Salvagia by Tim Chawaga. 2025 Diversion Books
Reviewed by Casey Dorman
This is Tim Chawaga’s debut novel, but it comes off as the work of a polished writer. The story takes place sometime in the future, when global warming has destroyed much of the world from fires and drought, and coastal regions have become sunken cities. Florida, and the city of Miami is one of these coastal regions that’s been almost completely covered, leaving only a few skyscrapers above water. After attempts to explore off-planet locations, that ended in disaster, the population has mostly retreated to protective domes, where they live together while the government tries to re-wild the surviving land.
Triss Mackey is a salvage diver along the Florida coast, finding sunken items of nostalgia, called salvagia, that are worth a great deal of money as symbolic remembrances of the past. After finding a well-preserved sneaker, whose monetary worth will allow her to purchase the boat she is renting, the sneaker is stolen from her by her diving partner. Her effort to get the sneaker back leads to an incredible adventure during which she encounters and, in many cases, must combat, various groups who want to use her to pursue their own search for salvagia. These groups each has a plan, such as to restore the Florida coastline, to preserve and mourn the Miami high-rise underwater graveyard, or to found some kind of new-age community. She meets powerful mafia-type players, adventurers, new-age hippie types, and federal agents, all of whom want her help because of her diving skills, and at one time or another threaten to kill her.
The author has created an original future earth-world, which is looking for a way to find meaning in survival, and succeeded in writing a first-rate thriller/mystery, filled with quirky characters and bizarre situations. Although I read the novel at a time I had a lot of pressing issues on my plate, once I began it, I was hooked, and I picked it up at every break in my busy schedule, until I reached the end. It’s filled with believable, but original, technical inventions and takes place in a future that may well be what we have in store for us if our inability or unwillingness to address climate change continues. It’s a thoroughly engrossing thriller that showcases a new talent from whom I look forward to hearing more.
For those of you who enjoy eiither science fiction or thrillers, this novel will be a pleasure for you to read. Salvagia is published by Diversion Books and will be released on August 12, 2025. You maypre-order it on Amazon Here
Interested in scif-fi about AIs solving moral dilemmas in a future that has them exploring our galaxy? Read Casey Dorman’s Voyages of the Delphi novels: Ezekiel’s Brain and Prime Directive. Available on Amazon. Click Here!
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