--- product_id: 34860946 title: "Time Salvager" brand: "wesley chu" price: "NZ$59" currency: NZD in_stock: true reviews_count: 12 url: https://www.desertcart.nz/products/34860946-time-salvager store_origin: NZ region: New Zealand --- # Time Salvager **Brand:** wesley chu **Price:** NZ$59 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Time Salvager by wesley chu - **How much does it cost?** NZ$59 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.nz](https://www.desertcart.nz/products/34860946-time-salvager) ## Best For - wesley chu enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted wesley chu brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Full description not available ## Images ![Time Salvager - Image 1](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41WMkftKHOL.jpg) ![Time Salvager - Image 2](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51QfAcEiBhL.jpg) ![Time Salvager - Image 3](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31bVXTkCBgL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ This was the sci-fi/dystopian/thriller mashup that I never knew I wanted! *by J***A on Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2015* I've been a fan of Wesley Chu's books since I first read his The Lives of Tao. Time Salvager definitely has a darker, more gritty vibe than the Tao books. The future is not the nice, shiny golden age that we all expect. Humanity is barely hanging on. They may be able to travel through space and they've colonized many planets and moons, but they've lost a lot of their technological advancement because of wars and other things. Earth, itself, is a toxic dump that everyone with any means left a long time ago. In order for humanity to survive, they have to send people back in time to salvage resources they need. It is not a great time to live in. This book was the sci-fi/dystopian/thriller mashup that I never knew I wanted. I loved it! It had everything I love about science fiction! What enthralled me from the start was the dark and depressing take on time travel. I don't know about you but I've gotten sick of time travel books and movies that emphasize the time paradox where you go back in time and do something that results in you never being born or completely altering history. That's not how it is here.Things involving time travel in this book get pretty timey-wimey really quickly: time ripples, time lag, preserving the chronostream. But there are rules. Very strict rules that allows Chu to ignore most of this because the Time Laws are designed to avoid making ripples in the timeline. They only take resources that would be destroyed in events soon after salvage, so anything missing would automatically be assumed that it was destroyed in whatever calamity that had occurred. The most important rule though is to never bring anyone from the past back with you. Sometimes ripples can’t be avoided. You accidentally save someone who was supposed to die in World War 2, and they go on to have a family? No matter, a car crash will kill them all, so their descendants don’t exist and so can’t contribute to change. You get rogue chronmen that don't want to go back to their time so they hide in other periods. Most of the time the timeline can heal itself which sets things right. Other times, Chronocom sends in an auditor to correct things. The timeline is something of a fluid thing and subject to change, but capable of being repaired. I really enjoyed the way Chu handled time travel.I also liked how he handled the mental health of the chronmen. They all suffer from differing levels of PTSD. It makes so much sense. These time travelers are repeatedly sent back in time to major disasters to salvage things but to not interfere with the events. Watching that much death and destruction has to wear on a person. Not to mention, how jarring it would have to be having to travel back to better times only to return to a pretty crappy present. It makes sense for the chronmen to be suffering mentally and emotionally. It's a rough lifestyle.One thing I've come to appreciate about Chu's work is that he always has a cast of diverse and complex characters to lead the story. It’s always a treat to read his books because he writes such realistic characters. They feel like proper and real people and not just stereotypes or caricatures. James Griffin-Mars is a complicated lead. He’s not always a great guy and he does some stupid things while frequently being selfish and surly. He was so unlike most SF/F protagonists I've read. I'll be honest, I didn't like him at first but as the book progressed he grew on me. Even with his gruff manner, he was quite a refreshing character with how different he was from most sci-fi protagonists. Elise, on the other hand, has an air of innocence and hope to her. It fit her well because she is someone who believes that what she’s doing can change and improve the world. She’s optimistic and that's a trait that humanity has lost over the centuries. I love that while she has hope, she's not naive. She understands just how bad off things are in James's time when compared to hers. Despite what had to be a shocking transition, she adapts to everything while staying the person she was in her time. I will say that one of my favorite characters overall in this book turned out to be Grace, the Mother of Time, and that was not something I expected when I started reading. She was absolutely fascinating!I gave this book a 4.5/5 stars so it goes without saying that I’m really looking forward to the sequel. Time Salvager does a fantastic job setting up for a fast-paced sci-fi thriller series that is brimming with potential and you really can’t ask for much more in a first book. GAH! I need book two! I need to know what happens! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Entertaining but maddening *by S***L on Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2015* Time Salvager does many things really well. The far future world in which it is set is well-developed and suitably dreary. The main characters are interesting and believable. The central conceit (advancing the "present" by harvesting the past) is, of course, brilliant, and gives an absolute cornucopia of future storytelling opportunities. But this last bit also happens to be my pet peeve with the book: Mr. Chu continually hints at different periods of a wildly expansive history but never really visits most of it. While this is understandable as this is the first book of the series, I continually found myself confused by the different references and often found myself wishing the author had provided a chart of some kind to organize the history of the book's world. I'm not one to fault ambition, but perhaps the book would have been more streamlined and easier to follow if the author had started a bit smaller and slowly expanded instead of diving right into a timeline with dozens of unexplored time periods. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fun read and worldbuilding done right *by E***E on Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2015* NOTE: Wesley Chu won the John W. Campbell Best New Writer Award during the release of TIME SALVAGER. After reading the book, I can see why he received that honor.This novel was a 'level up' for author Wesley Chu. I enjoyed his Tao series - fun, relate-able, and the type of novel that you would feel good reading over a vacation. TIME SALVAGER still had those elements but the character building and world Chu crafted were much more in-depth. I stopped several times and reflected on how easy and enjoyable it was to slip into the world Chu created.PROSEverything I like in a well-paced novel. Complex worldbuilding done right - smooth and intriguing throughout. Excellent characters and pace. My favorite kind of book is one where I simply don't know what will happen next and the author keeps me guessing. Chu's writing in TIME SALVAGER delivered exactly that type of read.CONSIt's a trilogy and I simply don't know where it is going next. Possibly could have had more of a cliffhanger to tee up expectations for the next novel. That said, I am very interested in the follow-up book.RECOMMENDATIONI'll pass my copy along to others and will likely buy a copy to give away over the holidays. I highly recommend picking up TIME SALVAGER for when you want a well-paced, smart, and fun read. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.nz/products/34860946-time-salvager](https://www.desertcart.nz/products/34860946-time-salvager) --- *Product available on Desertcart New Zealand* *Store origin: NZ* *Last updated: 2026-04-23*