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Ship Breaker #2
The Drowned Cities
Soldier boys emerged from the darkness. Guns gleamed dully. Bullet bandoliers and scars draped their bare chests. Ugly brands scored their faces. She knew why these soldier boys had come. She knew what they sought, and she knew, too, that if they found it, her best friend would surely die.
In a dark future America where violence, terror, and grief touch everyone, young refugees Mahlia and Mouse have managed to leave behind the war-torn lands of the Drowned Cities by escaping into the jungle outskirts. But when they discover a wounded half-man--a bioengineered war beast named Tool--who is being hunted by a vengeful band of soldiers, their fragile existence quickly collapses. One is taken prisoner by merciless soldier boys, and the other is faced with an impossible decision: Risk everything to save a friend, or flee to a place where freedom might finally be possible.
This thrilling companion to Paolo Bacigalupi's highly acclaimed Ship Breaker is a haunting and powerful story of loyalty, survival, and heart-pounding adventure.
In a dark future America where violence, terror, and grief touch everyone, young refugees Mahlia and Mouse have managed to leave behind the war-torn lands of the Drowned Cities by escaping into the jungle outskirts. But when they discover a wounded half-man--a bioengineered war beast named Tool--who is being hunted by a vengeful band of soldiers, their fragile existence quickly collapses. One is taken prisoner by merciless soldier boys, and the other is faced with an impossible decision: Risk everything to save a friend, or flee to a place where freedom might finally be possible.
This thrilling companion to Paolo Bacigalupi's highly acclaimed Ship Breaker is a haunting and powerful story of loyalty, survival, and heart-pounding adventure.
437 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2012
426 people are currently reading
9709 people want to read
About the author
Paolo Bacigalupi
134 books4,966 followersPaolo Bacigalupi is an award-winning author of novels for adults and young people.
His debut novel THE WINDUP GIRL was named by TIME Magazine as one of the ten best novels of 2009, and also won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Compton Crook, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards. Internationally, it has won the Seiun Award (Japan), The Ignotus Award (Spain), The Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis (Germany), and the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire (France).
His debut young adult novel, SHIP BREAKER, was a Micheal L. Printz Award Winner, and a National Book Award Finalist, and its sequel, THE DROWNED CITIES, was a 2012 Kirkus Reviews Best of YA Book, A 2012 VOYA Perfect Ten Book, and 2012 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist. The final book in the series, TOOL OF WAR, will release in October of 2017.
His latest novel for adults is The New York Times Bestseller THE WATER KNIFE, a near-future thriller about climate change and drought in the southwestern United States.
His debut novel THE WINDUP GIRL was named by TIME Magazine as one of the ten best novels of 2009, and also won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Compton Crook, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards. Internationally, it has won the Seiun Award (Japan), The Ignotus Award (Spain), The Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis (Germany), and the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire (France).
His debut young adult novel, SHIP BREAKER, was a Micheal L. Printz Award Winner, and a National Book Award Finalist, and its sequel, THE DROWNED CITIES, was a 2012 Kirkus Reviews Best of YA Book, A 2012 VOYA Perfect Ten Book, and 2012 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist. The final book in the series, TOOL OF WAR, will release in October of 2017.
His latest novel for adults is The New York Times Bestseller THE WATER KNIFE, a near-future thriller about climate change and drought in the southwestern United States.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,382 reviews
May 17, 2015
4.5
Sometimes a book is just all that much better for being so disgustingly horrible. For not glossing over the gruesome details, for keeping the reader hooked in wide-eyed horror. This is that kind of book. The author doesn't waste his time on niceties, this story's about the harsh realities of survival and the unfortunate lengths that people have to go to in order to just stay alive. This book is nasty and gritty, and yet none of the violence and gore felt gratuitous, and above all else Paolo Bacigalupi is actually an incredible writer.
For those of you - like me - who felt that Ship Breaker was a little bit too much of a "boy book", despite being impressed by the writing and the imagery, I want to let you know that you should have no such concerns about The Drowned Cities. Not only is this a much better book than its predecessor, it has a broader reach. This, in my opinion, is about so much more than high-action scenes to please teen male readers, there are strong messages about war and loyalty and survival.
The story mainly focuses on three individuals, Mahlia, her companion Mouse, and a genetically engineered soldier which combines parts of various animals and human DNA to make the ultimate killing machine (called Tool). War plays a big part in this book, it is what threatens the safety of the characters, what forces them on, what challenges them to make a number of big decisions. Mahlia, with only a stump at the end of her right arm, is already a victim of this war. A war that is a lot more familiar to humanity than most of us would like to think.
To digress slightly, tomorrow I will be taking an exam in international relations and one of the key topics is what we call "new wars". These are a certain type of wars that have been on the rise for the last couple of decades, the kind that sees new technology creating cheap and light weaponry that can be handled by children. Some of these children are five years old when they are recruited and forced to kill or be killed. The relevance? Mahlia and Mouse are children also caught up in a war, a war where the "soldier boys" are nothing but children with attitudes and big guns. Children who've been brainwashed into seeking cruelty and violence - because their only other option was to become a victim. The Drowned Cities may seem to be a futuristic/dystopian novel, but the war that the characters are facing is nothing that hasn't already happened in our world, nothing that isn't happening right now.
This is a very sad, honest tale of war, with particular emphasis on the effect it has on children. There are many questions being asked here that I think Paolo Bacigalupi wants us to seriously consider. It is so easy to forget that children are being forced into this kind of life through fear, not in a different world or dimension, not in a possible future, but right now across the globe. This is a much deeper and thought-provoking book than I imagined and I know I'll be thinking about it for quite some time.
April 18, 2012
As seen on The Readventurer
The Drowned Cities' predecessor (and loose companion) Ship Breaker has already won Printz and was short-listed for National Book Award, and rightfully so. But I am wondering right now - was it not a tad premature to give Paolo Bacigalupi all these accolades? Because, frankly, The Drowned Cities is a far superior novel in comparison and, I guess, it is hard to expect similar acknowledgment of it, even if it is deserved? It appears, most of these awards are given once and the awarded authors are then promptly ignored? I wouldn't want this novel to be overlooked.
The Drowned Cities is a completely different story from Ship Breaker. Paolo's intent for Ship Breaker was to write a boy book, with action, adventure and explosions, and with a little bit of a moral lesson about bravery and loyalty. But I doubt The Drowned Cities was written with the same agenda in mind. Or if it was, the final novel far exceeded its original intent. The Drowned Cities is a heavy, brutal, unequivocally message-driven story that no one will dismiss as a simple entertainment.
This is a story of war. The kind of war that is playing out in many parts of our world right now. The setting of The Drowned Cities is futuristic/dystopian (slightly post-apocalyptic?) - natural resources are scarce, global warming has caused a climate change and extensive flooding of many parts of the planet, US is torn by civil war the reasons for which no one can any longer remember, China is a mega power that attempts to act as a peacekeeper, there are genetically augmented "people" who do rich men's bidding in all spheres of life from war combat to sexual services (this later "sphere" is not actually written into this YA novel, but a part of the larger The Windup Girl universe). But there is nothing in this fictional world that, on a human level, is not already happening in reality. And what is happening is that people are murdering each other for no good reason, children are being recruited to advance various war lords' convoluted political and financial agendas, livelihoods are being destroyed and citizens killed and exploited by the same soldiers who claim to protect and serve them.
Bacigalupi writes about many war-related things in this novel - the futility of peacekeeping efforts, the pointlessness of civil wars. It raises questions of what should one do in a time of war - fight and spread violence? endure and survive at any cost, even by sacrificing one's humanity? or try to simply escape? But the major theme of The Drowned Cities, in my mind, is the place of children in war. They are its victims, they are its bloody players, they are its survivors. The part of the story that struck me the most is the portrayal of the evolution (or birth) of a child soldier. This novel is awfully reminiscent of Ishmael Beah's personal account of becoming a boy soldier. It is astonishing how easy it is to dehumanize a child and make him (or her) a senseless torturer and killer.
Reading The Drowned Cities was an immensely intense experience for me. Every time I put the book down and came back to it later, it only took me a few pages to put me again and again into a high level of anxiety and fear for its characters. Not many YA books can keep me in suspense these days, but The Drowned Cities did. With that said, I want to assure you, the book never becomes a tearjerker or tragedy porn or shocking for the shock's sake. It is an honest, real and raw portrayal of what happens every day in the countries we don't care and don't want to think about.
If Mockingjay or Chaos Walking Trilogy are your favorite reads, The Drowned Cities is your next natural reading choice.
The Drowned Cities' predecessor (and loose companion) Ship Breaker has already won Printz and was short-listed for National Book Award, and rightfully so. But I am wondering right now - was it not a tad premature to give Paolo Bacigalupi all these accolades? Because, frankly, The Drowned Cities is a far superior novel in comparison and, I guess, it is hard to expect similar acknowledgment of it, even if it is deserved? It appears, most of these awards are given once and the awarded authors are then promptly ignored? I wouldn't want this novel to be overlooked.
The Drowned Cities is a completely different story from Ship Breaker. Paolo's intent for Ship Breaker was to write a boy book, with action, adventure and explosions, and with a little bit of a moral lesson about bravery and loyalty. But I doubt The Drowned Cities was written with the same agenda in mind. Or if it was, the final novel far exceeded its original intent. The Drowned Cities is a heavy, brutal, unequivocally message-driven story that no one will dismiss as a simple entertainment.
This is a story of war. The kind of war that is playing out in many parts of our world right now. The setting of The Drowned Cities is futuristic/dystopian (slightly post-apocalyptic?) - natural resources are scarce, global warming has caused a climate change and extensive flooding of many parts of the planet, US is torn by civil war the reasons for which no one can any longer remember, China is a mega power that attempts to act as a peacekeeper, there are genetically augmented "people" who do rich men's bidding in all spheres of life from war combat to sexual services (this later "sphere" is not actually written into this YA novel, but a part of the larger The Windup Girl universe). But there is nothing in this fictional world that, on a human level, is not already happening in reality. And what is happening is that people are murdering each other for no good reason, children are being recruited to advance various war lords' convoluted political and financial agendas, livelihoods are being destroyed and citizens killed and exploited by the same soldiers who claim to protect and serve them.
Bacigalupi writes about many war-related things in this novel - the futility of peacekeeping efforts, the pointlessness of civil wars. It raises questions of what should one do in a time of war - fight and spread violence? endure and survive at any cost, even by sacrificing one's humanity? or try to simply escape? But the major theme of The Drowned Cities, in my mind, is the place of children in war. They are its victims, they are its bloody players, they are its survivors. The part of the story that struck me the most is the portrayal of the evolution (or birth) of a child soldier. This novel is awfully reminiscent of Ishmael Beah's personal account of becoming a boy soldier. It is astonishing how easy it is to dehumanize a child and make him (or her) a senseless torturer and killer.
Reading The Drowned Cities was an immensely intense experience for me. Every time I put the book down and came back to it later, it only took me a few pages to put me again and again into a high level of anxiety and fear for its characters. Not many YA books can keep me in suspense these days, but The Drowned Cities did. With that said, I want to assure you, the book never becomes a tearjerker or tragedy porn or shocking for the shock's sake. It is an honest, real and raw portrayal of what happens every day in the countries we don't care and don't want to think about.
If Mockingjay or Chaos Walking Trilogy are your favorite reads, The Drowned Cities is your next natural reading choice.
May 6, 2016
Posted at Shelf Inflicted
Being unemployed can be nice. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to read a book all the way through, barely stopping for meals or a drink. Since this was such a page-turner, I surely would have been late to work or missed an appointment.
Though this is the sequel to Ship Breaker, there is a different set of characters. Mahlia and Mouse are two young refugees who fled their home to escape the terrible violence going on in the Drowned Cities. Now they are in the care of Dr. Mahfouz, a man with a peaceful heart whose life is devoted to caring for others. Mahlia is invaluable as the doctor’s assistant, despite her lack of a right hand which was chopped off by the Army of God. Though they have a good life with the doctor, they are still outsiders, constantly reminded of the fact they are “castoffs” or “war maggots.”
Their lives change drastically when they discover the severely wounded Tool, who is a “half-man” engineered for war. Part tiger, part hyena, part dog, and part man, Tool has exceptional strength and endurance. He also has retained human characteristics, which makes him a really fascinating character.
Once Tool receives the antibiotics he needs to survive, the doctor decides to return to the village which is now overrun with soldiers and Mahlia has a choice to return to her village or to flee with Tool. Mouse returns to the village and finds his life is irrevocably changed, as he is armed, branded and now a soldier. Mahlia is strong, brave, determined and risks her life and safety to get Mouse back.
This story is not as action-packed as the first, but the character development is much stronger and the story is considerably darker. It explores the physical and psychological effects of war – on children, families, communities and infrastructure.
It is brutal, harrowing, sad, frightening, and humane. It lacked the fun and adventure of Ship Breaker, but I was absorbed into the story instantly and unable to stop reading until I was done.
Because of the graphic situations, I would recommend this to older teens.
I love Bacigalupi’s writing and can’t wait to read his adult books!
Being unemployed can be nice. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to read a book all the way through, barely stopping for meals or a drink. Since this was such a page-turner, I surely would have been late to work or missed an appointment.
Though this is the sequel to Ship Breaker, there is a different set of characters. Mahlia and Mouse are two young refugees who fled their home to escape the terrible violence going on in the Drowned Cities. Now they are in the care of Dr. Mahfouz, a man with a peaceful heart whose life is devoted to caring for others. Mahlia is invaluable as the doctor’s assistant, despite her lack of a right hand which was chopped off by the Army of God. Though they have a good life with the doctor, they are still outsiders, constantly reminded of the fact they are “castoffs” or “war maggots.”
Their lives change drastically when they discover the severely wounded Tool, who is a “half-man” engineered for war. Part tiger, part hyena, part dog, and part man, Tool has exceptional strength and endurance. He also has retained human characteristics, which makes him a really fascinating character.
Once Tool receives the antibiotics he needs to survive, the doctor decides to return to the village which is now overrun with soldiers and Mahlia has a choice to return to her village or to flee with Tool. Mouse returns to the village and finds his life is irrevocably changed, as he is armed, branded and now a soldier. Mahlia is strong, brave, determined and risks her life and safety to get Mouse back.
This story is not as action-packed as the first, but the character development is much stronger and the story is considerably darker. It explores the physical and psychological effects of war – on children, families, communities and infrastructure.
It is brutal, harrowing, sad, frightening, and humane. It lacked the fun and adventure of Ship Breaker, but I was absorbed into the story instantly and unable to stop reading until I was done.
Because of the graphic situations, I would recommend this to older teens.
I love Bacigalupi’s writing and can’t wait to read his adult books!
February 23, 2015
I've read 3 Bacigalupi books, and they've taken the maximum haul of 15 stars between them.
Why do I love his work so much? It's hard to say. He's bleak as f#ck - but he's also quite, quite, brilliant.
This is a sequel, but it's a new cast of characters set in the same world as Ship Breaker. It's a dystopian future: civilization in the USA has collapsed. The Chinese were peacekeepers, but even they've left now and the land is a torn-up mess of civil war, genocide and child-soldiers - rape and mutilation is a norm. They say this book is targeted at 'young adults', but I can't think of another y-a novel that pulls so few punches...
It reminded me of films set in African conflicts: Hotel Rwanda, Blood Diamond, The Last King of Scotland, Tsotsi... but also City of God.
It's like Bacigalupi saying to the Western world - "you've seen on the news how f#cked up things can get - now stop taking what you've got for granted, because it's all built on a house of cards, and with one strong wind your whole world could come tumbling down."
It helps his moralising stance that the story itself is an awesome tale of bravery and loyalty, with some great 'real' kids as lead characters, and a kick-ass animal-human-hybrid super-soldier for the sci-fi edge :-) It's the kind of 110% page-turner that you'll want to blitz through in a single sitting and resent the world for interrupting.
My only complaint: the sequel isn't out yet. Give me more!
After this I read: The Neon Court
Why do I love his work so much? It's hard to say. He's bleak as f#ck - but he's also quite, quite, brilliant.
This is a sequel, but it's a new cast of characters set in the same world as Ship Breaker. It's a dystopian future: civilization in the USA has collapsed. The Chinese were peacekeepers, but even they've left now and the land is a torn-up mess of civil war, genocide and child-soldiers - rape and mutilation is a norm. They say this book is targeted at 'young adults', but I can't think of another y-a novel that pulls so few punches...
It reminded me of films set in African conflicts: Hotel Rwanda, Blood Diamond, The Last King of Scotland, Tsotsi... but also City of God.
It's like Bacigalupi saying to the Western world - "you've seen on the news how f#cked up things can get - now stop taking what you've got for granted, because it's all built on a house of cards, and with one strong wind your whole world could come tumbling down."
It helps his moralising stance that the story itself is an awesome tale of bravery and loyalty, with some great 'real' kids as lead characters, and a kick-ass animal-human-hybrid super-soldier for the sci-fi edge :-) It's the kind of 110% page-turner that you'll want to blitz through in a single sitting and resent the world for interrupting.
My only complaint: the sequel isn't out yet. Give me more!
After this I read: The Neon Court
January 2, 2013
I was a little saddened after finishing Wind Up Girl and discovering that the Bacigalupi’s next book was going to be a young adult. I find this an annoying trend of authors of complex, adult, and sophisticated speculative literature to chasing YA dollar. Teens have everything these days grumpy old me says, leave me my speculative fiction. So instead of rushing out and getting his next title I decided to wait and see. I got my hands on both Ship Breaker and its sequel/sidepiece Drowned Cities and read them in a couple of days. I can’t endorse authors going YA (insert essay about our youth obsessed culture here), but if the results are this good, I won’t complain (excited about Railsea by the way). He has created a full world in these pages, a grim vision of a possible future that is painfully believable. Taking dire speculation on oil and global warming but mixed with prophetic horrors of the developing world (visions of children living in garbage dumps in South America and India and the terrors of Sierra Leon’s brutal civil war give these books resonance). The characters that fill this shattered, desiccated world are just as believable. The youth of the protagonists, the happy but uncertain endings, and the straight forward prose is the only concessions the authors makes towards fitting them into the YA mold. A lack of humor, subtlety, and over seriousness are some accusations with merit against these books, but I feel its tone is well earned. I smell a trilogy coming on (especially because of the character Tool) but I feel these books deserve a capstone. Everyone with well-thumbed copies of the Hunger Games needs to snatch these books up immediately, and Wind Up Girl. While the books are separate from the author’s debut, the worlds and concerns are so similar it wouldn’t be a stretched to place them as a singular unit.
May 7, 2012
4.5 stars
What a great fun read. This book was almost as good as Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. This is the second book in the series, but it revolves around an entirely different cast.
Mahilia and Mouse, two likable young adult protagonists gave this book a lot of feelings and heart. Unlike Ship Breaker this book was not as gloomy or filled with an overwhelming feeling of death and decay. Nailer, from the first book, had a much more difficult life and a far gloomier outlook on his future.
Tool, the augment and scary killer from the first book is the only character to return this one. The the plot, the scope and even the storyline on a whole is a much simpler one than inShip Breaker. Mahilia and Mouse are victims of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mahilia is a young woman that is often persecuted as being a castoff of China, even though she was a child of the drowned cities. Her world at war leaves most of her family and friends all dead, cities in ruin, and people enslaved.
Like other Paolo Bacigalupi novels, Drowned Cities is a fast and incredibly enjoyable story that both adults and young adults will enjoy. I could read his novels every day. There is something raw and real about his end of the world scenarios that just touch you the right way and make you feel like there is still a glimmer of hope in humanity. His writing style is somewhat simple. He adds in the little details and some world building thereby creating a story that is rich and filled with the human spirit. I love that in this book, it turns out that Tool was more human than most of the soldiers and other side characters portrayed.
A simple passage that shows his style:
"She could look at the gun and see a history of hands that held it. Soldier after soldier, making it his own. Covering it with luck symbols and charms, Fates Eyes and crosses and whatever they thought would give them the edge.
And every one of them was dead."
If you haven't read Bacigalupi, and are a fan of dystopian type young adult novels, than his works should not be missed. For pure enjoyment Drowned Cities is five big stars. I am a huge fan.
What a great fun read. This book was almost as good as Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. This is the second book in the series, but it revolves around an entirely different cast.
Mahilia and Mouse, two likable young adult protagonists gave this book a lot of feelings and heart. Unlike Ship Breaker this book was not as gloomy or filled with an overwhelming feeling of death and decay. Nailer, from the first book, had a much more difficult life and a far gloomier outlook on his future.
Tool, the augment and scary killer from the first book is the only character to return this one. The the plot, the scope and even the storyline on a whole is a much simpler one than inShip Breaker. Mahilia and Mouse are victims of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mahilia is a young woman that is often persecuted as being a castoff of China, even though she was a child of the drowned cities. Her world at war leaves most of her family and friends all dead, cities in ruin, and people enslaved.
Like other Paolo Bacigalupi novels, Drowned Cities is a fast and incredibly enjoyable story that both adults and young adults will enjoy. I could read his novels every day. There is something raw and real about his end of the world scenarios that just touch you the right way and make you feel like there is still a glimmer of hope in humanity. His writing style is somewhat simple. He adds in the little details and some world building thereby creating a story that is rich and filled with the human spirit. I love that in this book, it turns out that Tool was more human than most of the soldiers and other side characters portrayed.
A simple passage that shows his style:
"She could look at the gun and see a history of hands that held it. Soldier after soldier, making it his own. Covering it with luck symbols and charms, Fates Eyes and crosses and whatever they thought would give them the edge.
And every one of them was dead."
If you haven't read Bacigalupi, and are a fan of dystopian type young adult novels, than his works should not be missed. For pure enjoyment Drowned Cities is five big stars. I am a huge fan.
May 26, 2015
I've had plenty of time to mull over this book and my review, and yet...I still can't quite find words for it. There's just something about this novel, something about the way it just sucks you in, that it's hard to write about. Let's start out, then, with some things about it that are concrete.
The futuristic, dystopian setting is fabulous. It's dark and gritty. It's incredibly believable in a way that is unnerving. As I wrote in my review of Ship Breaker, it "took those mediocre dystopian The Giver ripoffs and ate them for breakfast". (Rereading the SB review, I realized that I was in an odd mood when I wrote that. "I could smell the...stuff that didn't smell good"? What? LOL. Carry on.) You know, those dystopian books that are everywhere, the ones that look so unique and enticing but once you pick them up, you realize you've read the same thing before. You know this setting from somewhere, because it's basically the same setting every mediocre dystopian novel has.
If you enjoy that kind of setting, don't you dare pick up The Drowned Cities. TDC is not like that. The setting is unique and scary and awesome. And the rest of the book is nothing like those other mediocre dystopians, either. The characters are wonderful and lovable and utterly real. When I realized that Nailer wasn't in this book at all, I was very disappointed. I loved Nailer. The only character that SB and TDC have in common is Tool, actually (someone's name is Tool? What? Yeah, if you weren't interested before, you should be now). But Bacigalupi* makes up for this with Mahlia and Mouse. Each of them were compelling, beautifully developed characters with exciting stories.
My only complaint with this book is the plot, actually. Despite the awesome characters, the story moved a bit slow at the beginning. I kept waiting for it to pick up, and it took a little too long. Luckily the rest of the book was awesome enough that I can forgive it.
And now I have to write, somehow, about the harder parts of this book. About the sheer harshness of the world, the characters, the themes. There is violence in this book. Quite a bit of it. This is by no means an easy book to read. It's tough. It puts characters in impossible, horrible situations, and you're glad to be safe at home. And then you realize...it isn't that far from reality. Child soldiers have been a major topic as of late, and this book fits right in with that.
I think Bacigalupi was going for quite a bit of shock value with this book, much more so than Ship Breaker. It worked, too. But none of the intensity, none of the violence, felt thrown in just for the sake of it. Everything was deliberate, and I admire Bacigalupi for that.
And then there's the last part of the book. The death at the very end. You guys who have read the book...you know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm still reeling from it, still asking "Bacigalupi, how could you?" The thing about it is that the author made us care so much that we feel such emotion from this death, and again, I admire him for it.
This is an awesome book, guys. Read it. Recommended for fans of dystopian novels, or gritty novels, or basically anything that makes you think and feel.
*Like I said last time: And I thought Paolini was fun to say.
The futuristic, dystopian setting is fabulous. It's dark and gritty. It's incredibly believable in a way that is unnerving. As I wrote in my review of Ship Breaker, it "took those mediocre dystopian The Giver ripoffs and ate them for breakfast". (Rereading the SB review, I realized that I was in an odd mood when I wrote that. "I could smell the...stuff that didn't smell good"? What? LOL. Carry on.) You know, those dystopian books that are everywhere, the ones that look so unique and enticing but once you pick them up, you realize you've read the same thing before. You know this setting from somewhere, because it's basically the same setting every mediocre dystopian novel has.
If you enjoy that kind of setting, don't you dare pick up The Drowned Cities. TDC is not like that. The setting is unique and scary and awesome. And the rest of the book is nothing like those other mediocre dystopians, either. The characters are wonderful and lovable and utterly real. When I realized that Nailer wasn't in this book at all, I was very disappointed. I loved Nailer. The only character that SB and TDC have in common is Tool, actually (someone's name is Tool? What? Yeah, if you weren't interested before, you should be now). But Bacigalupi* makes up for this with Mahlia and Mouse. Each of them were compelling, beautifully developed characters with exciting stories.
My only complaint with this book is the plot, actually. Despite the awesome characters, the story moved a bit slow at the beginning. I kept waiting for it to pick up, and it took a little too long. Luckily the rest of the book was awesome enough that I can forgive it.
And now I have to write, somehow, about the harder parts of this book. About the sheer harshness of the world, the characters, the themes. There is violence in this book. Quite a bit of it. This is by no means an easy book to read. It's tough. It puts characters in impossible, horrible situations, and you're glad to be safe at home. And then you realize...it isn't that far from reality. Child soldiers have been a major topic as of late, and this book fits right in with that.
I think Bacigalupi was going for quite a bit of shock value with this book, much more so than Ship Breaker. It worked, too. But none of the intensity, none of the violence, felt thrown in just for the sake of it. Everything was deliberate, and I admire Bacigalupi for that.
And then there's the last part of the book. The death at the very end. You guys who have read the book...you know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm still reeling from it, still asking "Bacigalupi, how could you?" The thing about it is that the author made us care so much that we feel such emotion from this death, and again, I admire him for it.
This is an awesome book, guys. Read it. Recommended for fans of dystopian novels, or gritty novels, or basically anything that makes you think and feel.
*Like I said last time: And I thought Paolini was fun to say.
October 15, 2012
Actual rating: 4.5 stars.
The physical world is oppressively present in Bacigalupi's fiction, as it is in Margaret Atwood's dystopian novels (Oryx and Crake; The Year of the Flood): a world changed for the worse by global warming, with island nations wiped out and coastal areas no longer habitable; a world further ruined by human shortsightedness, where genetically engineered plant viruses introduced into the environment by agricultural conglomerates in order to wipe out competitors' crops have made grain more valuable than oil; a world where warlords use child soldiers to fight over salvage rights in the ruins of once-great cities. And yet there are hints that somewhere in the world pockets of educated and wealthy civilization remain, and Bacigalupi's outcast children -- yes, much of his writing is directed at a young adult audience -- see that promise as their city on the hill, and try to escape their desperate circumstances.
Katniss, you pussy, you have it easy compared to Mahlia and Mouse. At least Panem has a government. Imagine Joseph Kony and an army of drugged boys occupying half of what was once Washington DC, now partially submerged in the Atlantic, with only the upper floors of buildings rising above the brackish water. Imagine the Taliban occupying what remains. Imagine being a child in such an environment, abandoned, outcast, potential prey for human enemies, not to mention the genetically engineered coywolves running about and hunting in packs.
I really should list this as a banned book and beat the rush, because when the helicopter parents who have challenged Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games see the darkness here, they will surely put The Drowned Cities on their target list. Dark? Black ... and yet there is a ray of hope, if you squint hard enough, and the implicit promise of sequels.
And what a story! Like most good YA novels, this one will have you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. It is pure hair-raising yarn, with action that never stops. I swear, I was panting by the end. Paolo Bacigalupi is wicked good.
The physical world is oppressively present in Bacigalupi's fiction, as it is in Margaret Atwood's dystopian novels (Oryx and Crake; The Year of the Flood): a world changed for the worse by global warming, with island nations wiped out and coastal areas no longer habitable; a world further ruined by human shortsightedness, where genetically engineered plant viruses introduced into the environment by agricultural conglomerates in order to wipe out competitors' crops have made grain more valuable than oil; a world where warlords use child soldiers to fight over salvage rights in the ruins of once-great cities. And yet there are hints that somewhere in the world pockets of educated and wealthy civilization remain, and Bacigalupi's outcast children -- yes, much of his writing is directed at a young adult audience -- see that promise as their city on the hill, and try to escape their desperate circumstances.
Katniss, you pussy, you have it easy compared to Mahlia and Mouse. At least Panem has a government. Imagine Joseph Kony and an army of drugged boys occupying half of what was once Washington DC, now partially submerged in the Atlantic, with only the upper floors of buildings rising above the brackish water. Imagine the Taliban occupying what remains. Imagine being a child in such an environment, abandoned, outcast, potential prey for human enemies, not to mention the genetically engineered coywolves running about and hunting in packs.
I really should list this as a banned book and beat the rush, because when the helicopter parents who have challenged Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games see the darkness here, they will surely put The Drowned Cities on their target list. Dark? Black ... and yet there is a ray of hope, if you squint hard enough, and the implicit promise of sequels.
And what a story! Like most good YA novels, this one will have you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. It is pure hair-raising yarn, with action that never stops. I swear, I was panting by the end. Paolo Bacigalupi is wicked good.
June 29, 2012
It's like driving with the handbrake on.
Paolo Bacigalupi is the Hugo and Nebula award winning author of one of my favourite all time books, The Windup Girl. It was for adults. It was brutal and dark and filled with the vision of a genius. The fact that he is choosing to waste his talent on writing for children upsets me.
Drowned Cities is a dystopian novel, filled with teenage characters fighting a multi-generational patriotic war that can never be won. His characters are simply trying to survive and in doing so might just change the fate of their people.
Arsene Wenger reglarly refers to his Arsenal team as playig with the handbrake on when they are subdued and restrained in their beautiful passing game, unable to attack with full force and take the game by the throat. I believe the man is a certified genius and his wonderful metaphor for an underperforming football team could quite easily be applied to this book and Bacigalupi writing for kids. Sure he's writing for intelligent teenagers here but at the end of the day he is still writing with the handbrake on; unable to unleash the full force of his imagination, showing restraint in not writing scenarios as brutally awful as he could (and the story in Drowned Cities really could use a few extra levels of grim) and by including a somewhat cheery denouement he is refusing to take the dystopian genre by the throat.
The Young Adult Discworld novels immediately spring to mind when reading this after reading his work for adults. On the surface it is the same, just with a larger font but underneath is where the faults can be found. There's no real depth to the plot, just a straightforward quest for survival. At least it takes place in a world created by Bacigalupi, one of his major strengths is establishing a real sense of place, of atmosphere and tension and the world of Drowned Cities is very definitely one of his. But as Tiffany Aching is no Granny Weatherwax, Mahlia is not on the smae level as Emiko.
I read an interview with Bacigalupi somewhere in which he said he hated the feeling of having his writing be critiqued and that writing for the young adult market allowed him to work without that fear and whilst I understant his position, nobody likes to feel that they're doing a bad job, I can't respect him for it.
As a good many intelligent people will not hesitate to inform you, if you drive with the handbrake on for long enough the wheels fall off the car.
If you're 14 or looking for a book as a gift for an intelligent teenager I highly recommend this book but I will not be reading any more of Bacigalupi's works for kids myself until he writes another book for adults.
Paolo Bacigalupi is the Hugo and Nebula award winning author of one of my favourite all time books, The Windup Girl. It was for adults. It was brutal and dark and filled with the vision of a genius. The fact that he is choosing to waste his talent on writing for children upsets me.
Drowned Cities is a dystopian novel, filled with teenage characters fighting a multi-generational patriotic war that can never be won. His characters are simply trying to survive and in doing so might just change the fate of their people.
Arsene Wenger reglarly refers to his Arsenal team as playig with the handbrake on when they are subdued and restrained in their beautiful passing game, unable to attack with full force and take the game by the throat. I believe the man is a certified genius and his wonderful metaphor for an underperforming football team could quite easily be applied to this book and Bacigalupi writing for kids. Sure he's writing for intelligent teenagers here but at the end of the day he is still writing with the handbrake on; unable to unleash the full force of his imagination, showing restraint in not writing scenarios as brutally awful as he could (and the story in Drowned Cities really could use a few extra levels of grim) and by including a somewhat cheery denouement he is refusing to take the dystopian genre by the throat.
The Young Adult Discworld novels immediately spring to mind when reading this after reading his work for adults. On the surface it is the same, just with a larger font but underneath is where the faults can be found. There's no real depth to the plot, just a straightforward quest for survival. At least it takes place in a world created by Bacigalupi, one of his major strengths is establishing a real sense of place, of atmosphere and tension and the world of Drowned Cities is very definitely one of his. But as Tiffany Aching is no Granny Weatherwax, Mahlia is not on the smae level as Emiko.
I read an interview with Bacigalupi somewhere in which he said he hated the feeling of having his writing be critiqued and that writing for the young adult market allowed him to work without that fear and whilst I understant his position, nobody likes to feel that they're doing a bad job, I can't respect him for it.
As a good many intelligent people will not hesitate to inform you, if you drive with the handbrake on for long enough the wheels fall off the car.
If you're 14 or looking for a book as a gift for an intelligent teenager I highly recommend this book but I will not be reading any more of Bacigalupi's works for kids myself until he writes another book for adults.
January 9, 2013
Set in the same fallen world as "Ship Breakers", this book follows the story of Mahlia, a young girl left to survive on her own after the Chinese peacekeepers abandon their efforts to stop the fighting in what is left of the eastern seaboard of the USA, now called the Drowned Cities. Mahlia is what the call a cast-off, a child of a Chinese peackeeper and a resident of the Drowned Cities. When her father is evacuated back to China, she and her mother are targeted by fanatical "patriots" for collaborating with the Chinese. Her mother is killed and Mahlia is left to survive by her own wits.
At some point she falls in the path of The Army of God, who capture her and cut off her right hand. They are about to do the same to her left when a disturbance distracts them and Mahlia escapes. The disturbance was created by a young boy called Mouse. Mouse's family members had been either killed or conscripted into whatever army attacked them. Mouse was the only survivor. He couldn't bear to see Mahlia being attacked without at least trying to save her. They end up together in a village called Banyan Tree, under the care of Dr. Mahfouz, a trained medical doctor and one of the last educated people in the crumbling remains of America.
All of the above just sets the scene for what happens to Mahlia and Mouse. I absolutely devoured this book. It was excellent, even better than Ship Breakers, in my opinion. I wonder if there will be other books set in this world?
At some point she falls in the path of The Army of God, who capture her and cut off her right hand. They are about to do the same to her left when a disturbance distracts them and Mahlia escapes. The disturbance was created by a young boy called Mouse. Mouse's family members had been either killed or conscripted into whatever army attacked them. Mouse was the only survivor. He couldn't bear to see Mahlia being attacked without at least trying to save her. They end up together in a village called Banyan Tree, under the care of Dr. Mahfouz, a trained medical doctor and one of the last educated people in the crumbling remains of America.
All of the above just sets the scene for what happens to Mahlia and Mouse. I absolutely devoured this book. It was excellent, even better than Ship Breakers, in my opinion. I wonder if there will be other books set in this world?
June 11, 2021
This post-eco-disaster world is really starting to grow on me. More worldbuilding, more warrior-bois getting played for chumps even as they crap on everyone, and the cool focus on half-men make it a pretty interesting novel, all told.
And I really enjoyed the main characters a lot more than in the previous book. There is that.
I won't say this is a particularly ground-breaking story, but it was rather enjoyable and the payoffs are everything that you might expect. Survival, loss, getting stuck in a hell-hole, trying to find each other in horrible odds. You know. Adventure. :)
Still worth the read.
And I really enjoyed the main characters a lot more than in the previous book. There is that.
I won't say this is a particularly ground-breaking story, but it was rather enjoyable and the payoffs are everything that you might expect. Survival, loss, getting stuck in a hell-hole, trying to find each other in horrible odds. You know. Adventure. :)
Still worth the read.
May 25, 2012
There is a small country in West Africa called Sierra Leone which is rich in diamonds. In 1991 a civil war erupted and left the small country in a blood bath. No home was safe. Families and friends meant nothing to many. Common practices for recruiting soldiers were to kidnap boys at the appropriate age, drug them until addicted, then keep them semi-drugged while they committed their first atrocities. They were then addicted to narcotics they could only acquire through soldiering and their neuro-pathways had been rerouted with the violence they had inflicted.
Mariama Kallom was a teenager in 1992 in Sierra Leone. Her brother was abducted and the brainwashing failed as he refused to take part in the violence. He was eliminated. Mariama and her sister were hiding in a house when the rebels arrived in their town. There was not time to run. They were dragged outside, raped, then systematically the soldiers cut off the women's legs. As the machete was raised to cut off her own legs, the Red Cross arrived. The rebels fled and she alone had two legs.
I tell this story to prepare you for this book. The story is reminiscent of the civil war in Sierra Leone. The violence is extreme. The ice caps have melted and there is no clear leadership. Different factions are trying to take control for idealistic reasons. The soldiers are young, ill-prepared and trained through combat alone. Civilians are tools and the world now includes creatures engineered by splicing DNA. The book is really about Tool, a DNA enhanced creature we met earlier in Shipwrecker. It is also about Mahlia, the one handed cast-off who would have had no hands if her friend, Mouse, hadn't saved her.
The world presented is dark, depressing, cruel, violent and unpredictable. What I described of Sierra Leone is true. What is described in this story is disturbingly similar. Be prepared. That's all I'm saying.
Mariama Kallom was a teenager in 1992 in Sierra Leone. Her brother was abducted and the brainwashing failed as he refused to take part in the violence. He was eliminated. Mariama and her sister were hiding in a house when the rebels arrived in their town. There was not time to run. They were dragged outside, raped, then systematically the soldiers cut off the women's legs. As the machete was raised to cut off her own legs, the Red Cross arrived. The rebels fled and she alone had two legs.
I tell this story to prepare you for this book. The story is reminiscent of the civil war in Sierra Leone. The violence is extreme. The ice caps have melted and there is no clear leadership. Different factions are trying to take control for idealistic reasons. The soldiers are young, ill-prepared and trained through combat alone. Civilians are tools and the world now includes creatures engineered by splicing DNA. The book is really about Tool, a DNA enhanced creature we met earlier in Shipwrecker. It is also about Mahlia, the one handed cast-off who would have had no hands if her friend, Mouse, hadn't saved her.
The world presented is dark, depressing, cruel, violent and unpredictable. What I described of Sierra Leone is true. What is described in this story is disturbingly similar. Be prepared. That's all I'm saying.
May 24, 2012
One of my biggest selling points in any book is tension. I talk a lot in my reviews about tension, and generally it's because I'm talking about the lack of it. But what I mean when I talk about tension is a lot of things, actually. It's not just the internal tension in the story, between characters, say, or two factions. That's only part of it. When I'm talking about tension, I'm also talking about the way your gut reacts to a story. The best stories have tension you can actually feel. They cause an actual physical reaction inside of you, making you sit up straighter or curl in on yourself, feel butterflies or feel terror. They make your heart race or give you chills. They making reading a sensory experience, make you feel like you're more in the story. I could feel this story; the tension was beautiful.
This companion novel to Ship Breaker* has a very dark and hopeless atmosphere and is almost unrelenting in that darkness except that there are these bright moments to balance it: trust, love, companionship, hope - things that somehow manage to live on against the odds in the face of child soldiers and fanaticism and all manner of unspeakable atrocities. Don't get me wrong, nothing here is sugar-coated; the story remains incredibly dark, but not so relentlessly grim that you just can't bear to read it.
And the storytelling - the writing and tactics and plot devices - were very well done. This is a great example of shifting narrators that actually worked for me. In the past, I've talked about how this can be hit or miss for me, but this time it was a big hit. It's also a great example of anti-heroic characters that work and that still remain sympathetic and rootforable. Bacigalupi juggles things well and shifts seamlessly, and weaves each character's storylines together to make them more meaningful than they would be on their own. There were so many things that I stopped to read over, not for clarity but for the sheer power of it. It was sometimes breathtaking, but not in the way of any kind of beauty, really. More in the way that a punch to the gut is breathtaking. I just sometimes had to set the book in my lap and just linger over some things, process them or prepare myself for what I knew was coming. I love a book that engages me on this level, because it's rare enough on its own, and rarer still to have that last the whole way through the book.
It's fascinating from the dystopian/post-apocalyptic aspect, and I think those who have gotten used to the watered-down dystopias and post-apocalyptic books flooding the market lately will appreciate the vitality of this. Everything felt very critical, very authentic and very tenuous, with that skin-crawling layer that comes with well thought out dystopias. Vital, truly disturbing dystopias rely on things that could happen and/or do happen, and intelligently distill a future of what could be from what is. Good dystopias/PAs give you glimpses of insight into where everything went wrong, and then how they kept going wrong, and they shock your system with how easily it could all happen. Bacigalupi does this really well, sort of meditating on the choices we make and their snowball effects.
I don't know if there will be a third companion book, but there are loose ends in The Drowned Cities that could leave it open for one. I don't mention this as a drawback, however, as I think the loose ends were done in a good, believable way, and I like to have stories like this left up in the air a little bit. It gives something to discuss, something to think over and work out. This is not the type of book to have everything come together completely in the end, or to have a Happy Ever After for every character; it would have felt inauthentic if this had been the case, and a lot of the power of the story would have been lost as a result. As it is, the story is bittersweet, not bow-wrapped, and that's exactly as it should be.
*Note: To my understanding, The Drowned Cities is a loose companion to Ship Breaker, so if you haven't read Ship Breaker don't let that stop you - it didn't stop me! And I never felt like I was missing anything or not comprehending the scope of things; it definitely works well as a stand-alone, but makes me even more excited for when I finally do read Ship Breaker... Also, this is marketed to YA but there's no real YAness about it. It's just a book, well-written and as such I think will appeal as much or more to adults as to the teens it's marketed to.
Curious about The Drowned Cities? Read the first 11 chapters here for free! I doubt you'll want to put it down...
This companion novel to Ship Breaker* has a very dark and hopeless atmosphere and is almost unrelenting in that darkness except that there are these bright moments to balance it: trust, love, companionship, hope - things that somehow manage to live on against the odds in the face of child soldiers and fanaticism and all manner of unspeakable atrocities. Don't get me wrong, nothing here is sugar-coated; the story remains incredibly dark, but not so relentlessly grim that you just can't bear to read it.
And the storytelling - the writing and tactics and plot devices - were very well done. This is a great example of shifting narrators that actually worked for me. In the past, I've talked about how this can be hit or miss for me, but this time it was a big hit. It's also a great example of anti-heroic characters that work and that still remain sympathetic and rootforable. Bacigalupi juggles things well and shifts seamlessly, and weaves each character's storylines together to make them more meaningful than they would be on their own. There were so many things that I stopped to read over, not for clarity but for the sheer power of it. It was sometimes breathtaking, but not in the way of any kind of beauty, really. More in the way that a punch to the gut is breathtaking. I just sometimes had to set the book in my lap and just linger over some things, process them or prepare myself for what I knew was coming. I love a book that engages me on this level, because it's rare enough on its own, and rarer still to have that last the whole way through the book.
It's fascinating from the dystopian/post-apocalyptic aspect, and I think those who have gotten used to the watered-down dystopias and post-apocalyptic books flooding the market lately will appreciate the vitality of this. Everything felt very critical, very authentic and very tenuous, with that skin-crawling layer that comes with well thought out dystopias. Vital, truly disturbing dystopias rely on things that could happen and/or do happen, and intelligently distill a future of what could be from what is. Good dystopias/PAs give you glimpses of insight into where everything went wrong, and then how they kept going wrong, and they shock your system with how easily it could all happen. Bacigalupi does this really well, sort of meditating on the choices we make and their snowball effects.
I don't know if there will be a third companion book, but there are loose ends in The Drowned Cities that could leave it open for one. I don't mention this as a drawback, however, as I think the loose ends were done in a good, believable way, and I like to have stories like this left up in the air a little bit. It gives something to discuss, something to think over and work out. This is not the type of book to have everything come together completely in the end, or to have a Happy Ever After for every character; it would have felt inauthentic if this had been the case, and a lot of the power of the story would have been lost as a result. As it is, the story is bittersweet, not bow-wrapped, and that's exactly as it should be.
*Note: To my understanding, The Drowned Cities is a loose companion to Ship Breaker, so if you haven't read Ship Breaker don't let that stop you - it didn't stop me! And I never felt like I was missing anything or not comprehending the scope of things; it definitely works well as a stand-alone, but makes me even more excited for when I finally do read Ship Breaker... Also, this is marketed to YA but there's no real YAness about it. It's just a book, well-written and as such I think will appeal as much or more to adults as to the teens it's marketed to.
Curious about The Drowned Cities? Read the first 11 chapters here for free! I doubt you'll want to put it down...
February 18, 2022
This is basically CONAN THE BARBARIAN, written by a liberal douche bag who has to prove he's woke and with it on every page. I can't give it less than four stars, because the battle scenes are explosive. The world-building is superb, and there's a real hell-scape quality to the setting.
In this future world, technology has failed, the oil is all gone, and America has become a steamy jungle patrolled by savage guerillas in an endless civil war. Think the Mekong Delta, circa 1968. But of course, the author is a douche-bag. So our soldiers can't be heroes! No, no, the Chinese are the heroes of this book. The real 'Muricans who fight back are flayed raw, over and over, as a bitter basket of deplorables who *literally* "cling to their guns and their religion." I can't tell you how insufferable I find this kind of thing. I mean, this guy really knows how to signal virtue. And he does it over and over, with no sense of humor and no sense of irony. The boy soldiers are all pitiful victims. The commanders are all screaming martinets. The Chinese are all saintly peacekeepers. Dr. Mahfuz is a good Muslim. It's not just offensive, it's predictable. And it's deadly dull.
Of course this douche-bag Bagalupi, or Bagalupo, is a total rip off artist. Tool, the half-man, half-beast super-soldier, is a compelling character. But he runs around in a sporty sweatshirt that says, "Stolen from Island of Dr. Moreau Athletic Department." I mean, this guy really IS "part-man, part beast." And watching him rip whole platoons of boy soldiers apart is fun. (The author hates soldiers, but violence seems to excite him!) The only problem is, whenever our boy Tool opens his mouth, he sounds less like Frankenstein's monster, all growly and savage, and more like Brian on FAMILY GUY. Like they say on Futurama, not only can he talk . . . he can pontificate!
Now there's a lot of torture in this book. The author seems to get off on it. But not in an honest, open, Fallen Nature of Man way, like Anthony Burgess. And not in an honest, open, my grandpa's pa saw it happen way, like Larry McMurtry. This guy wants to condemn violence and revel in it at the same time, and that's contemptible. Worse than that, it's kid stuff. You get the impression this author hasn't experienced much violence in real life, or much of anything else either. Case in point, he likes to talk about how the boy soldiers cut off the hands and feet of every enemy they kill. And you know, that's a lot of hard work. There are plenty of other body parts that are easier to lift and easier to display afterwards. Larry McMurtry would have gotten it right. Hell, Bill the Butcher would have gotten it right. ("Ears and noses will be the trophies of the day.") But this guy can't be bothered. He's too busy signaling virtue and woke-ness every third paragraph.
Basically it's a five star tale of adventure, with plenty of battles, torture, and suspense. But I subtract a star because a guy who can write like Robert E. Howard or Edgar Rice Burroughs should never demean his talent and talk down to his audience with tired, stale, Anna Quindlen pieties.
In this future world, technology has failed, the oil is all gone, and America has become a steamy jungle patrolled by savage guerillas in an endless civil war. Think the Mekong Delta, circa 1968. But of course, the author is a douche-bag. So our soldiers can't be heroes! No, no, the Chinese are the heroes of this book. The real 'Muricans who fight back are flayed raw, over and over, as a bitter basket of deplorables who *literally* "cling to their guns and their religion." I can't tell you how insufferable I find this kind of thing. I mean, this guy really knows how to signal virtue. And he does it over and over, with no sense of humor and no sense of irony. The boy soldiers are all pitiful victims. The commanders are all screaming martinets. The Chinese are all saintly peacekeepers. Dr. Mahfuz is a good Muslim. It's not just offensive, it's predictable. And it's deadly dull.
Of course this douche-bag Bagalupi, or Bagalupo, is a total rip off artist. Tool, the half-man, half-beast super-soldier, is a compelling character. But he runs around in a sporty sweatshirt that says, "Stolen from Island of Dr. Moreau Athletic Department." I mean, this guy really IS "part-man, part beast." And watching him rip whole platoons of boy soldiers apart is fun. (The author hates soldiers, but violence seems to excite him!) The only problem is, whenever our boy Tool opens his mouth, he sounds less like Frankenstein's monster, all growly and savage, and more like Brian on FAMILY GUY. Like they say on Futurama, not only can he talk . . . he can pontificate!
Now there's a lot of torture in this book. The author seems to get off on it. But not in an honest, open, Fallen Nature of Man way, like Anthony Burgess. And not in an honest, open, my grandpa's pa saw it happen way, like Larry McMurtry. This guy wants to condemn violence and revel in it at the same time, and that's contemptible. Worse than that, it's kid stuff. You get the impression this author hasn't experienced much violence in real life, or much of anything else either. Case in point, he likes to talk about how the boy soldiers cut off the hands and feet of every enemy they kill. And you know, that's a lot of hard work. There are plenty of other body parts that are easier to lift and easier to display afterwards. Larry McMurtry would have gotten it right. Hell, Bill the Butcher would have gotten it right. ("Ears and noses will be the trophies of the day.") But this guy can't be bothered. He's too busy signaling virtue and woke-ness every third paragraph.
Basically it's a five star tale of adventure, with plenty of battles, torture, and suspense. But I subtract a star because a guy who can write like Robert E. Howard or Edgar Rice Burroughs should never demean his talent and talk down to his audience with tired, stale, Anna Quindlen pieties.
June 20, 2012
I thought this was fantastic. I love this kind of gritty, hard-hitting, fearless YA...well, I think it's YA. I don't know if it's YA. I don't care. It was a great read. It was a little explain-y but that was overshadowed by the wonderful characters and their plights. Good good stuff.
February 22, 2012
(review duplicates what I posted on LJ)
I loved Paolo Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker, the story of Nailer, a boy who works stripping ancient oil tankers in a globally warmed futureworld, whose life changes when he and his friend Pima discover a shipwrecked luxury clipper. The world was vivid, and the characters were wonderful, so I was very excited to be entrusted with an advance copy of The Drowned Cities, which the publisher describes as a companion to Ship Breaker.
The Drowned Cities does share one character with Ship Breaker (Tool, a genetically engineered “half-man”), but it is a very different sort of story. Despite its bleak setting, I found Ship Breaker to be a very hopeful story. It was about, among other things, building families and establishing trust, and about people’s ability to escape from what genetics or circumstance dictates is their lot in life. The Drowned Cities, by contrast, explores how no one in a war zone can escape the black-hole pull of the carnage. You think you have morals and ideals you would hold true to, no matter what? You think at the very least you’d protect your loved ones to the death? You concede that you might do some things to survive, but not other things? The Drowned Cities begs to differ.
The protagonists, Mahlia and Mouse, are younger than Ship Breaker’s Nailer, but their lives are an order of magnitude harsher—which is saying something. They live near drowned Washington DC, which has become the stomping grounds of regional militias reminiscent of Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front and Uganda’s terrifying Lord’s Resistance Army, complete with child soldiers, civilian massacres, and amputations. Mahlia’s the offspring of a long-gone Chinese peacekeeper father and a local mother (now dead) who made her living selling off the cultural patrimony of the former United States. Mouse is a war orphan.
The more you identify with Mahlia and Mouse—and Bacigalupi portrays them warmly and thoroughly, so it’s easy to identify with them—the more inescapable your participation in the wartime horrors they experience (and create). It forces a kind of radical humility and empathy: there but for chance of birth go any of us.
Of course, universal as the human capacity for atrocity is, we are actually culturally specific in the ways we brutalize each other: Pol Pot’s child soldiers aren’t precisely interchangeable with Charles Taylor’s, any more than the Armenian genocide is interchangeable with the Rwandan one, so really I suspect that warlord conflicts in a failed-state United States would have a somewhat less Sierra Leonean flavor than they do in The Drowned Cities, just as I suspect Chinese peacekeepers’ encouraging posters would be more like the four-character political slogans we see in China today—things like “One Country, Two Systems” rather than “beat your swords into plowshares” and “only animals tear each other apart,” which are among the examples given in The Drowned Cities.
Still, that’s a quibble, and since part of Bacigalupi’s intention is to make us identify with real-world conflicts that we’d like to distance ourselves from, I can accept the scenario he’s created.
The story also contrasts actions based on abstract ideas with actions based on personal, human relationships. War is hell, and even personal, human relationships won’t guarantee that you won’t end up betraying someone or being betrayed, but action based on friendship and love is shown as infinitely superior to actions that are prompted by abstractions—even abstractions that we think of as good. Kindly Dr. Mahfouz, a pacifist doctor who has sheltered the children, is ruled by his ideals, but it means his sense of compassion stops abruptly when he’s confronted with Tool, who, as a creature engineered for war, falls outside his moral framework. Mahlia, who’s not encumbered by a moral framework, is able to respond to Tool as a person. Self-interest affects her actions, but that’s not a bad thing, in the Drowned Cities.
What hope there is in The Drowned Cities comes from people recognizing one another’s humanity and reaching out to one another on a personal, individual level—rather than treating one another as members of some category: half-man, wartime castoff child, soldier boy. The relationships that Mouse and Mahlia have, at separate points in the story, with the youthful Sergeant Ocho are all about perceiving and fanning the humanity in one another. Seeing it happen makes you-the-reader stop and ponder what comprises humanity, what it means to be human, and what it means to love one another.
This is a harrowing book. It’s not fun. But it’s powerful, very, very thought-provoking, and, in the end, humane. Although no one is immune to degradation, no one is so low that they can’t be lifted up, if someone reaches out a hand and if they’re willing to take it. That’s a profoundly hopeful truth to discover amid the horror, and I’m grateful for it. I’m very glad to have read The Drowned Cities, and I highly recommend it--just be prepared for what you’re getting into.
[Edited to add...] There are other things I wanted to say--things I especially liked (Mouse's transformation: that was one of the things that gripped me most in the book), things I had reservations about (Tool's character: he seemed less his own person in this and more a type than in Ship Breaker), and things I initially had reservations about but ended up liking (Dr. Mahfouz's decision referenced above; certain things about Mahlia). But you know, a review that covered **all** that would be really long. And it's hard to discuss any of this without causing spoilers, and since the book isn't out yet, those are an especial no-no. So here we are.
I loved Paolo Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker, the story of Nailer, a boy who works stripping ancient oil tankers in a globally warmed futureworld, whose life changes when he and his friend Pima discover a shipwrecked luxury clipper. The world was vivid, and the characters were wonderful, so I was very excited to be entrusted with an advance copy of The Drowned Cities, which the publisher describes as a companion to Ship Breaker.
The Drowned Cities does share one character with Ship Breaker (Tool, a genetically engineered “half-man”), but it is a very different sort of story. Despite its bleak setting, I found Ship Breaker to be a very hopeful story. It was about, among other things, building families and establishing trust, and about people’s ability to escape from what genetics or circumstance dictates is their lot in life. The Drowned Cities, by contrast, explores how no one in a war zone can escape the black-hole pull of the carnage. You think you have morals and ideals you would hold true to, no matter what? You think at the very least you’d protect your loved ones to the death? You concede that you might do some things to survive, but not other things? The Drowned Cities begs to differ.
The protagonists, Mahlia and Mouse, are younger than Ship Breaker’s Nailer, but their lives are an order of magnitude harsher—which is saying something. They live near drowned Washington DC, which has become the stomping grounds of regional militias reminiscent of Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front and Uganda’s terrifying Lord’s Resistance Army, complete with child soldiers, civilian massacres, and amputations. Mahlia’s the offspring of a long-gone Chinese peacekeeper father and a local mother (now dead) who made her living selling off the cultural patrimony of the former United States. Mouse is a war orphan.
The more you identify with Mahlia and Mouse—and Bacigalupi portrays them warmly and thoroughly, so it’s easy to identify with them—the more inescapable your participation in the wartime horrors they experience (and create). It forces a kind of radical humility and empathy: there but for chance of birth go any of us.
Of course, universal as the human capacity for atrocity is, we are actually culturally specific in the ways we brutalize each other: Pol Pot’s child soldiers aren’t precisely interchangeable with Charles Taylor’s, any more than the Armenian genocide is interchangeable with the Rwandan one, so really I suspect that warlord conflicts in a failed-state United States would have a somewhat less Sierra Leonean flavor than they do in The Drowned Cities, just as I suspect Chinese peacekeepers’ encouraging posters would be more like the four-character political slogans we see in China today—things like “One Country, Two Systems” rather than “beat your swords into plowshares” and “only animals tear each other apart,” which are among the examples given in The Drowned Cities.
Still, that’s a quibble, and since part of Bacigalupi’s intention is to make us identify with real-world conflicts that we’d like to distance ourselves from, I can accept the scenario he’s created.
The story also contrasts actions based on abstract ideas with actions based on personal, human relationships. War is hell, and even personal, human relationships won’t guarantee that you won’t end up betraying someone or being betrayed, but action based on friendship and love is shown as infinitely superior to actions that are prompted by abstractions—even abstractions that we think of as good. Kindly Dr. Mahfouz, a pacifist doctor who has sheltered the children, is ruled by his ideals, but it means his sense of compassion stops abruptly when he’s confronted with Tool, who, as a creature engineered for war, falls outside his moral framework. Mahlia, who’s not encumbered by a moral framework, is able to respond to Tool as a person. Self-interest affects her actions, but that’s not a bad thing, in the Drowned Cities.
What hope there is in The Drowned Cities comes from people recognizing one another’s humanity and reaching out to one another on a personal, individual level—rather than treating one another as members of some category: half-man, wartime castoff child, soldier boy. The relationships that Mouse and Mahlia have, at separate points in the story, with the youthful Sergeant Ocho are all about perceiving and fanning the humanity in one another. Seeing it happen makes you-the-reader stop and ponder what comprises humanity, what it means to be human, and what it means to love one another.
This is a harrowing book. It’s not fun. But it’s powerful, very, very thought-provoking, and, in the end, humane. Although no one is immune to degradation, no one is so low that they can’t be lifted up, if someone reaches out a hand and if they’re willing to take it. That’s a profoundly hopeful truth to discover amid the horror, and I’m grateful for it. I’m very glad to have read The Drowned Cities, and I highly recommend it--just be prepared for what you’re getting into.
[Edited to add...] There are other things I wanted to say--things I especially liked (Mouse's transformation: that was one of the things that gripped me most in the book), things I had reservations about (Tool's character: he seemed less his own person in this and more a type than in Ship Breaker), and things I initially had reservations about but ended up liking (Dr. Mahfouz's decision referenced above; certain things about Mahlia). But you know, a review that covered **all** that would be really long. And it's hard to discuss any of this without causing spoilers, and since the book isn't out yet, those are an especial no-no. So here we are.
February 4, 2023
Περιπέτεια επιστημονικής φαντασίας με αγωνία και δράση, σαν να βλέπεις ταινία. Ενδιαφέρον βιβλίο αν κάποιος θέλει να περάσει χαλαρά το χρόνο του.
February 19, 2016
Η ιστορία του βιβλίου αυτού διαδραματίζεται στον ίδιο κόσμο και περίπου την ίδια εποχή με την ιστορία του βιβλίου "Νεκροταφεία καραβιών" που είναι το πρώτο της σειράς και που διάβασα τον Ιούνιο του 2014. Όμως εδώ έχουμε να κάνουμε με μια καινούργια ιστορία, διαφορετική από την πρώτη και αρκετά ανεξάρτητη, ενώ γνωρίζουμε και καινούργιους χαρακτήρες (εκτός ενός, του μεταλλαγμένου πλάσματος ονόματι Τουλ).
Βρισκόμαστε στις παρηκμασμένες Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες, κάπου κοντά στην Ουάσινγκτον, που πλέον είναι μια πόλη βυθισμένη στο χάος αλλά και το νερό. Και αυτή και άλλες πόλεις τριγύρω λέγονται Πνιγμένες Πόλεις. Σ'αυτό το τοπίο θα γνωρίσουμε την Μάλια και τον Μάους, δυο χαμίνια του πολέμου που ζουν σε μια κοινότητα στην ζούγκλα. Κάποια μέρα, σε μια εξόρμηση τους, θα βρουν μισοπεθαμένο ένα απερίγραπτο πλάσμα, ένα προϊόν βιοτεχνολογίας που δημιουργήθηκε για να σκοτώνει και να καταστρέφει -τον Τουλ. Τότε είναι που θ'αρχίσει το πραγματικό μπλέξιμο, γιατί ο Τουλ μόλις είχε αποδράσει από έναν τρελό συνταγματάρχη. Και τα δυο χαμίνια θα βρεθούν στην μέση ενός σκληρού εμφυλίου πολέμου στις Πνιγμένες Πόλεις, όπου οι περισσότεροι στρατιώτες είναι έφηβοι και μικρά παιδιά...
Έχουμε να κάνουμε με μια πολύ δυνατή και συναρπαστική περιπέτεια επιστημονικής φαντασίας, γεμάτη με δράση, βία και σκληρές εικόνες. Δεν είναι σαν κάτι αφελή νεανικά δυστοπικά μυθιστορήματα με ένα χαζορομάντζο στην μέση και πολλές ωραιοποιήσεις. Εδώ έχουμε πόνο, αίμα, μαυρίλα και πρωταγωνιστές νεαρούς εφήβους που έχουν δει και ζήσει τα πάντα. ΟΚ, η πλοκή δεν κρύβει καινούργια πράγματα στο είδος, απλά έχουμε κυνηγητά, εκρήξεις, πυροβολισμούς, ηρωισμούς, και πάει λέγοντας. Όμως ο Μπατσιγκαλούπι ασχολείται με ένα πολύ σοβαρό θέμα, αυτό των παιδιών-στρατιωτών, αλλά και του χάους και του πόνου που προκαλείται από έναν (οποιοδήποτε) πόλεμο. Η γραφή είναι πολύ καλή, άκρως ευκολοδιάβαστη και εθιστική, με ρεαλιστικές περιγραφές των σκηνών δράσης και των τοπίων. Η ατμόσφαιρα αρκετά σκοτεινή.
Γενικά πρόκειται για ένα πολύ καλό, δυνατό και σκληρό δυστοπικό μυθιστόρημα, με ενδιαφέρουσα κοσμοπλασία και μουντή ατμόσφαιρα, που ναι μεν απευθύνεται κατά κύριο λόγο σε εφήβους, όμως μπορεί να διαβαστεί μια χαρά και από μεγάλους. Αν και σαν ιστορία διαβάζεται ανεξάρτητα, προτείνω να διαβάσετε πρώτα το "Νεκροταφεία καραβιών" αν θέλετε να γνωρίσετε αυτή την σειρά. Και τα δυο βιβλία είναι πολύ ωραία και συναρπαστικά και πιστεύω ότι αξίζουν μια ματιά.
Βρισκόμαστε στις παρηκμασμένες Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες, κάπου κοντά στην Ουάσινγκτον, που πλέον είναι μια πόλη βυθισμένη στο χάος αλλά και το νερό. Και αυτή και άλλες πόλεις τριγύρω λέγονται Πνιγμένες Πόλεις. Σ'αυτό το τοπίο θα γνωρίσουμε την Μάλια και τον Μάους, δυο χαμίνια του πολέμου που ζουν σε μια κοινότητα στην ζούγκλα. Κάποια μέρα, σε μια εξόρμηση τους, θα βρουν μισοπεθαμένο ένα απερίγραπτο πλάσμα, ένα προϊόν βιοτεχνολογίας που δημιουργήθηκε για να σκοτώνει και να καταστρέφει -τον Τουλ. Τότε είναι που θ'αρχίσει το πραγματικό μπλέξιμο, γιατί ο Τουλ μόλις είχε αποδράσει από έναν τρελό συνταγματάρχη. Και τα δυο χαμίνια θα βρεθούν στην μέση ενός σκληρού εμφυλίου πολέμου στις Πνιγμένες Πόλεις, όπου οι περισσότεροι στρατιώτες είναι έφηβοι και μικρά παιδιά...
Έχουμε να κάνουμε με μια πολύ δυνατή και συναρπαστική περιπέτεια επιστημονικής φαντασίας, γεμάτη με δράση, βία και σκληρές εικόνες. Δεν είναι σαν κάτι αφελή νεανικά δυστοπικά μυθιστορήματα με ένα χαζορομάντζο στην μέση και πολλές ωραιοποιήσεις. Εδώ έχουμε πόνο, αίμα, μαυρίλα και πρωταγωνιστές νεαρούς εφήβους που έχουν δει και ζήσει τα πάντα. ΟΚ, η πλοκή δεν κρύβει καινούργια πράγματα στο είδος, απλά έχουμε κυνηγητά, εκρήξεις, πυροβολισμούς, ηρωισμούς, και πάει λέγοντας. Όμως ο Μπατσιγκαλούπι ασχολείται με ένα πολύ σοβαρό θέμα, αυτό των παιδιών-στρατιωτών, αλλά και του χάους και του πόνου που προκαλείται από έναν (οποιοδήποτε) πόλεμο. Η γραφή είναι πολύ καλή, άκρως ευκολοδιάβαστη και εθιστική, με ρεαλιστικές περιγραφές των σκηνών δράσης και των τοπίων. Η ατμόσφαιρα αρκετά σκοτεινή.
Γενικά πρόκειται για ένα πολύ καλό, δυνατό και σκληρό δυστοπικό μυθιστόρημα, με ενδιαφέρουσα κοσμοπλασία και μουντή ατμόσφαιρα, που ναι μεν απευθύνεται κατά κύριο λόγο σε εφήβους, όμως μπορεί να διαβαστεί μια χαρά και από μεγάλους. Αν και σαν ιστορία διαβάζεται ανεξάρτητα, προτείνω να διαβάσετε πρώτα το "Νεκροταφεία καραβιών" αν θέλετε να γνωρίσετε αυτή την σειρά. Και τα δυο βιβλία είναι πολύ ωραία και συναρπαστικά και πιστεύω ότι αξίζουν μια ματιά.
July 28, 2012
Generally speaking, I usually really enjoy companion books that are linked to but not direct sequels of other books.
I know that I'm supposed to love this book, and that I'm supposed to be moved by the fact that the author tackles such a heavy subject as "child soldiers"...I think I'm supposed to be able to react genuinely to the horror because, by setting the story in a dystopian future United States (the Drowned Cities are the DC metro area), we can both relate to and distance ourselves from the horror. Instead, I found myself just horrified by it. I found Ship Breaker to be more engaging and accessible, despite the fact that our main character in Drowned Cities is female while Ship Breaker's was male. Our main character, Mahlia, is so damaged by war and the treatment she has received since escaping it, that her actions are sometimes hard to follow. I root for her, but I wouldn't want to read through another book with her.
As an almost sidenote, I wasn't really sure that I agreed with the actions and choices made by Tool, who is the crossover character from Ship Breaker. I actually thought that the book was going to center around him, and was looking forward to that, so was disappointed when it switched over to Mahlia as the main voice of the book.
I know that I'm supposed to love this book, and that I'm supposed to be moved by the fact that the author tackles such a heavy subject as "child soldiers"...I think I'm supposed to be able to react genuinely to the horror because, by setting the story in a dystopian future United States (the Drowned Cities are the DC metro area), we can both relate to and distance ourselves from the horror. Instead, I found myself just horrified by it. I found Ship Breaker to be more engaging and accessible, despite the fact that our main character in Drowned Cities is female while Ship Breaker's was male. Our main character, Mahlia, is so damaged by war and the treatment she has received since escaping it, that her actions are sometimes hard to follow. I root for her, but I wouldn't want to read through another book with her.
As an almost sidenote, I wasn't really sure that I agreed with the actions and choices made by Tool, who is the crossover character from Ship Breaker. I actually thought that the book was going to center around him, and was looking forward to that, so was disappointed when it switched over to Mahlia as the main voice of the book.
April 23, 2012
Rarely does a sequel stand up beside an outstanding first book in a series and equal its quality and intensity, but this own does and more: DROWNED CITIES is actually better than SHIPBREAKER in two important ways. It maintains a breakneck speed of narrative momentum without losing fantastic characterization and writing. And even more: it requires less investment and time to get caught up than the original novel did, and because the world is the same, but the characters are different—all except Tool—even someone unfamiliar with the first novel can (and should) read this one. And what a character he is: half-man, dogface, hybrid of supercharged human DNA with hyena, tiger, and more. A seething mass of organic war machine whose escape from captors and seemingly certain death explode across the opening chapters.
Soon, though, we meet Mahlia, a “castoff,” left behind when her Chinese general peacekeeper father left her and her mother behind when the Drowned Cities and much of what’s left of the eastern seaboard of the United States falls into anarchy after global warming and the end of petroleum supplies help cast darkness over the land. Warlord armies pushed back during the reign of the peacekeeper soon take over and the “civvies” learn to cower and change allegiances to survive as best they can. Mahlia can’t hide her Chinese eyes and escapes with her lucky left hand after the Army of God soldiers claim her good right hand. Redheaded farmer boy turned scavenger Mouse saves her life that day, and the two of them find a home with Doctor Mahfouz in Banyon Town full of squats housing refugees on the border of jungle that has grown up in the swamps near the former Washington D.C., ground zero, the Drowned City. Mahfouz has come to rely on Mahlia’s to be his eyes and hands and has trained her in rudimentary medical skills.
When Tool stumbles close to Banyan Town, and the United People’s Front soldiers chase him there, Mahlia and Mouse collide with the bloody shrapnel of the Drowned Cities. No one emerges unscathed; all lose something in the breakneck sprint for survival in this brutal new world, so vividly rendered by Bacigalupi.
Soon, though, we meet Mahlia, a “castoff,” left behind when her Chinese general peacekeeper father left her and her mother behind when the Drowned Cities and much of what’s left of the eastern seaboard of the United States falls into anarchy after global warming and the end of petroleum supplies help cast darkness over the land. Warlord armies pushed back during the reign of the peacekeeper soon take over and the “civvies” learn to cower and change allegiances to survive as best they can. Mahlia can’t hide her Chinese eyes and escapes with her lucky left hand after the Army of God soldiers claim her good right hand. Redheaded farmer boy turned scavenger Mouse saves her life that day, and the two of them find a home with Doctor Mahfouz in Banyon Town full of squats housing refugees on the border of jungle that has grown up in the swamps near the former Washington D.C., ground zero, the Drowned City. Mahfouz has come to rely on Mahlia’s to be his eyes and hands and has trained her in rudimentary medical skills.
When Tool stumbles close to Banyan Town, and the United People’s Front soldiers chase him there, Mahlia and Mouse collide with the bloody shrapnel of the Drowned Cities. No one emerges unscathed; all lose something in the breakneck sprint for survival in this brutal new world, so vividly rendered by Bacigalupi.
May 20, 2012
So, I thought Ship Breaker was as close to a perfect book as there could be. And I thought this book was fast paced and breathless and dramatic. But there were some things in this that have started to grow a bit tiresome for me.
One of the things i loved the most about Ship Breaker was the suspenseful way they discovered Nita. Thinking she is dead, beginning to rob her, only to have her come to life. I also liked the way that Nita was so nebulous - was she an innocent victim? Would saving her walk them into a trap?
Unfortunately, the "psych! Not really dead" happens a few too many times in Drowned Cities. (with Tool, with Mouse, with Ocho) In fact, when Mahfouz dies I wasn't even sad because I kept thinking in a minute...."Psych! I'm not really dead."
I did enjoy the subplots, with the child soldiers, but unfortunately Ocho's transformation to hero was way too obvious, and some of the politics were handled kind of clunkily as well.
It's a great adventure story, but not a great literary book, like I truly considered Ship Breaker.
One of the things i loved the most about Ship Breaker was the suspenseful way they discovered Nita. Thinking she is dead, beginning to rob her, only to have her come to life. I also liked the way that Nita was so nebulous - was she an innocent victim? Would saving her walk them into a trap?
Unfortunately, the "psych! Not really dead" happens a few too many times in Drowned Cities. (with Tool, with Mouse, with Ocho) In fact, when Mahfouz dies I wasn't even sad because I kept thinking in a minute...."Psych! I'm not really dead."
I did enjoy the subplots, with the child soldiers, but unfortunately Ocho's transformation to hero was way too obvious, and some of the politics were handled kind of clunkily as well.
It's a great adventure story, but not a great literary book, like I truly considered Ship Breaker.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 25, 2012
I'll read pretty much anything by this author at this point. Drowned Cities takes place in the same world as Shipbreaker, but there are no crossover characters except Tool. Tool is pretty damn cool, and I want more about him. Hard to tell whether this came before or after Shipbreaker timeline-wise.
Our main character is Mahlia. Her father was Chinese military who came to the Drowned Cities (near Washington DC after flooding destroyed much of it) to try to stop the collapse of American society into tribalism and civil war. The Chinese failed in that task, and Mahlia is a "cast-off", one of the family members left behind a la Saigon when the Chinese got out in a hurry. She's hard and struggling to survive in a refugee village in the jungle with her friend Mouse. Her benefactor is a doctor who helped save her life after a para-military unit cut off her hand.
Sound much like YA so far? This story could easily have been marketed for adults-only: the author doesn't pull many punches. In fact, one of the few concessions he makes is allowing Tool and Mahlia to have any relationship at all- it's likely that in this grim world, he would have killed her without thinking about it. I used to live near DC, and the way he wrote the ruined, looted city hurt my heart.
This story is another examination of morality- when is it right to fight for others, and when do you save yourself? I'm not sure the question was answered to my satisfaction. It's also an indictment of the futility of war and partisanship. Ideals vs. greed. Lots to chew on here, quite an achievement.
The only critique I've got is the plot doesn't give a lot of time for set-up- things happen quickly. I could have used more book in order to explore these issues more thoroughly. Develop relationships, expand upon conflicts. I wonder a bit why the author is sticking with YA when clearly these issues could have been written more deeply, although he accomplishes a lot. I'm pretty sure it's got to do with a 3 book contract for this series. I hope he has time to write other things, too.
More, please!
Our main character is Mahlia. Her father was Chinese military who came to the Drowned Cities (near Washington DC after flooding destroyed much of it) to try to stop the collapse of American society into tribalism and civil war. The Chinese failed in that task, and Mahlia is a "cast-off", one of the family members left behind a la Saigon when the Chinese got out in a hurry. She's hard and struggling to survive in a refugee village in the jungle with her friend Mouse. Her benefactor is a doctor who helped save her life after a para-military unit cut off her hand.
Sound much like YA so far? This story could easily have been marketed for adults-only: the author doesn't pull many punches. In fact, one of the few concessions he makes is allowing Tool and Mahlia to have any relationship at all- it's likely that in this grim world, he would have killed her without thinking about it. I used to live near DC, and the way he wrote the ruined, looted city hurt my heart.
This story is another examination of morality- when is it right to fight for others, and when do you save yourself? I'm not sure the question was answered to my satisfaction. It's also an indictment of the futility of war and partisanship. Ideals vs. greed. Lots to chew on here, quite an achievement.
The only critique I've got is the plot doesn't give a lot of time for set-up- things happen quickly. I could have used more book in order to explore these issues more thoroughly. Develop relationships, expand upon conflicts. I wonder a bit why the author is sticking with YA when clearly these issues could have been written more deeply, although he accomplishes a lot. I'm pretty sure it's got to do with a 3 book contract for this series. I hope he has time to write other things, too.
More, please!
October 8, 2012
While reading Paolo Bacigalupi's The Drowned Cities, I found myself wondering whether a young adult SFF novel can discuss child soldiers.
I've seen young adult authors tackle emotionally charged themes before. John Green considers suicide and its impact on the survivors in Looking for Alaska, while Sarah Dessen manages to discuss battery in Dreamland quite well.
I'd normally expect SFF to be excellent at taking on big ideas, regardless of how emotionally charged they are. What SFF does tends to do very well is take a controversial issue and remove it from our immediate emotional reactions through allegory.
Another thing that SFF does very well? It presents violence as entertainment.
In The Drowned Cities, we have a genetically modified creature, Tool, who is one part wolf, one part human, one part other dangerous animal parts. When the novel begins, Tool is injured and on the run. But he is still deadly enough to take out soldier after soldier.
He meets Mahlia, a girl studying to become a doctor. She has already lost one hand to the violence of the Drowned Cities. When Mahlia's best friend is abducted by a local warlord's gang, Mahlia's friend is forced to become a child soldier. He is given drugs, a weapon, and instructions to kill.
In real life, these children are also fed movies that glorify violence.
Bacigalupi walks a fine line trying not to glorify violence, but this plot is ultimately a rescue mission whose climax will pit Tool against the child soldiers and their abductors. The climax of the story is the part we are meant to look forward to.
And while reading The Drowned Cities, I found myself waiting for the final battle -- anticipating it -- and wrestling with whether that was a good thing. It made for an unusual reading experience, but these doubts kept it from becoming an engrossing one.
I've seen young adult authors tackle emotionally charged themes before. John Green considers suicide and its impact on the survivors in Looking for Alaska, while Sarah Dessen manages to discuss battery in Dreamland quite well.
I'd normally expect SFF to be excellent at taking on big ideas, regardless of how emotionally charged they are. What SFF does tends to do very well is take a controversial issue and remove it from our immediate emotional reactions through allegory.
Another thing that SFF does very well? It presents violence as entertainment.
In The Drowned Cities, we have a genetically modified creature, Tool, who is one part wolf, one part human, one part other dangerous animal parts. When the novel begins, Tool is injured and on the run. But he is still deadly enough to take out soldier after soldier.
He meets Mahlia, a girl studying to become a doctor. She has already lost one hand to the violence of the Drowned Cities. When Mahlia's best friend is abducted by a local warlord's gang, Mahlia's friend is forced to become a child soldier. He is given drugs, a weapon, and instructions to kill.
In real life, these children are also fed movies that glorify violence.
Bacigalupi walks a fine line trying not to glorify violence, but this plot is ultimately a rescue mission whose climax will pit Tool against the child soldiers and their abductors. The climax of the story is the part we are meant to look forward to.
And while reading The Drowned Cities, I found myself waiting for the final battle -- anticipating it -- and wrestling with whether that was a good thing. It made for an unusual reading experience, but these doubts kept it from becoming an engrossing one.
April 5, 2016
A finished copy was provided by the publisher for review.
What does it mean when the one person you value most in the world is taken from you? You fight back of course. And that’s what Mahlia does. Mahlia is so unbelievably stubborn. She just does what she wants and most times she gets in trouble when she makes the wrong decisions.
Omg! Intense and heart pounding! I love this one. Half men are scary as heck! Can you imagine a human with coyote, dog and tiger genes running through his veins? That’s what Tool is. But in reality he is so much more that a tool for violence. He has moral standards and his freedom to not have a master is quite compelling.
The setting is so bleak and discarded just like Shipbreaker and you can’t help but feel for the people who live in their world. War is their livelihood, and it’s too sad and depressing to read about child soldiers in this book when you very well know it still appears in reality. The hardships, and battles these children go through makes you wonder what it’s like to be living in a society ripped apart by war. Excellent writing Mr. Bacigalupi! I could have sworn this book could be just as exciting for adults as it is for teenagers!
What does it mean when the one person you value most in the world is taken from you? You fight back of course. And that’s what Mahlia does. Mahlia is so unbelievably stubborn. She just does what she wants and most times she gets in trouble when she makes the wrong decisions.
Omg! Intense and heart pounding! I love this one. Half men are scary as heck! Can you imagine a human with coyote, dog and tiger genes running through his veins? That’s what Tool is. But in reality he is so much more that a tool for violence. He has moral standards and his freedom to not have a master is quite compelling.
The setting is so bleak and discarded just like Shipbreaker and you can’t help but feel for the people who live in their world. War is their livelihood, and it’s too sad and depressing to read about child soldiers in this book when you very well know it still appears in reality. The hardships, and battles these children go through makes you wonder what it’s like to be living in a society ripped apart by war. Excellent writing Mr. Bacigalupi! I could have sworn this book could be just as exciting for adults as it is for teenagers!
Want to read
February 15, 2011I want to read this because it is the sequal to "Ship Breaker" and I thought that it was a good book
June 13, 2018
Страшенно бридка пригодницька фантастика - не відірватися просто, прочитала за добу, навіть менше. Але Бачігалупі таке добре вміє. Це книжка про підлітків на війні. Такій, що громадянською її назвати занадто ввічливо - кланово-бандова, ближче до цього. А підлітки... А підлітки місцями нонкомбатанти, які шукають будь-які шляхи, аби лише вижити посеред палаючого пекла. Або солдатики, які знають, як виживати, але це теж дао сильно не для всіх.
А, ну і для контексту: кілька десятиліть чи то вже навіть століть екології настав йок (див. "Водоріз"), популярним джерелам енергії - читаємо "вуглеводням" - настав йок, тому люди або якось виживають за рахунок решток (див. "Руйнівник кораблів"), або освоюють альтернативи (див. "Механічну дівчину"). Там, де рівень світового океану і стабільності суспільства дозволив - там життя, генетичні експерименти, елементи антиутопічної реальності. А де ні - там цивілізації йок. От "Затонулі міста" - це про йок цивілізації і звичного способу мислення. Бачігалупі взагалі любить тему: "А хто сказав, що діти, які зростатимуть у невідворотньо зміненому світі, будуть нашими братами за етикою?". Так і тут: є однорука напівкровка Малія, яку батько-миротворець не став забирати із собою в Китай, з її програмою "Втікати і виживати", є милий хлопчик Миш, чия невибита життям шляхетність ще вийде йому боком, є солдатики і є певна кількість дорослих. Здебільшого дуже неприємних. А, ще є Тул, але він не зовсім людина, і з війною у нього інакші стосунки. Ну, і головне - є війна, вогонь і дуже багато крові. У нас підліткову фантастичку наразі так не пишуть. А от років за 5-10-15-20 - можуть написати, і то так, що тексти американця Бачігалупі нервово зблякнуть. Тільки такою ціною, що ну його нафіг.
А, ну і для контексту: кілька десятиліть чи то вже навіть століть екології настав йок (див. "Водоріз"), популярним джерелам енергії - читаємо "вуглеводням" - настав йок, тому люди або якось виживають за рахунок решток (див. "Руйнівник кораблів"), або освоюють альтернативи (див. "Механічну дівчину"). Там, де рівень світового океану і стабільності суспільства дозволив - там життя, генетичні експерименти, елементи антиутопічної реальності. А де ні - там цивілізації йок. От "Затонулі міста" - це про йок цивілізації і звичного способу мислення. Бачігалупі взагалі любить тему: "А хто сказав, що діти, які зростатимуть у невідворотньо зміненому світі, будуть нашими братами за етикою?". Так і тут: є однорука напівкровка Малія, яку батько-миротворець не став забирати із собою в Китай, з її програмою "Втікати і виживати", є милий хлопчик Миш, чия невибита життям шляхетність ще вийде йому боком, є солдатики і є певна кількість дорослих. Здебільшого дуже неприємних. А, ще є Тул, але він не зовсім людина, і з війною у нього інакші стосунки. Ну, і головне - є війна, вогонь і дуже багато крові. У нас підліткову фантастичку наразі так не пишуть. А от років за 5-10-15-20 - можуть написати, і то так, що тексти американця Бачігалупі нервово зблякнуть. Тільки такою ціною, що ну його нафіг.
April 10, 2018
Hmm, I'm conflicted on book 2 of this trilogy. I feel like it's a GOOD book, but I didn't really LIKE it, if that makes sense. It was less adventure than the first one, and more just....grungy and depressing. It felt a little bit drawn out at times, and I think this would have been a three star book for me but then it pulled together at the end with a burst of action. Unfortunately, that ending made me want to know what happens to THESE characters, when I suspect book 3 doesn't follow the same characters. I'm going to give book 3 a shot, but I'm feeling a little pessimistic. Again, this is a good series, but I'm not sure that it's my cup of tea.
July 9, 2020
The series continues its story with a seemingly minor character, which in retrospect turns out to be both the once removed storyteller as well as the symbol of the period. The story exposes some of the more raw sides of war-zones and the darker sides of mankind. We follow the life of some of the survivors, which managed to relatively maintain their humanity as it is put once again into the test. Will they again be the victim of war or its masters?
November 10, 2025
Los gusanos de guerra sobreviven como pueden evitando a los soldados embarcados en una guerra fratricida desde hace años. Cruzarse con un aumentado moribundo puede ser su suerte definitiva para bien o para mal.
Desesperanzadora, dura y apocalíptica. El problema de esta obra que el escenario que plantea no parece lejano dada la deriva que llevamos. Personajes muy interesantes.
Desesperanzadora, dura y apocalíptica. El problema de esta obra que el escenario que plantea no parece lejano dada la deriva que llevamos. Personajes muy interesantes.
June 24, 2012
Ship Breakers was a bit slow and took a while before I was anything more than just flipping pages; only much later, after the people in it had themselves wrapped around me, did I give a fig. Reading DROWNED CITIES was a little bit like that, only better. Things went fast, that for sure. There’s a girl and there’s and boy; and they each have each other; there’s a doctor who’s too good to be true… and when things start happening and someone’s about to die, I was split between her keep your head down philosophy and the Doctor’s more kind world view.
The people in this one are so much more than you think they are; they’re certainly more than what they gave each other credit: Mahlia and Mouse, the Doctor and Tool. Then the fact that they had enemies of the conventional kind in those who didn’t trust her; and in those she couldn’t trust. One in particular called for more specific consideration; the same one who was considering her right back. Then there’s one who’s bat shit crazy, terrifying in his particular brand of it.
Is it a boy book? Perhaps. There’s certainly more blood being shed, limbs being hacked off, and skin being branded than what I’ve come across of late. But what it really is, is conflict and what that does to people as well as what that has them do. Never is this more obvious than with Mouse. It’s him in it that added a touch of frightening. I was frightened for him. Initially, he’s second fiddle to Mahlia who’s personality just jumped out at you from the page. He’s the good kid, doing what’s right, smoothing things out for her; otherwise, it would all have been rough and fighting and confrontations with her.
Mostly it’s Mahlia being loyal, sticking her head out though initially reluctant to do so then turning a leaf and being all in all because of a boy and not once in the romantic sense (And I love this book all them more for that last fact.) This was a lot about knowing who’s yours and doing what’s called for… for her at least, because time again there’s someone insisting (herself at first) that it’s best to keep your head down and not make waves.
All that’s made even more interesting with Tool in the mix; he added that something extra for me. His thoughts, his words… were that extra something making this more than a girl trying to get by. With him in the picture, things felt more uncertain. From her point of view, hell, from anyone’s point of view, he’s a violent, volatile variable. But more, it being indefinable why he is where he is and why he’s doing what he’s doing.
This read so much more interesting than the first; I got pulled into the story much more quickly. With it offering a lot of things to mull over with a girl who keeps her head down and a boy who doesn’t; food for thought on doing what’s right versus doing what’s safe. I loved it; I even admit to getting teary over one or two moments in it.
4.5/5
The people in this one are so much more than you think they are; they’re certainly more than what they gave each other credit: Mahlia and Mouse, the Doctor and Tool. Then the fact that they had enemies of the conventional kind in those who didn’t trust her; and in those she couldn’t trust. One in particular called for more specific consideration; the same one who was considering her right back. Then there’s one who’s bat shit crazy, terrifying in his particular brand of it.
Is it a boy book? Perhaps. There’s certainly more blood being shed, limbs being hacked off, and skin being branded than what I’ve come across of late. But what it really is, is conflict and what that does to people as well as what that has them do. Never is this more obvious than with Mouse. It’s him in it that added a touch of frightening. I was frightened for him. Initially, he’s second fiddle to Mahlia who’s personality just jumped out at you from the page. He’s the good kid, doing what’s right, smoothing things out for her; otherwise, it would all have been rough and fighting and confrontations with her.
Mostly it’s Mahlia being loyal, sticking her head out though initially reluctant to do so then turning a leaf and being all in all because of a boy and not once in the romantic sense (And I love this book all them more for that last fact.) This was a lot about knowing who’s yours and doing what’s called for… for her at least, because time again there’s someone insisting (herself at first) that it’s best to keep your head down and not make waves.
All that’s made even more interesting with Tool in the mix; he added that something extra for me. His thoughts, his words… were that extra something making this more than a girl trying to get by. With him in the picture, things felt more uncertain. From her point of view, hell, from anyone’s point of view, he’s a violent, volatile variable. But more, it being indefinable why he is where he is and why he’s doing what he’s doing.
This read so much more interesting than the first; I got pulled into the story much more quickly. With it offering a lot of things to mull over with a girl who keeps her head down and a boy who doesn’t; food for thought on doing what’s right versus doing what’s safe. I loved it; I even admit to getting teary over one or two moments in it.
4.5/5
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