Looking for something thrilling without the horror or gore this spooky season? Look no further than The Salvation Gambit from Emily Skrutskie.

I've been a fan of hers ever since her Abyss duology came out (you can read my review for both of them here). So, when I heard she was writing a scifi thriller about a hot-heated, snarky hacker and her team of con women who have to outwit the AI controlling a former imperial warship-turned-penal colony named The Justice, I knew I had to pick up a review copy.

If you liked the TV show Leverage but wished it were only about women, this is the book for you. If you enjoy the parts of Star Wars that involve sneaking around space ships and megastructures while outwitting imperialists, this is the book for you. If you enjoy the satisfaction of seeing the last vestiges of a crumbling empire get torn apart and women who are willing to look hard at themselves to overcome trauma and emotionally unhealthy work relationships, this is definitely the book for you.

The Good Stuff

I had so much FUN reading The Salvation Gambit. Seriously, I haven't just sat down and enjoyed a high energy, quick-witted adventure in a long time, and Skrutskie's fast-paced narrative will take you on a ride and won't let you go until it's over. I breezed through it in a couple of days, and it only took my that long because I'm an adult with a full-time, real-person job that requires me to not read books all day. If you've seen Leverage, the vibes of this book are like the best episodes, only you spend most of the time in that brief period where the con has gone wrong and everyone is scrambling to make sure it works out.

As with the other books of hers I've read, Skrutskie's characters are delightfully roguish and surprisingly complex. I was impressed by her ability to pack in so much character work around the action sequences. Of the four women from the team of cons, I definitely get less of a sense of Hark and Bea, which makes sense because they're not on page very much. However, for the characters we do spend most of the novel with, I fell in love with every single one.

I didn't expect to relate so much to Murdock when I first started, but by the end of the novel, I felt deeply called out by Murdock's journey of self -examination and growth. Her quest for someone to believe in her, her need for the approval of someone she perceives as a savior and mother figure, how much she feels that the best parts of herself are also due to someone who caused damage. How much she looks to external sources of validation to feel competent and wanted. Her need to feel NEEDED...god. I also grew up in a chaotic home environment where I was neglected by my family. Murdock's deep sense that feeling needed is the closest she can get to being loved was a punch to my gut.

As someone raised in a Christian environment, I also appreciated the embedded critique of religious structures that wove its way throughout what could have been purely a story about empire. The intertwining of empire and religion is deftly done with the AI who controls the ship, quite pointedly called "The Justice". I don't Skrustkie's background, but here, she understands both that religious fervor is real and meaningful to those who have it and that the religious leaders may have a purely selfish reason to engender such devotion. Religion, like empire, is devouringly self-sustaining and will consume others in order to maintain it's own power, even when that sense of power is self-delusion.

Finally, the romantic subplot between Murdock and [spoiler] was *chef's kiss*. Did I suspect the story would go that direction when I started it? Sure, but the pathway to get there was absolutely worth it and the payoff was fantastic. The moment they finally kiss, I was enthralled. Fantastic queer slow burn begrudging coworkers to lovers.

Potential Drawbacks

I wish there had been more explicit diversity, both in the main cast of characters and in the cultures aboard the warship-turned-penal colony. Skrutskie doesn't explicitly describe the skin color or heritage of many of the characters we meet, which I felt was a missed opportunity to create an explicitly diverse team of con women. Relying on silence isn't enough; we know from previous controversies in books and films that when characters are not specifically described as being non-white, white readers in the United States will automatically assume whiteness as the default. in 2023, it just isn't enough to not make everyone explicitly white. A truly diverse cast must be clearly stated to be such. Because you know what's better than a queer sexually complicated workplace relationship? An intersectional, even interracial queer sexually complicated workplace relationship. We always need more interracial, or even just non-white, queer lady ships!

I felt the lack of diversity in the larger worldbuilding context as well. Given that The Justice fills itself with people from all over the galaxy, I expected to see wider array of cultures and languages present on board. Space is a big place! And of course not all the colonies in this galaxy would have cultural practices that we recognize. In my opinion, Skrutskie missed a huge opportunity to explore new cultures, and the way those cultures would interact when forced to survive in the environment of a closed system like the warship, even if just in the background of the main plot. It didn't break my enjoyment of the novel in any way, just something I felt the lack of and would have liked to see more of given how rich the rest of the worldbuilding around The Justice was.

Final Score: 9/10

Engaging, witty, and with a surprisingly poignant internal character arc regarding past trauma and overcoming self-doubt and the pressure to be what others need instead of what you want, The Salvation Gambit is not your average con. The character driven narrative will sweep you away, while the anti-imperialist core will have you thinking about what it means to not just survive but thrive under late stage capitalism. While I would have appreciated greater diversity in cast and worldbuilding, the central dynamic between the protagonist and her companions grounds the adventure in internal struggle and workplace tension. If you're looking for hardcore smut, you won't find it here, but there's plenty of sexual tension, and just enough release.

