The Salvage Crew

By: Yudhanjaya Wijeratne

Narrated by: Nathan Fillion

Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Award-winning actor Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle, The Rookie) brings to life a snarky artificial intelligence you won't soon forget. Don't miss his hilarious performance in a story perfectly crafted for sci-fi fans of The Martian, Red Dwarf, and We Are Legion (We Are Bob).

They thought this was just another salvage job. They thought wrong. 

An AI overseer and a human crew arrive on a distant planet to salvage an ancient UN starship. The overseer is unhappy. The crew, well, they're certainly no A-team. Not even a C-team on the best of days. And worse? Urmahon Beta, the planet, is at the ass-end of nowhere. Everybody expects this to be a long, ugly, and thankless job. 

Then it all goes disastrously wrong. What they thought was an uninhabited backwater turns out to be anything but empty. Megafauna roam the land, a rival crew with some terrifyingly high-powered gear haunts the dig site, and a secret that will change humanity forever is waiting in the darkness.

Stuck on this unmapped, hostile planet, lacking resources, and with tech built by the cheapest bidder, the salvage crew must engineer their way to payday...and beat Urmahon Beta before it kills them all.

©2020 Yudhanjaya Wijeratne (P)2020 Podium Audio

Critic reviews

"Yudhanjaya Wijeratne's ingeniously crafted The Salvage Crew starts with a comforting science-fictional familiarity, before using its A.I.-co-authored idiosyncrasies to hurtle headlong into the gravity well of its considerable ambition. A novel of meteoric energy, flaring brighter and brighter as it falls further into its world." (Indrapamit Das, Lambda Award-winning author of The Devourers)

"A classic sci-fi adventure wrapped around a deeply philosophical core. With skillful plotting, interesting details, and a motley crew of humans and A.I., it's a story that embraces its meta-origins...with an ending worth waiting for." (S.B. Divya, Hugo and Nebula Award-nominated author of Runtime and Machinehood)

"With animation and wry humor, Fillion introduces listeners to OC, an artificially intelligent yet poetic overseer...with tenderness and sorrow [he] conveys OC's dawning realization that their mission has turned into a nightmare. Fillion's talents are undeniable...." (Audiofile Magazine)

Rats, I got sucked in and wasted a credit

When am I going to learn not to believe the gushing reviews where the rest are just poor? Believe the bad reviews for this audiobook, the gushing reviews are plants. This is a bogus listening experience, through and through. Storyline is interesting, at the start, but goes NOWHERE worthwhile. Nathan Fillion is one of my favorite actors, but so poorly directed and produced in this that I'm sad he squandered his talent on this effort. Sadly, I'm now a little burned on listening to anything else he might narrate in the future. (that kinda ticks me off about this book, too) I was going to give up and get my credit back, multiple times, but held out in the hope that, suddenly, the good reviews were going to be realized and something interesting or good or ...worthwhile was going to happen. No joy, No fun. No good. Want to waste a credit? Go ahead and buy this audiobook and experience what I, and so many others, did. Otherwise... there are SO many better choices, keep looking, this is NOT the book you are looking for...!

Promising First Half, Then a Mess

Fillion’s performance is good. He does get whispery at times, but the writing he’s conveying is problematic enough I don’t know what else he could have done. The writing starts off good and holds steady until after the halfway mark, staying straightforward and entertaining like a Haldeman or Scalzi. Then the author loses it. At first seeming to try to mimic surreal authors like Bear or Yoon Ha Lee (whose skills at the abstract are awesome). But, in the end just coming off as alternately a tad intoxicated then impatient. Then he skips forward to a finish that makes all written/read so far feel disconnected, irrelevant.

If he continues with more books—and sticks to the straightforward style he did well with at the start or polishes his skills with the abstract—the tales could be great.

Shiny....

I was sold at Nathan Fillion...

I never expected the book to be this good though. I loved every hilarious second of it and Nathan’s delivery only added to Wijeratne’s already incredible prose. I’d love more of this though I am guessing it won’t be a series. Movie? TV Adaptation. PLEASE?

Starts At The Top Of A Hill And Only Goes Down

I was quickly engaged in the story, finding it funny and interesting, but it started slowing down about a quarter of the way in and by the last quarter of the book, I was ready for it to be over. Fillion does a great job and should consider doing more books, but I found the story just sort of wandered off into the distance and never found its way back.

Boring concept, and the narration didn't help

Nathan Fillion is a fine actor, just not a good voice actor.
Story is not fun nor entertaining, I felt like I have to force myself listening to find something interesting. And I was disappointed.

Reading other reviews, either I have a unique taste, or a lot of bot are writing reviews.

Meh (Nothing much happens)

An average crew on an average assignment face an average experience.

Nathan has to learn to modulate his volume and enunciated the last words in his sentence.

How was this missed in production? Were they star struck? I guess I am picky but, I had to crank up the volume to listen to the audible. Result? His first words blare through the speakers. Then he reads the last sentence or two of a paragraph in faint whispers. Nathan also has a tendency to swallow the last word or two in a sentence so that they are unintelligible.

Those simple correctable errors made the audible so distractingly frustrating I could only listen for short periods.

