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Tall Boys
Salvager
When galactic forces go to war, someone has to clean up afterward, even if there are still shots being fired.
Bameron Kold has never known anything but life in Yorp, a city ruined by centuries of war. When a pilot from the galactic empire crash lands in his zone, saving her life comes at a personal cost. His closest companion is a construction robot with too much artificial intelligence to go unnoticed.
Now, he must earn the pilot’s trust in the hope that she won’t turn him and his robot into the space fleet authorities.
When he thinks everything is going wrong, it all gets so much worse.
Fans of military science fiction, mechanized warfare, and post-apocalyptic settings will love Salvager. Check out this exciting introduction to the Tall Boys universe today.
Bameron Kold has never known anything but life in Yorp, a city ruined by centuries of war. When a pilot from the galactic empire crash lands in his zone, saving her life comes at a personal cost. His closest companion is a construction robot with too much artificial intelligence to go unnoticed.
Now, he must earn the pilot’s trust in the hope that she won’t turn him and his robot into the space fleet authorities.
When he thinks everything is going wrong, it all gets so much worse.
Fans of military science fiction, mechanized warfare, and post-apocalyptic settings will love Salvager. Check out this exciting introduction to the Tall Boys universe today.
158 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 6, 2024
492 people are currently reading
2944 people want to read
About the author
Scott Moon
151 books213 followersScott Moon loves audio books, especially the works of George R.R. Martin, Patrick O'Brian, and Michael Connelly. He has been writing fantasy, science fiction, and urban fantasy thrillers most of his life and aims to read or listen to 100 books a year. Currently, he is a commissioned police officer serving in a street level counter drug and gang unit. Some of his most rewarding and heartbreaking work was as a detective in the Exploited Missing Child Unit. His favorite assignment is SWAT, primarily for the eighty pounds of tactical gear he gets to wear in the blazing summer heat. In 2005, he helped arrest a serial killer who had been at large for over thirty years.
Follow Scott Moon on Twitter @Scottmoonwriter or visit www.scottmoonwriter.com to view his author page.
Follow Scott Moon on Twitter @Scottmoonwriter or visit www.scottmoonwriter.com to view his author page.
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
September 30, 2024
what an incredible world!,
I have to say that the experience of getting into Yorp and the different factions was exhilarating. Bam and his almost constant snark got a little tired until right at the end. Excellent.
I have to say that the experience of getting into Yorp and the different factions was exhilarating. Bam and his almost constant snark got a little tired until right at the end. Excellent.
September 17, 2024
Something different. Thanks
Good to read something unexpected and a bit different.
Start of what will hopefully become a good yarn. Well done.
Good to read something unexpected and a bit different.
Start of what will hopefully become a good yarn. Well done.
September 12, 2024
Interesting story
This is story about a society who live in a war zone, existing practically unknown to the earring factions around them and when they are encountered they are attacked or ignored.
The society lives by salvaging the war machines that are destroyed in the war, or by finding and salvaging things from the ruins of their civilisation. It's a hard life. This story tells us about the life of one of these salvagers.
It's nicely written with good pace and identifiable characters. I enjoyed this novella, and read the whole thing in a single go.
This is story about a society who live in a war zone, existing practically unknown to the earring factions around them and when they are encountered they are attacked or ignored.
The society lives by salvaging the war machines that are destroyed in the war, or by finding and salvaging things from the ruins of their civilisation. It's a hard life. This story tells us about the life of one of these salvagers.
It's nicely written with good pace and identifiable characters. I enjoyed this novella, and read the whole thing in a single go.
September 11, 2024
an interesting aspect to potential war
How do you survive when you are caught in a war zone between 3 factions? As a scrapper you just try to survive. With his AI construction bot friend he helps a pilot of one faction and ends up in an even worse situation. But every bad choice can turn out to be an improvement.
How do you survive when you are caught in a war zone between 3 factions? As a scrapper you just try to survive. With his AI construction bot friend he helps a pilot of one faction and ends up in an even worse situation. But every bad choice can turn out to be an improvement.
September 25, 2024
So good
Wow, this is a gem. Love the characters and can't wait for more. This is my first time reading this author, and I am thoroughly impressed! Total page turner from start to finish.
Wow, this is a gem. Love the characters and can't wait for more. This is my first time reading this author, and I am thoroughly impressed! Total page turner from start to finish.
October 3, 2024
nice short story
Lots of action, great characters and even some character development. Doesn’t get bogged down in world building, makes me want to find another story in this world
Lots of action, great characters and even some character development. Doesn’t get bogged down in world building, makes me want to find another story in this world
October 2, 2024
Super interesting start
This is a great start to what looks like a great series already due for release. The cariture development is pretty good for finding their footing start. I really hope that the rest of his books are as well rounded as this first chapter.
This is a great start to what looks like a great series already due for release. The cariture development is pretty good for finding their footing start. I really hope that the rest of his books are as well rounded as this first chapter.
September 12, 2024
Fun read
Intriguing story. I like the characters in a rough storyline. Mystery is in the plot. I look forward to th next book.
Intriguing story. I like the characters in a rough storyline. Mystery is in the plot. I look forward to th next book.
September 28, 2024
Wish there were more..
Though wrought with angst and action of horrifying consequence, the underlying ramble between friends, both old and new, delighted my inner muse to root for this groupings success and hope to see them again someday.
