Scan barcode
A review by stuartjrodriguez
The Salt Line by Holly Goddard Jones
5.0
I picked this novel up on a whim when I saw the spine on the ARC shelf in Bookshop Santa Cruz’s break room, and I was hooked from the first sentence. Jones is a great writer, and she does an outstanding job with worldbuilding, plotting, pacing, and characterization, and in The Salt Line has crafted a superb post-apocalyptic nearish-future science fiction story.
The best part of this novel is that it’s not a post-apocalyptic novel like you might be expecting: There is minimal violence and only a few character deaths. Nearly every character has something redeeming about them, and there aren’t really any villains: each of the characters are decent people surviving as best they can. This novel subverted my expectations in pretty significant ways, I really appreciated that. I also loved the lore in this book; in the first few pages, the reader is introduced to the reason the world has changed so much (super aggressive disease-carrying ticks!), and when a character finally encounters these little baddies, it’s both gross and riveting.
This is an excellent novel, and I’d recommend it for any fans of intriguing, interesting post-apocalyptic fiction.
The best part of this novel is that it’s not a post-apocalyptic novel like you might be expecting: There is minimal violence and only a few character deaths. Nearly every character has something redeeming about them, and there aren’t really any villains: each of the characters are decent people surviving as best they can. This novel subverted my expectations in pretty significant ways, I really appreciated that. I also loved the lore in this book; in the first few pages, the reader is introduced to the reason the world has changed so much (super aggressive disease-carrying ticks!), and when a character finally encounters these little baddies, it’s both gross and riveting.
This is an excellent novel, and I’d recommend it for any fans of intriguing, interesting post-apocalyptic fiction.