Bought it because of Nathan Fillion, quite surprised by the story

The blend of sci-fi and Buddhist theology was an interesting mix that I didn’t think would work,but works surprisingly well in this survival sci-fi comedy. The author’s way of writing helped to create a clear picture most of the time, however there were parts that became hard to follow, but that also could have due to narration. I will say most of the poetry went right over my head but that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. Nathan Fillion does a tremendous job portraying the cynical, snarky AI, but it was hard to follow some of the extended conversations between characters because he doesn’t change his voice much when changing characters. Very excited to see where this series goes, seems like the author left it open for a sequel. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys the colony survival game Rimworld, and anybody who wants a break from the typical sci-fi human savior stories. It’s mainly a story about being put in a bad situation and trying to make the best of it written from the perspective of a cynical poetic AI.

Nathan Fillion IS the cosmos-weary AI

This was really entertaining and original - I loved the episodes of AI poetry wonderfully performed by the salvage master himself - Nathan Fillion. A perfect karmic mashup of voice and story. Exactly what makes an audiobook great.

Loved it

First of all, Nathan Fillion is perfect for this. Second- the story itself was quite an enjoyable ride. Fun, thought provoking, and highly imaginative.

If you like a little poetry with your sci-fi

This was a very nice book to listen to, with the narrator adding a lot to the poetry. I did find myself pausing the book occasionally after a poem, just to think on it a bit.

Fantastic, really enjoyed it.

Can't wait for more from this author and Nathan Fillion did a great job narrating it.

good sci fi, nice take on first contact

good book, gets fairly predictable in the mid to end. performance was great, a tad quite for driving but awesome other than that

Nothing like the blurb.

It's plodding, at times aimless, and despite the blurb, neither hilarious nor exciting.
It's, at heart, a story of a depressed AI (ish) Overseer, continuously disappointed and frustrated by the humans it oversees.

The characters are two-dimensional at best, and the entire thing reads like it was made up as the book was written.

Fillion's narration is somewhat jarring, as he tends to start a sentence clearly, then rattles off the rest in a quick and mumbled manner. He does this a lot.

This is not hard Sci fi, and it does not deal with overcoming technical difficulties with ingenuity, like The Martian. It lacks the humor and charm om the Bobiverse books.
Mostly stuff just sort of happens, and culminates in an unsatisfying, predictable manner.

I've listened to the book from start to finish, just to see if it goes anywhere, and the truth is: it barely goes anywhere.

Refreshing.

Really enjoyed this book, Sci fi can sometimes veer into the life stories and personal challenges of its characters making it more about life in general than the escape I personally was looking for. This book delivered on escapism whilst keeping the struggle at the core. The narration is good once you get used to it as it can be a little mumbled at first, the central character held my interest. Happy with this one.

Strong overall, but a little confusing.

An excellent performance from Nathan Fillion in a story that had me constantly wondering what was going to happen next. There are a few shock moments, and generally, the plot is quite strong.

Admittedly, I found some of the universe/AI talk very difficult to follow, and some conversations between them I end up losing who is speaking at what time. I did find the final moments slightly underwhelming, but equally, it has left the story somewhat open for your own conclusions/thoughts or a hefty sequel.

Overall, I would say I found the beginning-mid section quite strong, but it fell off slightly as it came to a close. Despite this, it is certainly worth a listen.

Dire

Bloody awful. Waste of a credit. Bloody awful, a waste of a credit. Avoid and watch some paint dry instead.

A refreshing, at times comical, survival story.

Other than the sultry tones of Nathan Fillion, I wasn't sure what to expect from this story. The blurb suggests a comedy on par with Red Dwarf and Hitchikers Guide, and I guess there are elements, but it surprised me with something much deeper. It's philosophy. It's sometimes poetry. It's often funny but, it is not a comedy.

Nathan Fillion clearly loves this story and he demonstrates flawless understanding of authorial intent in his narration. Compelling and entertaining, comical and thoughtful, this story was such a break from the norm.

At only one point did I feel the story stagnated but it was brief. The narration is interdispersed with occasional complex poetry so, be prepared but don't fixate on understanding the prose, it isn't essential to the story. Enjoy it or let it flow over you, there's action and drama aplenty!

Plot: Following the trials and triumphs of a mismatched, underfunded crew on what appears to be a simple salvage op, the crew and their sentient, once-human AI, called an overseer, stumble on something that has much wider consequences, for them, the company and humanity as a species.
The sarcastic and esoteric AI must try his best to keep the crew alive while they work together (occasionally) to make sense of the situation and make the best of what grim existence can be had out here amongst the alien flora and baffling fauna.

Interesting ideas

I like how it is told, the central characters perspective is unique. What they find on the planet is disturbing, and speaks to some old uncomfortable questions.

Predictable and only really saved by Fillion

As other reviewers have said the story is predictable, slow, meandering and badly paced. Without Fillion's performance there would be little to recommend it.

Asimov meets Peter Watts meets Arthur C Clark

Nathan Fillion was excellent. The story was a bit patchy in places. I'm not a massive sci fi fan but this had enough fantasy type elements to keep me engaged.