Though wrought with angst and action of horrifying consequence, the underlying ramble between friends, both old and new, delighted my inner muse to root for this groupings success and hope to see them again someday.
December 20, 2024
The Kid with the Remote Control
who was a
Disaster Scavenger
in
Urban Ruins
rescues an
Ace Pilot
,
Action Girl
who was
Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
and finds that
Keeping Secrets Sucks
. Story set in author’s Tall Boys universe.
Bam’s AI augmented, mecha “Katy”.
My dead pixels copy was a brief 158-pages. The book had a 2024 US copyright.
Scott Moon is an American author of military science fiction and fantasy. He has written more than 20 books in several series of serial fiction. This was the first book I’ve read by the author.
It’s recommended the first novel in the author’s Tall Boys series ( Boots Down: A Military Science Fiction Adventure ) be read before this one. Although, it was not completely necessary. Note that there are references to characters, world building, and events in the series included in this book.
TL;DR Synopsis
A young, Mecha driving, refugee man with his snarky, sentient robot scavenging in a bombed-out metropolis, still being fought over, rescues a downed, female, reconnaissance pilot seeking sentient, AI targets. He immediately falls under the Dulcinea Effect and tries helping her back from being trapped behind enemy lines within the city, without giving-up his robot.
The Review
This was an incomplete story, relying heavily on and being integrated with the first book (Boots Down) of the author’s Tall Boys series. Properly, this should be listed as Tall Boys 0.5.
This novella follows the recent popularity of serial fiction authors seeding point-release novellas into the long intervals between their novels to keep their readers in-the-game. Martha Wells' has done this for her Murderbot Diaries and James S. A. Corey for their Expanse Series. However, Moon’s novella was more a prequel teaser for the long-term, plot line(s) found in his series, than the more standalone novellas of the author’s mentioned above.
I approached this novella expecting it to be an updated, YA, version of A Boy and His Dog . However, with the recently popular, snarky, sentient robot instead of a telepathic dog. It was. Kinda. I had been hoping I could read this story standalone, without needing to become immersed in the series. I was wrong about that. I had also forgotten how much YA can suck.
The story’s prose was workmanlike. It was well edited. I found no errors.
Note that this novella contains a dramatis personae, and technical collateral lifted from the series book's end matter.
Descriptive prose was good. The action sequences were OK. Being a MIL-SF story, it contained a lot of combat. Although, some readers may be disappointed with the main character being a non-combatant. (He doesn’t do any shooting.)
The dialog needed work. The main character spoke a contemporary, millennial argot. For example, “This sucks so much,” Even more disconcerting, was the sentient robot, who had better lines and a larger vocabulary than the main character, “Correct. The suckage is at maximum.”
While Moon may have gotten the popular snarky robot’s dialog right, the forager’s didn’t feel properly in-character. This extended to all human characters in the story. The Mad Max-like barbarians were too eloquent, and the professional military didn’t use a military vocabulary. Interestingly, there was the appropriate use of “shits, piss and fucks”-- more than expected for YA. Although, the barbarians used most of the F*bombs. Probably, because they were barbarians?
There was only a single POV—Bameron Kold, or just Bam. He reminded me of a Millennial version of Huckleberry Finn , although with more technical aptitude, though formally uneducated or trained. Bam leads a good life scavenging for food and usable tech, in a territory within the bombed-out, metropolis of Yorp. Yorp was “a city ruined by centuries of war” on Vaux VI. Through natural ability and help from his sentient robot (Sketch), he gets by foraging on his patch. Frankly, I was surprised he'd lasted years "on the job"? Bam goes home some nights to “The Warren”, which was a forager, refugee camp.
There were many other humans on the ground in Yorp in addition to Bam’s refugees. There are the Caspian-First Expeditionary Fleet (C-FEF), Republic of Vaux VI (ROV6), and United People of Vaux (UPV). The C-FEF are mostly the ‘good guys’. They're humans from off-planet. Regina Vega the downed pilot was C-FEF. Cpl. James “Jam” Malone was a Mechanized Combat Rig (MCR) (a combat mecha) driver who befriends Bam. The ROV6 are the barbarian, native, bad guys and the UPV are enigmatic, native, bad guys who shot people for fun. There are also space aliens.
There was: “Sex, drugs, and no rock’n roll” in the story. Bam and Vega . The ROV6 were identified as being perpetually inebriated. Nobody raided bars or liquor stores to get drunk. Nobody raided pharmacies to get high. There was no music in the story, but the refugees were said to have had “live music” in their warren.
There was carnage and property destruction. (It’s MIL-SF!) The body count was high. The ROV6ers dropped like flies either through self-inflicted calamity or direct fire. The C-FEF bombed indiscriminately, and shot things up. The violence was: physical, edged-weapons, and military ordnance. It was moderately graphic, as was the wounding. Bam and Vega take a bit of a banging-up, but prove to be inordinately resilient.
Plotting was OK, but predictable. Bam and Vega did the duck, dodge, hide in a Homeward Journey . The story ended somewhat abruptly with only the briefest attempt at a HFN. There was a “What’s Next” exhortation to purchase Boots Down (Tall Boys #1) to find out what happens to Bam, Jam, and Vega.
