, I thought spending time w wife would have been interesting.
Otherwise it was fun and the insights MC gets at the end isn't the huge revelation that I believe author was hoping for. God, country, mom, apple pie , bottom line -- boils down to the good old 'band of brothers 'and might as well get paid for it! Moral of story fairly common whichever way you want to do it. Still, no problem w me -- liked story.
Thought this was a good book -- I certainly enjoyed it. I don't go out of my way to do reviews, keyboard and I don't get along. It's a solid 3.2-3.5. I over rated just a tad because I did enjoy.
I will say that unfortunately, the 'worst' part of the book was the sample. A little slow and reading about someone getting married and having a son isn't the best way to start, entice someone to continue. Really don't know what MC is getting into with a card given to him when his evaluation tells him he'll be a good janitor. Book title kinda clues you.
If you get past the dry, sloooow start -- this turns into a decent read. All of a sudden there's action, good pace through out. Story does not bog down with 200 pages of boot camp, science, technology or a number of author shortfalls, preaching, etc. Thought author did nice job moving story.
I did find it strange that MC's wife wasn't in the story any longer. Joins marines for better life for family and they just get honorable mentions here and there. It's called leave, R&R, whatever but not any more interaction and being in space for X yrs? Especially considering events that occur, I thought spending time w wife would have been interesting.
Otherwise it was fun and the insights MC gets at the end isn't the huge revelation that I believe author was hoping for. God, country, mom, apple pie , bottom line -- boils down to the good old 'band of brothers 'and might as well get paid for it! Moral of story fairly common whichever way you want to do it. Still, no problem w me -- liked story.
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