I loved the characters. The worldbuilding was a touch confusing, but not too bad. The plot was interesting and I loved how Murdock basically had to face questioning her reality.

The Salvation Gambit is the story of the aftermath of a failed con job with the added twist that the protagonist and her crew are almost immediately requisitioned by a giant sentient battleship from a long dead galactic empire. That alone is a darn cool hook. The all-female crew consists of Murdock (the protagonist) - The Hacker, Bea - The Driver, Fitz - The Face, and Hark - The Leader. They want to escape, the band is separated, and Hijinks Ensue. The story is that of Murdock's emergence from Hark's shadow and her maturation into more than just defining herself as The Hacker in the crew. It's well written - the world building is good and Murdock's journey is well-constructed and believable. There weren't any moments where I didn't buy Murdock's motivations or where someone did anything Obviously Dumb just to move the plot along. With that said - there's a romance subplot that seems like it comes out of nowhere given what's described of the Murdock's history. Hark's actions while separated from the main group seem a bit passive for who she's made out to be. I know this is so Murdock is able to be The Hero and show her worth, but it seems a bit odd. The final heist/con plan (which, it's a book about a crew of con artists - it was always going to end that way) is also a little deus ex machina on the final bit. The lead up to it is well thought out - it just seemed like the "here's how we win" came out of left field with little foreshadowing. It was really enjoyable. I haven't read any of Emily Skrutskie's previous works, but I'm putting them in the TBR pile as a result.

Note to publisher: Amazon is not allowing reviews of the book prior to release. I'll post this there when it opens.

Murdock’s day has just gone from bad to worse. After her crew was arrested for a con gone wrong, a giant warship showed up in orbit demanding that the colony hand over their “sinners.” Now Murdock and the others are trapped on a ship full of convicts, a ship governed by an AI that seems intent on redeeming its prisoners – and it seems to have particular interest in Murdock. It will take all of Murdock’s skills and cunning if she’s to find a way to escape a prison that no one’s left in decades.

THE SALVATION GAMBIT is a fast-paced sci-fi tale that starts out incredibly strong, but misses the landing completely. I was completely engaged with this story for the first two-thirds of the book, and fully expected to land on the side of “fun time, just not amazing.” We follow Murdock, part of a four-woman group of con artists, who is used to existing of the shadows of their jobs as the hacker, the one who provides support instead of leading. When she and her teammate are separated from the rest of the crew (including their leader Hark), Murdock is forced to not only take lead, but to start analyzing her relationship with Hark.

Murdock’s journey is a fraught one as she tries to navigate the society that has sprung up in this bizarre floating penal colony, avoiding scavengers and cultists alike, all while the ship AI tries to recruit her at every turn. It was an effective Alice in Wonderland kind of story, one where our protagonist learns about herself as she goes on a quest to find her friends and escape this bizarre situation. The plot moved quickly, and I was finding THE SALVATION GAMBIT a pleasant diversion.

The more the story went on, however, the more I became bothered by how thin the details were. We get a few sparse details about the societies that have sprung up throughout the ship, but barely saw them in any meaningful way. Likewise, you won’t find any daring cons here, no well-oiled machine working together, just vague descriptions of how the team used to be really good at it.

I was okay with the thinness up to a point, because the story seemed more concerned with the characters and their relationships than with the cons or world-building. The focus was on a group of people at their low point, fractured by failure. It had all the makings of a great character study. In particular, I was enjoying watching a character free of a cult of personality realize that maybe she’d been in a toxic relationship all along.

At the end of the day, however, the character journey took a bizarre swerve, placing all the blame on the protagonist’s insecurities and almost none on anyone else in her life, which left me incredibly frustrated. The character arc is resolved in the blink of an eye, so quickly I almost had whiplash trying to understand what had happened. And because of my frustrations with how the character was handled, it made me retroactively frustrated at the story that came before.

THE SALVATION GAMBIT is a book I wish I could recommend more. To its credit, I did find myself enjoying it quite a bit until the very end; if you’re looking for a quick diversion you can eat up in a few days, this might tick the box for you. Personally, the character arc just didn’t land for me, making it hard to give this one my full blessing.

Note: I was provided a free ARC by the publisher in exchange for my fair and honest review.