World building was unexceptional. Frankly, it was half-baked. Yorp was a fine example of poor Ragnarök Proofing for “a city ruined by centuries of war”. For example, when Bam needed food, he found Indestructible Edible candy bars. When he needed clothing, there were indestructible wearable (centuries old) duds in a bottomlessly, supplied Army-Navy store convenient to his patch. Yorp and its contents were not in a state, given the description of it having been bombed for centuries to point that only the rubble was only left to bounce.
Where did the ROV6ers get all the intoxicants they were constantly imbibing? Where did they get the fuel for their "conveyances"? They were cannibals that didn’t know how to cure animal hides properly?
How could anybody in Yorp have any working tech, given the extreme age of the available parts, lack of technical training, and primitive conditions described?
Moon also had no sense of scale. The robot Sketch was seven meters tall. (A two (2) story building averages 6-7 meters tall.) Bam’s mecha and the C-FEF MCR drivers rides were five meters tall. Yet, they only rarely were impeded height-wise by low (three meter?) ceilings, or their bulk in narrow right-of-ways. In addition, the MCR drivers didn’t seem to follow any proper military tactical doctrine, like “fire and move” or getting "hull down", despite being threatened by anti-armour: lasers, kinetic bolts, and rockets.
Historically, modern, urban warfare is where even professional armies break their teeth. Considering the contemporary examples of: Fallujah (2004), Hue (1968), and Seoul (1950-51), being a non-combatant in an urban warzone, where modern military ordnance is in-use, is a Deathwish and not an Scavenging Opportunity. Moon's attitude toward Collateral Damage was extremely unrealistic.
Finally, why do all sentient, robots and androids in contemporary sf have to be snarky?
I was left with the feeling, that given its description that: Yorp, its denizens and invaders had not been very well thought out.
Summary
I started this book with the expectation of a short, well-written MIL-SF story. That’s not what this was.
This story was OK written. It was blissfully short. I liked the main character, but I’d seen him before—many times. (He was nicer than the protagonist Vic in A Boy and His Dog.)
However, the story was vaguely YA. In particular, it had the now popular Murderbot-like sop of the snarky robot. Yorp was a bottomless cornucopia of stuff, when it should have been picked to the bone. I was also disappointed the mech warriors were not very soldierly, as they would be in proper MIL-SF. The worse part was, it was not at all original. It was made-up of a lot of very old, well-worn tropes.
This was a short intro to the author’s series, with heavy tie-ins to get readers to “buy the books”. However, given the weakness of the world building and with the plotting’s unoriginal use of tropes, I can’t see Tall Boys being interesting to me.
Bam’s AI augmented, mecha “Katy”.
My dead pixels copy was a brief 158-pages. The book had a 2024 US copyright.
Scott Moon is an American author of military science fiction and fantasy. He has written more than 20 books in several series of serial fiction. This was the first book I’ve read by the author.
It’s recommended the first novel in the author’s Tall Boys series ( Boots Down: A Military Science Fiction Adventure ) be read before this one. Although, it was not completely necessary. Note that there are references to characters, world building, and events in the series included in this book.
TL;DR Synopsis
A young, Mecha driving, refugee man with his snarky, sentient robot scavenging in a bombed-out metropolis, still being fought over, rescues a downed, female, reconnaissance pilot seeking sentient, AI targets. He immediately falls under the Dulcinea Effect and tries helping her back from being trapped behind enemy lines within the city, without giving-up his robot.
The Review
This was an incomplete story, relying heavily on and being integrated with the first book (Boots Down) of the author’s Tall Boys series. Properly, this should be listed as Tall Boys 0.5.
This novella follows the recent popularity of serial fiction authors seeding point-release novellas into the long intervals between their novels to keep their readers in-the-game. Martha Wells' has done this for her Murderbot Diaries and James S. A. Corey for their Expanse Series. However, Moon’s novella was more a prequel teaser for the long-term, plot line(s) found in his series, than the more standalone novellas of the author’s mentioned above.
I approached this novella expecting it to be an updated, YA, version of A Boy and His Dog . However, with the recently popular, snarky, sentient robot instead of a telepathic dog. It was. Kinda. I had been hoping I could read this story standalone, without needing to become immersed in the series. I was wrong about that. I had also forgotten how much YA can suck.
The story’s prose was workmanlike. It was well edited. I found no errors.
Note that this novella contains a dramatis personae, and technical collateral lifted from the series book's end matter.
Descriptive prose was good. The action sequences were OK. Being a MIL-SF story, it contained a lot of combat. Although, some readers may be disappointed with the main character being a non-combatant. (He doesn’t do any shooting.)
The dialog needed work. The main character spoke a contemporary, millennial argot. For example, “This sucks so much,” Even more disconcerting, was the sentient robot, who had better lines and a larger vocabulary than the main character, “Correct. The suckage is at maximum.”
While Moon may have gotten the popular snarky robot’s dialog right, the forager’s didn’t feel properly in-character. This extended to all human characters in the story. The Mad Max-like barbarians were too eloquent, and the professional military didn’t use a military vocabulary. Interestingly, there was the appropriate use of “shits, piss and fucks”-- more than expected for YA. Although, the barbarians used most of the F*bombs. Probably, because they were barbarians?
There was only a single POV—Bameron Kold, or just Bam. He reminded me of a Millennial version of Huckleberry Finn , although with more technical aptitude, though formally uneducated or trained. Bam leads a good life scavenging for food and usable tech, in a territory within the bombed-out, metropolis of Yorp. Yorp was “a city ruined by centuries of war” on Vaux VI. Through natural ability and help from his sentient robot (Sketch), he gets by foraging on his patch. Frankly, I was surprised he'd lasted years "on the job"? Bam goes home some nights to “The Warren”, which was a forager, refugee camp.
There were many other humans on the ground in Yorp in addition to Bam’s refugees. There are the Caspian-First Expeditionary Fleet (C-FEF), Republic of Vaux VI (ROV6), and United People of Vaux (UPV). The C-FEF are mostly the ‘good guys’. They're humans from off-planet. Regina Vega the downed pilot was C-FEF. Cpl. James “Jam” Malone was a Mechanized Combat Rig (MCR) (a combat mecha) driver who befriends Bam. The ROV6 are the barbarian, native, bad guys and the UPV are enigmatic, native, bad guys who shot people for fun. There are also space aliens.
There was: “Sex, drugs, and no rock’n roll” in the story. Bam and Vega . The ROV6 were identified as being perpetually inebriated. Nobody raided bars or liquor stores to get drunk. Nobody raided pharmacies to get high. There was no music in the story, but the refugees were said to have had “live music” in their warren.
There was carnage and property destruction. (It’s MIL-SF!) The body count was high. The ROV6ers dropped like flies either through self-inflicted calamity or direct fire. The C-FEF bombed indiscriminately, and shot things up. The violence was: physical, edged-weapons, and military ordnance. It was moderately graphic, as was the wounding. Bam and Vega take a bit of a banging-up, but prove to be inordinately resilient.
Plotting was OK, but predictable. Bam and Vega did the duck, dodge, hide in a Homeward Journey . The story ended somewhat abruptly with only the briefest attempt at a HFN. There was a “What’s Next” exhortation to purchase Boots Down (Tall Boys #1) to find out what happens to Bam, Jam, and Vega.
World building was unexceptional. Frankly, it was half-baked. Yorp was a fine example of poor Ragnarök Proofing for “a city ruined by centuries of war”. For example, when Bam needed food, he found Indestructible Edible candy bars. When he needed clothing, there were indestructible wearable (centuries old) duds in a bottomlessly, supplied Army-Navy store convenient to his patch. Yorp and its contents were not in a state, given the description of it having been bombed for centuries to point that only the rubble was only left to bounce.
Where did the ROV6ers get all the intoxicants they were constantly imbibing? Where did they get the fuel for their "conveyances"? They were cannibals that didn’t know how to cure animal hides properly?
How could anybody in Yorp have any working tech, given the extreme age of the available parts, lack of technical training, and primitive conditions described?
Moon also had no sense of scale. The robot Sketch was seven meters tall. (A two (2) story building averages 6-7 meters tall.) Bam’s mecha and the C-FEF MCR drivers rides were five meters tall. Yet, they only rarely were impeded height-wise by low (three meter?) ceilings, or their bulk in narrow right-of-ways. In addition, the MCR drivers didn’t seem to follow any proper military tactical doctrine, like “fire and move” or getting "hull down", despite being threatened by anti-armour: lasers, kinetic bolts, and rockets.
Historically, modern, urban warfare is where even professional armies break their teeth. Considering the contemporary examples of: Fallujah (2004), Hue (1968), and Seoul (1950-51), being a non-combatant in an urban warzone, where modern military ordnance is in-use, is a Deathwish and not an Scavenging Opportunity. Moon's attitude toward Collateral Damage was extremely unrealistic.
Finally, why do all sentient, robots and androids in contemporary sf have to be snarky?
I was left with the feeling, that given its description that: Yorp, its denizens and invaders had not been very well thought out.
Summary
I started this book with the expectation of a short, well-written MIL-SF story. That’s not what this was.
This story was OK written. It was blissfully short. I liked the main character, but I’d seen him before—many times. (He was nicer than the protagonist Vic in A Boy and His Dog.)
However, the story was vaguely YA. In particular, it had the now popular Murderbot-like sop of the snarky robot. Yorp was a bottomless cornucopia of stuff, when it should have been picked to the bone. I was also disappointed the mech warriors were not very soldierly, as they would be in proper MIL-SF. The worse part was, it was not at all original. It was made-up of a lot of very old, well-worn tropes.
This was a short intro to the author’s series, with heavy tie-ins to get readers to “buy the books”. However, given the weakness of the world building and with the plotting’s unoriginal use of tropes, I can’t see Tall Boys being interesting to me.
May 9, 2025
I already knew that if I survived this adventure, I would crave even more danger than before.
- Bameron Kold everyone - you don't even know the half of it.
Mad Max in Space ... more or less frothing at the mouth from utter madness. Hold for convergence of incoming threats. Also tons of space carnage. Glorious.
This book's whole vibe on a loop: Republic by Ninja Tracks, Pandora
My choice of background synthwave cyberpunk sci-fi ambience actually made this somewhat more textured which just elevated the immersive experience.
Okay here we go - so Salvager - well dang it I enjoyed the fast pace, the world building and undertone of humor. Escape from well ...everything, protect a pilot, be wary of an AI Bot, get captured and so much more - it was fun, and a bit emotional. Yup, ticked all the boxes. I do like rooting for a good Bot-Human symbiotic companionship. The writing was very crisp, to the point and that kinda humor that's pretty matter-o-fact, possibly an acquired taste and could be considered a "Hallmark of Snark of the Order of the Smart Alecs" ... Just made that up but I'm sure it exists in another dimension.