Take Ocean’s 8 except they didn’t pull it off and ended up in a 300-year old galactic penal colony. Murdock’s is a delightful perspective to experience this book from, and the idea of a rogue AI taking prisoners to prop up a long dead empire is creatively engineered. I gave it a 3.5 rounded up- it’s an enjoyable read and well executed, without taking itself too seriously or dragging.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for access to this arc.

A space opera about lesbian con artists going up against a sentient spaceship sounded like a bit of fun. I also liked the fact that it’s not a 550 page tome and seems to be a stand alone story. The action starts in media res and at the point I stopped reading, never seemed to stop. But when I start heckling the MC (I do adore MST3K) and little else is working for me, I know when to quit. Note to self – when the main character is described in the blurb as “hot headed,” I should pay more attention.

Murdock is part of a gang of high achieving con artists. She was a low life thief on a transfer space station when Hark – the clever one – whisked Murdock away and into the group. Murdock is supposed to be the hacker, the one who stays in the background, infiltrates the tech and keeps the others safe as they work their magic and make off with the money. But something went wrong – something that Murdock is shocked to find out that Hark thinks Murdock is responsible for – and when a sentient spaceship that used to be a warship arrives at the planet where their con was taking place and demands “sinners,” the gang of four are handed over to what they discover is a sort of penal colony which no one ever escapes. You can choose how you want to exist there – either (sort of) law abiding colonists, scavs who attack the colonists as well as newcomers onboard, or as blindly loyal followers of the AI which runs the Justice.

None of the four women know what they’ve been dumped into so neither does the reader. Our first glimpse of Murdock is her trying to bash her way out of being dumped on the ship. It doesn’t end well and as Murdock snarls at Fitz for not joining her in the attempt, Fitz replies she knew it wouldn’t work and the way she knew that is because Murdock planned it. Well, planned isn’t exactly correct as Murdock never seems to actually think before bashing her way into or out of something. Things usually don’t go well when she does this. The fact that the blurb has told me that Murdock is going to have to be the one to save the day wasn’t giving me warm or fuzzy feelings.

Murdock bashes, smashes, and crashes her way through life on board. She snarls at her friends and foes. She seems nothing so much as a petulant juvenile delinquent. She also worships Hark. Well, both of the other women appear to do so as well. Hark is described as the sun they revolve around. It’s Hark this and Hark that and Hark is going to think up a plan and save the day. Hark seems to shit gold and fart fairy dust. Pretty soon I was sick of her as well as Murdock.

The backstory for the previous con actions and characters is told via exposition. I also wasn’t sure how old these characters are supposed to be. Murdock reads young and the violence isn’t all that violent so the feel is more YA than adult. As I said the first 40% of the book seems to be non-stop action but for all that, it also felt awfully slow and not much had actually happened. I realize that this is supposed to be a coming of age story but I just found that I didn’t like Murdock enough to care and keep reading. DNF

2.5 stars. Thank you netgalley for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I’m extremely disappointed in this. I was expecting to love it, yet by page 30 I was forcing myself to continue(I got to 56%/151pg). There’s no substance to it. It’s just all running and action. No time to bond with the characters. I did sorta like fitz, but that’s only because there was a drop of info from her about her past. The characters for the most part are dull, entirely 2d. The world building and dialogue are both good, but the rest destroys it. I kept trying to convince myself to continue reading, to finish it, but I’m not going to. As much as I want to, I’m not enjoying it, so I’m not going to waste anymore time. I’m very saddened by my feelings towards this book, and I honestly might finish it before the arc time is up just because, but that’s only if I can muster up enough strength to push through. Most likely, in a week it’ll have blurred into the back of my mind and I’ll move on. :(

This is a fast-paced, sapphic sci-fi thriller following a team of four female con artists trapped on a warship-turned-penal-colony with a rogue AI threatening to thwart them at every turn. It's a compulsively readable space opera, one that sucked me in immediately. For the last 40% or so, I couldn't put the book down.

I ended up rating this one 4 stars instead of 5 because there were a few places where the plot seemed a little flimsy. I also wanted to know more about the lives of other prisoners onboard the ship. There are so many cool ways to explore this and I wanted more information about the other settlements, etc. Maybe a companion novel following someone who's been on the ship for a few years?? 👀

And maybe it's just me, but some of the characters and their relationships with each other reminded me of Red Dead Redemption 2. Murdock is Arthur Morgan, Hark is Dutch, Bea is Hosea, and I haven't been able to place Fitz (combo John, Molly, Mary-Beth?) but the dynamic very much is reminiscent of the video game.

DNF around halfway. The plot so far is a series of constrained choices set up by the author, so not much room for agency or even personality. One scene is basically an escape room, so we get to watch as she figures it out. Yawn. Her backstory is given with an internal monologue. There is a tiny bit of relationship development between her and a couple of characters in the most recent chapter, but it isn't really enough. Our opponent is a centuries-old all-powerful ship AI, so I'm pretty sure that the ending has our hero being the smartest person in the universe or a deus ex machina.