Plot and Themes: Post-scarcity, post-galactic colonization with humans on other planets whilst Earth is a distant memory bordering on mythology - check. This world is an all out gunfight, knife fight, you name it and Yorp smarts(street smarts) are needed to survive. Then, a little human and a big robot go out on an adventure to secure a little slice of happiness in whatever they can salvage (not looting, how dare you). Also many acronym faceless organizations make appearances.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
★Full Disclaimer - Bameron Kold's personality might be acquired - I freaking Love him at the end as he shows some growth. As it stands, his snarky cocky know-it all with a pinch of humility, wholesomeness and a daydreamer's streak make him a fast favorite.
★As we've established - Sketch is the best...also Katy, and Benji. But I tend to like animals and kinda-friendly-kinda-dangerous Pacific Rim styled Mech Rigs more than people so I might be biased
★Honorable mention goes out to Raquel and Sergeant James Anthony Malone ...especially Jam! "brother"
★Also, urgh booooh Regina Regina Regina
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene: Where to even begin?
How about the dream sequence in the oily dungeon.
Raquel: “Have you ever met a legend?”
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes: some relatable one liners it's a screenwriter's dream
★ “The world looks bigger when you’re helpless.”” (Bam to Regina)
★“Honest laughter sounded good in the predawn darkness. Silence held the city in every direction. The entire world was me, a woman, and two machines.” (I love the imagery)
★“Electricity shot through me. Was this what love felt like? If so, someone needed to be fired.” ( oh Bam, you goose)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ Citadel
■ AI Limiters, AI Hunters
■ Jitaks
■Titanium Platoon
GR Rating: 4
CAWPILE: 8
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2027
Challenge Prompt: 150 Novella Books by 2027
Mad Max in Space ... more or less frothing at the mouth from utter madness. Hold for convergence of incoming threats. Also tons of space carnage. Glorious.
This book's whole vibe on a loop: Republic by Ninja Tracks, Pandora
My choice of background synthwave cyberpunk sci-fi ambience actually made this somewhat more textured which just elevated the immersive experience.
Okay here we go - so Salvager - well dang it I enjoyed the fast pace, the world building and undertone of humor. Escape from well ...everything, protect a pilot, be wary of an AI Bot, get captured and so much more - it was fun, and a bit emotional. Yup, ticked all the boxes. I do like rooting for a good Bot-Human symbiotic companionship. The writing was very crisp, to the point and that kinda humor that's pretty matter-o-fact, possibly an acquired taste and could be considered a "Hallmark of Snark of the Order of the Smart Alecs" ... Just made that up but I'm sure it exists in another dimension.
Plot and Themes: Post-scarcity, post-galactic colonization with humans on other planets whilst Earth is a distant memory bordering on mythology - check. This world is an all out gunfight, knife fight, you name it and Yorp smarts(street smarts) are needed to survive. Then, a little human and a big robot go out on an adventure to secure a little slice of happiness in whatever they can salvage (not looting, how dare you). Also many acronym faceless organizations make appearances.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
★Full Disclaimer - Bameron Kold's personality might be acquired - I freaking Love him at the end as he shows some growth. As it stands, his snarky cocky know-it all with a pinch of humility, wholesomeness and a daydreamer's streak make him a fast favorite.
★As we've established - Sketch is the best...also Katy, and Benji. But I tend to like animals and kinda-friendly-kinda-dangerous Pacific Rim styled Mech Rigs more than people so I might be biased
★Honorable mention goes out to Raquel and Sergeant James Anthony Malone ...especially Jam! "brother"
★Also, urgh booooh Regina Regina Regina
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene: Where to even begin?
How about the dream sequence in the oily dungeon.
Raquel: “Have you ever met a legend?”
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes: some relatable one liners it's a screenwriter's dream
★ “The world looks bigger when you’re helpless.”” (Bam to Regina)
★“Honest laughter sounded good in the predawn darkness. Silence held the city in every direction. The entire world was me, a woman, and two machines.” (I love the imagery)
★“Electricity shot through me. Was this what love felt like? If so, someone needed to be fired.” ( oh Bam, you goose)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ Citadel
■ AI Limiters, AI Hunters
■ Jitaks
■Titanium Platoon
GR Rating: 4
CAWPILE: 8
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2027
Challenge Prompt: 150 Novella Books by 2027
September 24, 2024
Quirky Thus Interesting Novella
“Salvager: A Military Science Fiction Adventure (Tall Boys)” author by Mr. Scott Moon is a novella setup for an upcoming series.
It’s a quirky storyline about a far future apocalyptic dystopia on a planet ravaged by intra-human warfare, with mechs, AI, ETs, and civilian survivors becoming scavengers amongst the “Mad Max” carnage and wreckage.
The author as is his wont, gets stilted with navel-gazing dialogue and an addiction to padding his page counts with superfluous glossaries of his backstories and definitions. ‘Show and Tell’ isn’t an author strong point; regardless, it’s a decent romp.
“Salvager: A Military Science Fiction Adventure (Tall Boys)” author by Mr. Scott Moon is a novella setup for an upcoming series.
It’s a quirky storyline about a far future apocalyptic dystopia on a planet ravaged by intra-human warfare, with mechs, AI, ETs, and civilian survivors becoming scavengers amongst the “Mad Max” carnage and wreckage.
The author as is his wont, gets stilted with navel-gazing dialogue and an addiction to padding his page counts with superfluous glossaries of his backstories and definitions. ‘Show and Tell’ isn’t an author strong point; regardless, it’s a decent romp.
November 1, 2024
Difficult review, because the writing is really inconsistent. The novella start impossibly rough, with huge gobs of exposition that interrupts the action--that even interrupts the dialogue, including rough hewn flashbacks with hackneyed dialog and other beginner mistakes. The worldbuilding reads like a collection of notes and invented histories, setting and telling the scene without showing the result, or in some ways trying to to both at the same time which fails to hit home. But as the story trucks along, the writing smooths out, the characters turn from cutouts to three-dimensional people, the action becomes fluid and even tense. The last four chapters are really apt, engaging, tight, and enjoyable to read.
It's clear by experience of reading this novella that we are reading the process of an author getting into their own world, into their characters, like watching a rusty old machine being worked back into some semblance of functionality, to finally wear through the neglect and run smoothly.
That this is presented as a prequel novella make it seem as though the author is giving readers the opportunity to buy into what is really the homework an author does to scaffold a bigger world and series. The main series is usually where a reader starts, this clunky world building and character building is left out of sight.
For all that I appreciate what it actually is - watching the messy birth of a series. But as a stand-alone story this is pretty poor, with lots of characters acting strangely, relationships building instantaneously in unearned ways, dialog that is confusing and missing necessary details, which maybe are later added in exposition, or earlier given in exposition to the reader but somehow forgotten or ignored by the main character.
I will say the last four chapters make me excited to read the series proper, so the work is successful, but it cannot be said to be wholly great on its own.
It's clear by experience of reading this novella that we are reading the process of an author getting into their own world, into their characters, like watching a rusty old machine being worked back into some semblance of functionality, to finally wear through the neglect and run smoothly.
That this is presented as a prequel novella make it seem as though the author is giving readers the opportunity to buy into what is really the homework an author does to scaffold a bigger world and series. The main series is usually where a reader starts, this clunky world building and character building is left out of sight.
For all that I appreciate what it actually is - watching the messy birth of a series. But as a stand-alone story this is pretty poor, with lots of characters acting strangely, relationships building instantaneously in unearned ways, dialog that is confusing and missing necessary details, which maybe are later added in exposition, or earlier given in exposition to the reader but somehow forgotten or ignored by the main character.
I will say the last four chapters make me excited to read the series proper, so the work is successful, but it cannot be said to be wholly great on its own.
January 16, 2025
3.0 / 5.0
September 4, 2025
This was more of a novella than a full book. The world was interesting. Giant mechs - two factions warring with each other and then you have... Bameron "Bam" Kold. Just trying to make a living on a chaotic wartorn planet salvaging those fallen mechs and tech.
December 8, 2024
Cool idea for the world, but writing is very rough overall. Character development feels rushed and relationship building skips necessary steps. Pretty juvenile humor as well. There’s potential, but needs to be much more refined.
April 16, 2025
Salvager is set in the “Tall Boy” universe that follows the exploits of the First Expeditionary Fleet (C-FEF) unit in their Mechanized Combat Rigs (MCRs). This novella however, looks at another aspect of the story, those that are on the ground, not doing the fighting, but trying to survive the war-torn planet that is left after the various units have fought over it. Salvagers follows young Bameron “Bam” Kold, who spends his days as a salvager on Vaux VI, near the Warren.
Bam’s companion is a construction robot that he calls Sketch, but Sketch is no ordinary construction robot, he has an illegal A.I. mod. A.I. is tightly controlled, with even the military not allowed to have access to full AI in the MCRs.
Bam’s days are spent trying to find bits of scrap from the many leftover bits of wreckage on the battlefields, so he can clean it up, and try and sell it for food or other useful things. He keeps Sketch’s true identity hidden. There are rules with regards to scavenging/salvaging – whilst it is frowned upon, the military and government (what there is of it), realise that it happens, and for the most part, they also recover bits of tech this way. But no one can go near a downed unit, whether MCR, aircraft, or anything else, if there are still any military personnel inside the unit, regardless of if they are dead or alive. If you are found near the unit by other military, you’re going to be shot on sight.
So, it is with great risk one day, that Bam approaches a downed aircraft that crashes right near him. He can see that no one is going to make it to the pilot in time to help them, and the craft is in a dangerous location. He decides that he has to check and see if anyone is alive, because if he doesn’t, they are going to die.
He finds a female pilot in the ship, just a few years older than him, not only alive, but pointing a weapon at him. Worse, she has seen Sketch moving in such a way that indicates he has autonomous, independent movement, something his model doesn’t have.
As a result of the crash, (you can read it), the pilot has to be rescued urgently, and Bam uses Sketch to do this.
What follows is where the story really takes off. Bam and Sketch realise that the pilot has made them. Whilst trying to work out a deal to both help the pilot, and keep Sketch safe, they find themselves caught up with some of the uglier denizens of the wastelands.
Bam and Sketch are separated, but a cross-over occurs here with the Tall Boys series, and Bam runs into some of the characters from that series as they are trying to deal with these unsavoury types (I don’t want to give away too much!).
There is some really exceptional writing in the following parts, the interactions and dialogue between Bam and the other major players is gritty and authentic, making this whole section utterly captivating.
This is a genre that has been done before obviously, but Moon has created his own unique world that is in-depth, incredibly detailed and compelling – you get totally absorbed into this savaged landscape as you wander through it with Bam in his MCR, accompanied by Sketch. Sketch is an artificial construct, and yet there is such a bond between them, and you really feel it. This is a clever and intelligent story, Moon does not disappoint.
If you have read any of the Tall Boy series, this is an absolute must, but even if you haven’t, then this is still a fantastic stand-alone story, or intro to the series. Regardless if you like Sci-Fi, dystopian, or Mech stories, there is something for everyone – but it shouldn’t be missed.
Bam’s companion is a construction robot that he calls Sketch, but Sketch is no ordinary construction robot, he has an illegal A.I. mod. A.I. is tightly controlled, with even the military not allowed to have access to full AI in the MCRs.
Bam’s days are spent trying to find bits of scrap from the many leftover bits of wreckage on the battlefields, so he can clean it up, and try and sell it for food or other useful things. He keeps Sketch’s true identity hidden. There are rules with regards to scavenging/salvaging – whilst it is frowned upon, the military and government (what there is of it), realise that it happens, and for the most part, they also recover bits of tech this way. But no one can go near a downed unit, whether MCR, aircraft, or anything else, if there are still any military personnel inside the unit, regardless of if they are dead or alive. If you are found near the unit by other military, you’re going to be shot on sight.
So, it is with great risk one day, that Bam approaches a downed aircraft that crashes right near him. He can see that no one is going to make it to the pilot in time to help them, and the craft is in a dangerous location. He decides that he has to check and see if anyone is alive, because if he doesn’t, they are going to die.
He finds a female pilot in the ship, just a few years older than him, not only alive, but pointing a weapon at him. Worse, she has seen Sketch moving in such a way that indicates he has autonomous, independent movement, something his model doesn’t have.
As a result of the crash, (you can read it), the pilot has to be rescued urgently, and Bam uses Sketch to do this.
What follows is where the story really takes off. Bam and Sketch realise that the pilot has made them. Whilst trying to work out a deal to both help the pilot, and keep Sketch safe, they find themselves caught up with some of the uglier denizens of the wastelands.
Bam and Sketch are separated, but a cross-over occurs here with the Tall Boys series, and Bam runs into some of the characters from that series as they are trying to deal with these unsavoury types (I don’t want to give away too much!).
There is some really exceptional writing in the following parts, the interactions and dialogue between Bam and the other major players is gritty and authentic, making this whole section utterly captivating.
This is a genre that has been done before obviously, but Moon has created his own unique world that is in-depth, incredibly detailed and compelling – you get totally absorbed into this savaged landscape as you wander through it with Bam in his MCR, accompanied by Sketch. Sketch is an artificial construct, and yet there is such a bond between them, and you really feel it. This is a clever and intelligent story, Moon does not disappoint.
If you have read any of the Tall Boy series, this is an absolute must, but even if you haven’t, then this is still a fantastic stand-alone story, or intro to the series. Regardless if you like Sci-Fi, dystopian, or Mech stories, there is something for everyone – but it shouldn’t be missed.
December 28, 2025
Nice intro to a new (to me, anyway) mech series
Mech titles are almost as sure a thing with me as time travel stories, so I was pretty happy to turn up this series from some posts on Facebook. This first entry is classified as a novella, but it is a good introduction to the setting and some of the people. I’m a believer in quantum entanglement on a macro scale, so I think it is likely that we will be seeing some of these folks again. I don’t like to give much away in my reviews, and I won’t be changing that tendency here, but this was a good read. A little out of the well worn path of the Battletech style novels, which was actually very engaging. I’ve already lined up the first full novel in the series, and am looking forward to seeing where it goes. This novella opened plenty of doors and it will be interesting to see where they lead.
Mech titles are almost as sure a thing with me as time travel stories, so I was pretty happy to turn up this series from some posts on Facebook. This first entry is classified as a novella, but it is a good introduction to the setting and some of the people. I’m a believer in quantum entanglement on a macro scale, so I think it is likely that we will be seeing some of these folks again. I don’t like to give much away in my reviews, and I won’t be changing that tendency here, but this was a good read. A little out of the well worn path of the Battletech style novels, which was actually very engaging. I’ve already lined up the first full novel in the series, and am looking forward to seeing where it goes. This novella opened plenty of doors and it will be interesting to see where they lead.
June 9, 2025
good story with like able characters and decent plot
The story is so,etching you would expect from a short sci-fi action movie. The characters are enjoyable and the details surround the world are good (could use expanding) however this is or felt like a side story and from the looks of it there is an overall series and that is something I found out after reading to nearly the end. I’d recommend for anyone who likes mech sci-fi In future battlefields. I will be reading the first book in the series so it was enjoyable.
The story is so,etching you would expect from a short sci-fi action movie. The characters are enjoyable and the details surround the world are good (could use expanding) however this is or felt like a side story and from the looks of it there is an overall series and that is something I found out after reading to nearly the end. I’d recommend for anyone who likes mech sci-fi In future battlefields. I will be reading the first book in the series so it was enjoyable.
November 13, 2025
A cute little novella in the long-forgotten-but-once-favorite MechWarrior subgenre. It is relatively straightforward and serves as a neat introduction to the (relatively complicated) universe and a number of characters, and has done enough to whet my appetite and make me set the three novels that follow firmly onto my future “beach reads” shelf. The only downside is that occasionally it assumes that we know or have inferred things we might not, so in places it felt a bit skippy on the explanations.
October 30, 2024
A different kind of where people find away to survive.
This a time where fighting in space is common , there are young people ringing a way to survive while there is fighting around them. This young man that works as a salvage to live I doing so runs into a pilot that crashed . He helps her and things get because AI systems are out lawyer and he has a system things are you to tuff. The author did a good job with the book , keeps you wanting more.
This a time where fighting in space is common , there are young people ringing a way to survive while there is fighting around them. This young man that works as a salvage to live I doing so runs into a pilot that crashed . He helps her and things get because AI systems are out lawyer and he has a system things are you to tuff. The author did a good job with the book , keeps you wanting more.
June 21, 2025
This is a nice novella that I found very enjoyable even though it didn’t have much going on in the romance department.
I really like the characters so I’m going to try the main series (this was written as a prequel apparently… I picked it just because I like the cover). I’m not sure that I’ll enjoy a longer book with no romance, but it seems worth an effort.
For the majority of my life I’ve diligently avoided romance in books. I have no idea what changed and made a romantic subplot a requirement. Romance as a main plot is still not a preference, so I’ll take some comfort in that and avoid psychoanalyzing this somewhat alarming change.
Bottom line: as long as romance isn’t a requirement for you, this is a great little story.
I really like the characters so I’m going to try the main series (this was written as a prequel apparently… I picked it just because I like the cover). I’m not sure that I’ll enjoy a longer book with no romance, but it seems worth an effort.
For the majority of my life I’ve diligently avoided romance in books. I have no idea what changed and made a romantic subplot a requirement. Romance as a main plot is still not a preference, so I’ll take some comfort in that and avoid psychoanalyzing this somewhat alarming change.
Bottom line: as long as romance isn’t a requirement for you, this is a great little story.
August 19, 2025
This was refreshing point of view, the world needs building. Funny thing is that the characters don’t know what they’re doing except survive. We live in a period that AI is developing and we are complacent and lazy, we don’t want to read and learn so knowledge is easy to lose. Don’t teach two or three generations and knowledge is forgotten, like in the dark ages. The action is pacted, humour is present and emotion are real for these characters.
November 9, 2024
Authentic - A true 5 star creation.
No bullshit. The bald faced humanity within each character of this short novel should, uncomfortably, leave each person who reads it wondering what has happened to the sanctity of their own immortal soul, and actually inspire each to do better the next time life throws a major challenge their way. Which will probably be tomorrow.
No bullshit. The bald faced humanity within each character of this short novel should, uncomfortably, leave each person who reads it wondering what has happened to the sanctity of their own immortal soul, and actually inspire each to do better the next time life throws a major challenge their way. Which will probably be tomorrow.
November 19, 2024
Great read.
This book was very interesting in the fact that you have a war zone and salvage bots along with military fighting bots. I found it to be a great storyline. Then you have a teenager running one of the more advanced bots to do salvage work along with a construction bot also. I will keep you posted as things go one.
This book was very interesting in the fact that you have a war zone and salvage bots along with military fighting bots. I found it to be a great storyline. Then you have a teenager running one of the more advanced bots to do salvage work along with a construction bot also. I will keep you posted as things go one.
December 7, 2024
Semmilyen, közönséges scifi összedobált karakterekkel és világgal. A főhős egyáltalán nem szerethető, percenként vált személyiséget. Minden részlet nélküli a cselekmény, minden történik, csak hogy történhessen. Arra jó volt, hogy az egómat megmentettem, hogy kész a reading challenge - ugyanis nem sok bizodalmam van abban, hogy az 1300 oldalas Stormlight 5. részt be tudtam volna fejezni.
December 11, 2024
This was a fun, short sci-fi read. The world building was great: I could see, and smell, and taste the debris of a world too long torn up by war and the nonsense of war. The characters, especially the AI, were well drawn and the dialogue between Bam and his bots was snarky and enjoyable. Definitely on to the next in the series.
December 29, 2024
I would recommend Salvager to fans of science fiction, post-apocalyptic stories, and readers who enjoy character-driven narratives. If you like stories about resourceful underdogs who must navigate dangerous situations to survive, you will most likely love this novella. It's a great starting point for the Tall Boys universe, and I will be looking forward to reading the next installments in this series.
I've posted a longer review on my Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/luisart...
I've posted a longer review on my Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/luisart...
January 8, 2025
Refreshing writing and great theme
I have been looking for something better than the same old themes. This was it, very cleverly written, I couldn't put it down, it always had me on the edge of my seat. Great stuff and a lot of intrigue for future stories. Now, I really have to get back to work before the rest of the day is gone!
I have been looking for something better than the same old themes. This was it, very cleverly written, I couldn't put it down, it always had me on the edge of my seat. Great stuff and a lot of intrigue for future stories. Now, I really have to get back to work before the rest of the day is gone!
January 18, 2025
This novella was fine. It had interesting ideas, a lot of potential, but ultimatley the writing was what made this story lack the most. It was often clunky and downright confusing. The character's development didn't feel right. A decent palate cleanser, and I am still thinking about reading the main novels or not, but I also feel a bit dissapointed.
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