I'm sure there are people who'll enjoy this book, but I'm not one of them.

The Salvation Gambit had me hooked from page one to the end. When I wasn't reading, I was thinking about what I had read. Thank you Emily Skrutskie for an excellent space novel.

I love a good space caper but unfortunately I just could not connect with this one - the characters and plot didn’t pull me in. Many will probably like this one, but it just wasn’t for me. Thanks to NetGalley for a chance to read and review this book.

The Salvation Gambit is an exciting futuristic AI story in space, with a non stop plot. Sometimes it felt like things were moving a little bit too fast, but overall a really good story!

Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

The Salvation Gambit was an exciting ride from start to finish. It had amazing world building while still being a very contained story. It was well paced with a good mix of action and introspection. Murdock is a fun main character to experience this story through and you still manage to have fleshed out side characters who feel like their own characters with their own motivations and stories. There are more than a few I’d like to learn more about if Skrutskie ever feels like writing more in this universe (even a chapter or two from another point of view perhaps). But even if this is the only story, it was a satisfying one. If you’re a fan of sci-fi, I highly recommend this book

I found this book to be quite enjoyable. From the first page to the last it keep me wanting more. This is one of my top reads of the year.

The Salvation Gambit starts off running from the opening scene and doesn’t stop until you turn the last page. This book is action-packed and exciting, and there’s never a dull moment.

We’re also treated to a host of fun characters, a sprinkling of romance, and a giant prison ship god. Who can ask for more?

The plot was so fast-paced and fun, the pages turned themselves for me. Sometimes it all felt a bit too convenient, and I’m generally allergic to first person present tense, but on the whole, this was a blast to read.

A group of con-women are arrested and deported to an alien constructed ship that turns out to be run by an AI who "reforms" convicts into productive lives and/or worshiping it as a god and doing its bidding. It has its eye one one of them, hot-headed Murdock, a brilliant hacker who it thinks will be "useful" for repairs. How do you say no to a god?
This had several worlds going on at once, the world of the ship itself, that the group are just learning about, with its hierarchy and survival methods, and then their personal relationships as they are split up and made to rely on different individuals or only themselves, and new relationships are made. And both are equally rich and well-realized. The plot is complex and well thought out, the characters also complex and great development occurs. And the suspense builds nicely as well, with a very grand finale. Highly recommended.

This book was So Cute — if your definition of cute is lesbians in space taking down the oppressors in the most heisty way possible. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read, even more so because it was a standalone: none of that trilogy fatigue or extending the plot by hooks at the end here. The cast of characters is fleshed out well, the action doesn’t leave you hanging, and it’s such a pleasurable, easy going read. Inhaled it in a weekend, and I’ll definitely keep my eyes on more from this author!

Thank you to #Netgalley and Random House Publishing for an arc of #TheSalvationGambit.

Another novel exploring relationships between humans and artificial intelligences, but this one is exceptionally well done. I had the pleasure of reviewing this for Library Journal and highly recommend it.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I'm conflicted. To me, this was a super slow start but it really picked up at the 65% mark. The premise is fantastic. A group of queer con artists (each with their own specialty) are stuck on a war turned jail ship housing thousands of "sinners". The world building was great, it was easy to picture and I could see this being a TV series. But did it take FOREVER to get through each "scene"? Yes. I felt like this book could have been trimmed down another 25% and been even better. I had to really push myself to keep going until I found myself invested in it. In the end, I'm glad I did. Hence the 3.5 stars.

The relationship between the con group was really well developed and I absolutely loved the relationship between Murdock and Fitz. I definitely wished there was more of that.

In the end, I do recommend checking this out if you like space operas. Check it out when it's released on Sept. 26th, 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, for a complimentary eARC so that I may share my honest review and feedback before the publication date.

I will be posting this on my Goodreads and IG and FB account stories.

The Salvation Gambit is the thrilling story of a group of con women. Their last heist goes wrong and they wind up on a large ship, the Justice, which is full of sinners from around the galaxy. The Justice is a sentient machine, that thinks it is a god, and even has worshippers called the faithful. Murdock, the hacker of the team, is faced with the choice of joining the faithful, or trying to con the god-like ship to save herself and her team.

This story is full of twists and turns and adventure. There is a surprise romance, but it doesn’t impede on the thrilling adventures at all. The characters were great (Fitz was my favorite!) and the society on the ship was explained so well. I did find this a little slow at times, but by the end I was so invested in what was going to happen next.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy!