The Drowned Cities (Ship Breaker)

As our technological, energy intensive way of life shows evermore how unsustainable it is, I enjoy reading stories about how the future may really unfold. The Drowned Cities looks ahead to a warm, de-industrial world in collapse. A good read.

After reading Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker and Wind-Up Girl, I jumped at the chance to preview the first eleven chapters of his new book...and can hardly wait for the remainder of the book. His vision of the water world of the future seems like a looming reality...especially with "Sandy" as a reminder.

One of the more powerful books I've read recently. The child soldier aspect really got my attention. His world weave is very believable. I have no trouble believing that Washington D.C. could be overrun by oceans and so called Armies of God.

obviously aimed at the young adult market (that age is long faded in my rear-view mirror) but well written and more complex by far than much else of that genre. If I were 14 y.o. I'd likely be giving it 4 or 5 stars. recommend

I continue to be impressed with Bacigalupi's world-building and characterization. it was disorienting to read of such a well-thought out apocalyptic scene in a place so familiar and close to home. It seemed super possible.

Shipbreaker was inventive, thought-provoking & filled with masterful, bone-chilling suspense. The Drowned Cities followed suit. Where is the rest of the book? The anticipation is has created an expectation of a resounding success for Bacigalupi...so, where is the rest of it??

I really enjoyed "Ship Breaker", as an old welder who has been in some tight spaces on commercial vessels here on the gulf coast the book brought back memories......one of them being how it feels when the invincibility of youth feeling runs head on to the stark reality that a foolish choice could get me killed. Mr. Bacigalupi has the ability to write scenes that build in tension and uncertainty, and the characters he's created are pushed to their physical and mental limits to survive in a post apocalyptic, diminished America.
This book started out well for me, with the reappearance of "Tool", and the introduction of Mahlia and Mouse. Not to give away the story, but their bond forged from escaping death and trying to hold on to a shaky semblance of security is going to be the driving force of this story, kids who were forced to grow up by the horrors of a mindless war.
After a few chapters, I began to get the feeling that the author was becoming more interested in correlating his story with current issues, especially the partisan rhetoric that has become the daily staple of today's media, both right and left wing. The final chapters left no doubt, as the bad guys became caricatures of right wing villains and the story was completely predictable. I have love for neither party, I think they are both complicit and depend on each other and the rivalry to survive, but I am especially annoyed when I realize a book I'm reading for relaxation and escape begins to take on tones of propaganda for a political ideologue. And that's what happened in this book, to my surprise and disappointment. He can do better, I hope he does.

Welcome back to Paolo Bacigalupi's world... The Drowned Cities is a fantastic book for all ages that reminds me of why I love reading. If you liked Ship Breaker, you will love this book. If you haven't read Ship Breaker yet, then do yourself a favor and start now.

The only question is, when can we get the rest of the book on Kindle?

"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.

First Impressions: Paolo Bacigalupi's novel, Ship Breaker, was incredible! For anyone who has not already read the book, you are totally missing out! The Drowned Cities was high on my list of must-reads for this year since I loved the first book so much. This author has an amazing talent and I knew that he would be able to write a wonderful companion novel to Ship Breaker. I have to say that I think I like the cover art more on this book as well. Paolo really takes the dystopian genre to a whole new level!

First 50 Pages: I would be hesitant to suggest reading The Drowned Cities to a younger reader. This book like the last is dark and gritty all the way around. The setting is dark, there is some cursing and drug use, the characters are highly flawed, and there are some sexual bits thrown in for good measure. So if any of those things make you feel uncomfortable, you may want to pass on reading this book. However, what I love about this book is that it is plausible and the hope for the characters isn't completely lost even though the conditions everyone faces are extremely drab. You don't have to look very far to find all of the good messages this book contains.

Paolo's writing is fabulous as usual in The Drowned Cities, which for me, was expected. The pacing of the book seemed to run well, although I think that this book had much more action then the last. Just know that the author doesn't hold back when describing anything, so you get all of the dirty little details about everything gruesome and disgusting. I also think that both genders will love this book, as well as adult readers. I know that once I picked it up, it was so difficult to put back down. A lot of people felt that the first book was more geared towards boys, but I disagree. Girls like lots of action too!

Characters & Plot: The Drowned Cities takes place in an area that was formally known as Washington, DC and has two main characters, orphans Mahlia and Mouse. Washington, DC is hardly recognizable and it is one of the best aspects of this novel. The way that the author describes everything in great detail really makes the story come alive.

Mahlia is the daughter of a peacekeeper. When the peacekeepers came to the United States to try to end the civil war, they eventually abandoned the country and their attempt at peace failed. Mahlia ended up captured by a group called the Army of God who cut off one of her hands. Luckily for Mahlia, before this group could do any more damage to her, a boy named Mouse comes and rescues her. I was instantly able to connect with Mahlia and I felt horrible for her because of everything that she had to go through in order to survive.

Mouse is a boy whose parents died in the war and takes Mahlia into a refugee camp after her capture. If that wasn't interesting enough, things become even more intense when the United Patriot Front show up to track down a human called Tool, who had been genetically advanced to become the perfect solider. Tool is indeed around the area and after a battle with the soldiers (who are all basically teens), Mahlia and Mouse take him under their wings because he is wounded. What happens next is a wild ride through the jungles of the Drowned Cities with a ton of action, and of course, more guts and gore.

Tool is the only character from Ship Breaker that shows up in The Drowned Cities, which is awesome because that means you really don't have to read Ship Breaker in order to understand what happens in this book, although the first book is really good, so you should read it before this one. One thing that I appreciated overall was the way each character changes from the beginning of the book until the end. Mouse makes the most obvious changes in my opinion. He wasn't my favorite character at first, but he was by the ending.

Final Thoughts: War takes center stage in The Drowned Cities and this book is sure to make you sit up and think about what you read long after you have finished reading. The effects of war, especially on children, are a major theme that runs through this story. War can make people change into something that they never thought they could be and morals can become questionable. Everything that you thought about how the world works becomes turned upside down. The war aspect of this book felt very real to me in a very creepy and powerful way.

I can't really recommend reading this book enough. It was superb and quite frankly, it was one of the most powerful and thought-provoking novels I have read ever. I foresee grand things in store for this author in the future!

This is a frighteningly believable future skilfully created by Paolo Bacigalupi.

In this future, sea levels and temperatures have risen dramatically and much of the action centres around a ruined Washington DC (never named as such, but this gradually becomes evident) where roads have been replaced by waterways, dangerous wild beasts prowl, and the child soldiers of various militias wreak atrocities on all and sundry in their warlords' battle for power. These child soldiers are similar to those of Charles Taylor and the other Liberian warlords or of Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, and it is all too easy in the context of this account to accept the reality of a future where these atrocities are taking place in mainland USA rather than distant Africa. In a striking parallel to the USA involvement in Viet Nam and other more recent debacles, the Chinese Government had for several years tried to create order through an occupying army, offering economic assistance, before being forced into dramatic precipitous retreat by the various militias and anyone linked to this Chinese colonial occupation is now despised.

In this book we follow the main characters in their search for meaning and survival through this terrible war zone:
Mahlia, the "cast off" girl, daughter of a Chinese soldier.
Mouse, the orphaned farm boy,
Tool, the "augment", part man, dog, hyena, tiger, genetically modified for combat, who appeared previously in "Shipbreaker".
Ocho, the child sergeant.

I do not usually choose to read books such as this, where the future reality is so unrelentingly grim. About a year ago I read "The Windup Girl" and "Shipbreaker", and, though I respected the writing, had decided against reading further. However, I eventually succumbed to curiosity and had to read this book. I found it very readable, and got through most of it in two sittings. Although all the action takes place in a world of casual cruelty, I did not feel that this was embroidered sadistically, rather it was simply part of the narrative. I preferred this book to the previous two, perhaps because I was already familiar with this future reality from the earlier ones. I am glad I read this book. Paolo Bacigalupi certainly knows how to write.

Bacigalupi's second YA novel is far stronger than his first, in every sense. For plausible dystopias, the world it shares with Ship Breaker beats The Hunger Games's venue all hollow: it is, as Gene Wolfe once put it, a do-nothing future, at least for the United States. The oceans have risen, the jungles have moved north, and the United States is in a state of permanent, and meaningless, civil war, largely fought by child soldiers. The Chinese peacekeeping forces who came to stabilize America have given up and gone home, and our only foreign trade is scavenge -- scraps of the past (our present, which is referred to as the Accelerated Age).

It is not a pleasant thought that this is an all-too-likely vision of our future.

Mahlia and her friend Mouse have escaped from the Drowned City that we can recognize as Washington, D.C., and joined a small farming community where they are, at best, tolerated. They are "war maggots," and, worse, Mahlia is half-Chinese, which marks her as a "castoff" left behind when the peacekeepers pulled out.

Into the mix, add the warbeast Tool (the only character continuous with Ship Breaker), who has escaped from one of the militias. Mahlia helps him survive terrible wounds, but the "warboys" pursuing him capture and induct Mouse. Now Mahlia must decide between returning to the Drowned City on a fool's errand to retrieve her friend -- or leave looking for freedom.

Loyalty, kept or betrayed, plays a huge part in Bacigalupi's books, and it is on questions of loyalty that the plot turns.

The story is bloody and may not be suitable for all young adults -- very strong meat indeed -- but is well worth the time of anyone, young adult or full adult, who can tolerate it.

I love Paolo Bacigalupi's novels, especially his YA stuff. His books are written with a real sense of adventure and wonder. His characters don't just struggle with problems, they live and breathe in a world that seems just right around the corner if things go badly.

Kids are probably drawn to the post-apocalyptic feel of the books because that is all the rage at the moment. They might not notice the craftsmanship Bacigalupi brings to the page consistently. His characters spring full-born from the words, and they snare the reader in a death grip until the final page is turned.

On the surface, The Drowned Cities appears to be in the same world as Ship Breaker. I loved that book, and I'm glad to see that the author is making a return trip to the world, even if it is so bleak and hard. The life and death struggles in these stories is very real, very gripping, and the characters are at once understandable and mesmerizing even in a world so different from the everyday one currently present.

The characters in The Drowned Cities include Tool, who's a genetically enhanced warrior supposedly made from animal DNA (or at least DNA that gives him some of those abilities), Mouse and Mahlia, who are simply surviving in this bleak world, and Ocho, a military warrior who has had most of his humanity and hope beaten out of him.

All of the characters are rich and deep, and Bacigalupi explores their backgrounds just enough to make them real to the readers. I loved Tool, and I really want to see more of him. He was by far the most interesting when it came to being new and different.

But I love the humanity that the author gives to Mahila and Ocho. Those characters, at one point or another, do things that are inherently wrong, but they do them for complicated reasons. The result is that you don't know who's going to end up on what side.

The world drew me in and wouldn't let go. When I turned the last page, I wanted more. I want the next book.

If you have a reluctant young male reader you'd like to entice over to the literary side, The Drowning Cities is a great book. Some of the violence can be hard, though, so be advised that this is a compelling and edgy read.

Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Drowned Cities" is more of a companion rather than sequel to 2011's "Ship Breaker", but even so the story is just as good. The story revolves around 2 refugees, Mahlia & Mouse, who are orphans in the war ravaged area of the Drowned Cities. When they stumble onto Tool (a war beast) things get interesting as he threatens Mouse's life for medicine. Further complicating matters is when the UPF army attacks their town & Mouse gets captured & enlisted. Mahlia is then forced to either trust Tool to save Mouse or watch him die. Bacigalupi tells another very compelling story that is full of emotion & torment as he fills in more of the back story in this world he has created. The story is just as fast paced as the original book & there is a lot of room for development in this world between the various factions & history. Here's hoping there is a 3rd book sometime in the future.

Though this is listed as a sequel to Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker, it feels more like a connected standalone novel than a true sequel. In fact, the only character to carry over is the augmented human, animal hybrid, Tool. The titular Drowned Cities are also a different setting in Bacigalupi's post-apocalyptic water-logged world. The audio version is narrated by the same performer and he does a wonderful job of reeling the listener in to Mahlia's story. Tool plays a more prominent role here, but the bulk of the story is Mahlia's. It's an engrossing book and its climax is quite riveting! The ending definitely leaves you wanting more! I hope that these characters all - not just Tool - appear in the planned third book in the series!

This YA novel, like its predecessor, crosses the line into preachy at times (though this may be more apparent in the audio format). But this does nothing to dampen the exciting plot. This sequel, too, is much darker than Ship Breaker, but this adds to the book's overall emotional investment. It's an enjoyable listen (read) - but its rather cliffhanger ending definitely leaves me anxious for more to the story! I hope that the wait isn't overly long!

The Drowned Cities is the kind of book that feels like it's beating you senseless while you're reading it. It pummels you and, just as you think you might be able to take a breath, it's back and pummeling you again. Obviously, this is not an easy read, but this is an incredibly deep book that deals with some extremely important issues that most of us in the Western world like to just ignore. As Bacigalupi shows us in this novel, we can't ignore them. We can't afford complacency. There will be some spoilers in this review.

When I first heard this book wouldn't pick up with the story of Nailer, I was disappointed. I really loved Ship Breaker because it was not only filled with exciting action, it was also extremely well written. However, that book is far different from this one, and not just because this book deals with a different cast of characters, with the exception of Tool. It's more that, in this book, the action takes a backseat and Bacigalupi's prodigious talents as a writer are the focus. Yes, there is action in this book, but it's not the sort of action-flick action that was more present in Ship Breaker. Instead, the action in this book is the tide against which the characters are fighting. Though the characters were fantastic in Ship Breaker, this book, above all else, is a book about its characters. You are drawn along with them, you experience their tragedies and their fears in a way that is so visceral it's difficult to explain. When I read this book, I really felt like a spectator, watching in horror as the story unfolded before me.

One of the biggest, most disturbing themes in this novel is that of survival and what it means to be a survivor. Whenever the book is told through Mahlia's eyes, this is the question the readers must confront. Like Mahlia, I was very conflicted. I could see where she was coming from, and I agreed with her philosophy--but then, before I could get comfortable, Bacigalupi amped up the discomfort. Mahlia would start thinking about the doctor, about the soldier boys and, suddenly, things were far less clear than they had seemed just a few pages before. This is the real strength of the novel. It forces the reader to see that things are rarely cut and dried. Sometimes there are obvious good guys and obvious bad guys but, for the most part, people are just trying to survive. It's extremely uncomfortable to take a good, hard look at this and to try to figure out what the moral solution is--if one even exists in the first place. The doctor may seem like a foolish idealist while Mahlia is more of a practical realist, but what does that mean for the world at large? What does it mean when your focus in life narrows down to just making it from one way to the next? What actions would you find yourself excusing in that circumstance?

This is not the only difficult issue in the book, though. Bacigalupi also tackles the question of war and child soldiers and the atrocities inherent in using kids to wage war. When reading from Mahlia's perspective, it's easy to see these "soldier boys" as evil, but when the story shifts to telling their side, it's not so easy to dismiss them this way. Do you blame the boys for their acts or do you blame the circumstances that have driven the boys to act as they do? I cannot stress enough how important this issue is. Though The Drowned Cities is set in a post-apocalyptic America, child soldiers have been widely used throughout history and, in fact, are being used as I type this. Yet this is a problem that is so devastating and disturbing, one that is so difficult to solve, that most people either willfully ignore it or are ignorant of it because there's so little coverage of it in our media.

What has become obvious to me in reading two of Bacigalupi's works is that he is an author who likes to pose the big questions, one who wants to force his readers to really think, and I admire him for this. What he has done here is no easy task. It takes a lot of skill to take such a violent, disturbing story and to write it from such a variety of perspectives without resorting to trite classifications of who's bad and who's good. Instead, what Bacigalupi does is show that people are often a victim of their circumstances, and that their motives may not be as cut and dried as they seem when viewed from the outside. This is a book that needs to be read, discussed, and reflected on for a very long time. I have no doubt that this is a book that, years from now, I will still be thinking about and struggling with.

"The Drowned Cities" grabs you on page one and doesn't let you go for the length of the book. This story of Mahlia, Doctor Mahfouz, Mouse and Tool moves fast and hits hard, and its frequent turn-abouts and surprises keep the action hopping all the way through. Some of the central characters die, and others are mutilated by the soldier boys, and all of them are desperate for change from their miserable circumstances. The plot basically follows Mahlia and Mouse through their trials and tribulations as they live in a post-apocalyptic United States that has at least in their area reverted to warlords and violent gangs that battle constantly for dominance and turf. The characters try to not only survive this vicious environment but somehow rise above it, even though they're young and not really sure how to do that.

"The Drowned Cities" is about many things. It's about child soldiers and the savagery of civil war, it's about friendship and the value of family, and it's about hard living in ugly circumstances and the desperation that that breeds. All the way through I ached for things to get better for these people without seeing how it really could. By the end they've given up on making things better and settle for mere escape and the hope that things will get better somewhere else.

The storytelling here is first-rate through most of the book, with a few notable lapses where bad guys are speechifying in ways I doubt real people would. The characters are richly realized, if very sad, and the settings are vivid and lively. The plot moves very fast and steady, so you're almost sucked along this book instead of merely reading it, and the conflicts of the book are detailed, nuanced and often terrifying. You never know what is going to happen next, which I like in a book, and the ending is satisfying. This is a fine read, though the depressing subject matter makes it hard to call it "fun" or "a good time." The characters will have to settle on survival instead of thriving, though the ending is hopeful. Pick it up, and enjoy!

This is the first book by Paolo Bacigalupi I have read. Drowned Cities is actually the second book in the Shipbreaker series, though I was able to keep up with the storyline easily enough as a stand-alone book. I liked it, it's nearly 450 pages long, but most readers will rip through it quite quickly. The plot follows three main characters- Mahlia a refugee who has learned to survive by putting herself first. Mouse, her best friend who saved her life in a previous story and hasn't lost his considerate heart, and then of course Tool, the "half-man" who is an engineered man beast designed to kill as an ultimate war machine. I think the author did one of the best jobs switching between perspecitves of any book I have read. I didn't feel like we were backtracking as we switched to other point of views, nor did I feel like I was leaving someone I cared about to follow a different part of the story. Readers must understand though, I think the main character of this book isn't a person. It's the idea of war, and how it changes people in different ways. War can make good people do horrible things. The author never loses sight of depicting how expensive, emotional, and hard fighting to survive can be. This means there isn't a love story; there isn't even a ton of interaction and development throughout the book between characters, though you will find some. (Don't get me wrong, the characters adapt and change and I did care what happened to them... I just don't think they or their individual stories are the point)

I liked this dark book because the author somehow manages to make you completely understand why someone could overnight begin abusing their neighbors to save their own skin, but he also makes a strong case that sometimes surviving is worse than dying. He shows quite well that when war comes and your town is destroyed and your life uprooted, you are sort of already dead- your choice becomes sort of how long to prolong your life and how much that is worth to you. This is a great topic for people to consider and remember. I hesitate though to call this a young adult book because there is not a lot held back. (nor should it be) I did not get the impression that the author was going for shock-factor gore or writing violence without a purpose, but it is definitely in there, along with strong language. It all flows nicely and raises some very valid points. Readers should just be aware that this really isn't another Hunger Games novel. It's quite a bit darker, more believable in a scary way, and it certainly doesn't wrap itself up in a pretty nice and neat package like some "similar" novels do.

SPOILER: Here is a beautiful quote, that has stuck with me, but may give some of the plot away, so read at your own discretion.
"Mahlia... understood Doctor Mahfouz and his blind rush into the village. He wasn't trying to change them. He wasn't trying to save anyone. He was just trying to not be part of the sickness. Mahlia had thought he was stupid for walking straight into death, but now, as she lay against the pillar, she saw it differently. She thought she'd been surviving. She thought that she'd been fighting for herself. But all she'd done was create more killing, and in the end it had all led to this moment, where they bargained with a demon ... not for their lives, but for their souls" (p. 403)

After falling in love with the first book, I couldn't wait to read the next book. It gave me just what I wanted and more!

So, the reader begins right back in the world of the Drowned Cities. Cities once above water not drowned in it. I thought I be reading about the characters from the first book instead we are introduced to new characters. It is a surprised but I like it. It's give the reader a chance to slip into other characters in this world. The best part I like about this book is the plot. It's filled with great description of ruin cities, stories of creatures as well as the present time the reader is in.

I really like Mouse and Mahilia. These characters have survived a lot. If you wonder what's life would be like to live in such a gruesome lawless world. Then read this. Kids taken a such a young age to fight a war that was never their s to start with. It's focuses on many new aspects such as a genetically enhanced people. Some of those moments made me squirm in my seat.

Their is great friendship and loyalty formed. It's nice to see the kids have a friend with everything that is taken away from them. They are forced to grow up fast, and pick a side if they want to live, regardless of how they feel.

The Drowned Cities is an epic adventure that you want to read. It's hard and fresh with lives you want to save. The raging war faces many deaths and many heartbreaks. The Drowned Cities is awesome!

Young Adult fiction has really evolved from what it used to be. There are a lot more options than there were when I was a kid. It's not just the scope of books that has increased but the depth as well. Authors are examining mature themes that really didn't seem so present years ago. Then again it could just be me, but I really don't remember any YA books that examined the plight of war refugees in dystopian societies. I have to applaud authors like Paolo Bacigalupi for writing books like THE DROWNED CITIES. Teenagers do not like being condescended to in the least and THE DROWNED CITIES offers some very dark, adult themes.

War orphans Mahlia and Mouse spend their days just trying to survive. The two live in a town on the outskirts of the Drowned Cities where armies of child soldiers led by demagogues vie for control of the ruins. They live a stable life but the threat of encroaching war is pervasive. That is, until they cross paths with the genetically engineered war machine named Tool.

So the new trend in YA fiction is "dystopian" and THE DROWNED CITIES has to be one of the most dystopian novels I've read all year. What separates Bacigalupi's companion novel to the award winning SHIP BREAKER from the rest of the dystopian YA fiction is just how real it is. This is a novel that explores the banality of evil and the horrors of war. The thing is, these aren't professional soldiers caught in the meat grinder. These are children. The armies fighting over the sunken remains of America's capitol are composed of kids plucked from the comfort of their homes and bathed in blood and fire. It's sad and disgusting and it's real. Obviously it isn't happening right now in America but it is a fact of life in other places across the globe.

Bacigalupi does a commendable job writing about the dreadfulness of such a pointless conflict. Violence is never once glorified though there is an abundance of it. One of the reasons I felt like THE HUNGER GAMES was such a failure is that it utterly failed to reflect upon the toll of violence upon the characters and the world they inhabited. This is not so with THE DROWNED CITIES. The toll of fighting is apparent from the moment readers are introduced to protagonist Mahlia. This is a girl whose entire life has revolved around, and been demolished by, war. Mahlia is shunned because of her heritage. Her father was a peacekeeper involved in the suppression of warlords throughout the Drowned Cities. Because of his allegiance, Mahlia has had her hand removed by those who consider her a traitor and collaborator.

Mahlia is a strong protagonist. She is a survivor. She quotes and applies the military doctrines of Sun Tzu to her daily life. She has no surviving family and only one friend, fellow orphan Mouse. Mahlia is a strong protagonist but not necessarily likable. She has flaws that are to be expected, but her personality kept me from ever developing a connection. Mouse is the more likable of the two but there is not enough time spent following his perspective for him to develop further than first impressions. Tool, the genetically engineered war machine, is pleasurable to read about because of his unique mindset. Tool was born a slave and a weapon. His genetic makeup consists of all sorts of apex predators and he has only ever known killing. Despite Tool's remarkable nature he also fails to develop past initial impressions. The relationship that develops between Tool and Mahlia is of the predictable, beauty & the beast variation minus the romance.

The real standout character of THE DROWNED CITIES is Sergeant Ocho. Ocho is a war orphan much like Mahlia and Mouse but for the fact that he is a child soldier. Ocho has grown up, not avoiding war parties, but conducting them. He has fought and killed and lost the innocence of childhood at an early age. No matter what he has seen or done Ocho is still a human being underneath all the layers of indoctrination. This is a sympathetic character that adequately displays the evils man is capable of, written in a YA setting. This is a mature character in ways that Katniss Everdeen could never be.

THE DROWNED CITIES isn't a fun read. It is deep. It is dark. It is though provoking. But it isn't exactly fun. With novels of such heavy tone a little humor and levity can go a long way toward buoying the reader. Brief moments of happy respite are crucial to emphasize the bleakness of dystopia and these are largely missing. I wouldn't take THE DROWNED CITIES as a fun beach read. I would recommend that the book be discussed in a classroom setting. If a civics teacher wants to promote critical thinking and discussion on matters of war and politics I can see where this would be the perfect catalyst. After all, Bacigalupi's near-future America is scary because it is so plausible. At a time where political division is at an all time high we are frighteningly close to fulfilling this fictional representation.

If you enjoyed Bacigalupi's THE WIND-UP GIRL and SHIP BREAKER you will most assuredly appreciate THE DROWNED CITIES. If you found those stories to be too heavy and dark for your liking then chances are this is not the book for you. If anything THE DROWNED CITIES strikes me as even darker than THE WIND-UP GIRL just because the characters are so young and the setting strikes so close to home. I recommend this to fans of dystopian fiction (young and old alike) as well as professors of social studies who desire to spark a dialogue with their students.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: More profanity than I've experienced in any other YA fiction novel.
Violence: More violence than I've experience in any other YA fiction novel, and don't forget that these are kids killing kids.
Sex: Prostitues mentioned by the term of "nailshed girls" but sex is only vaguely mentioned.

Nick Sharps
Elitist Book Reviews

This book started out great. The first half was amazing in its own horrifyingly disturbing way. It was raw and it was perfect for it. I loved it.

However, the second part of the story was a jumble of too slow and too fast. It just didn’t flow as well as the first half of the book. The ending, I felt, was definitely lackluster.

After that wonderful first half, I was expecting so much more from this book and I just didn't get it. I was so disappointed.

2.5 stars.

Third book I purchased from this author, all audio. If you are looking into this book you might want to try "Ship Breaker" first, as it does tie into this with the use of one main character. As the previous book, it takes place in a very bleak future. Once again, the pace is good even for adult, though this book lasts longer than the previous. The characters are solid and believable for the situations they are put in. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a good read.

You wouldn't want to live in the Drowned Cities - violent murder, poverty, hybrid animals and child soldiers amped up on drugs chopping limbs off those they hate. But this is a world almost recognizable to our own, a future that isn't so far from a mixed up reality. Bacigalupi's strength comes from the world building and an evocative place you want to stay in for the story, so I read this in 2 sittings. I loved the character of Tool, the dog-face hybrid whose desire to kill and destroy is still tempered with loyalty. The almost sibling love between Mahlia and Mouse keeps the story emotional when the violence would have been brutal without it. I don't read much fantasy but enjoyed this, as much as I did The WindUp Girl. Fantastic.

I've been looking forward to this book since reading Ship Breaker last year, after which I had high expectations for this book. Paolo Bacigalupi delivers. As with Ship Breaker, the writing is descriptive and action-packed without breaking the flow, and Bacigalupi once again tackles the dark and gritty without reserve. His books aren't meant for the soft of heart, and he won't coddle you.

The characters are complex and flawed, and each of them are fighting with their own demons that haunt them. Mahlia lost hand to a group called the Army of God, and Mouse's parents died in the war. Their attempt at finding a better life for themselves becomes complicated when they stumble upon Tool, a human that has been genetically advanced to be the perfect soldier. A recurring character from the first book, Tool is a central character to the story as it explores what it means to be human.

A major theme in this book is the impact of war, especially with children as seen through Mahlia and Mouse and the teen soldiers, and it is done in a disturbingly realistic manner. Once again, Bacigalupi explores the concept of humanity. In a war-torn area, humans transform and do things they would never have thought it possible of themselves, and morality takes on another meaning. The characters of The Drowned Cities belong to a dangerous world, and the impact of living in such a world becomes apparent through them as they grow and change over the course of the novel.

This is a dark, dark book with extreme violence and exploration of the darker side of the human psyche. There is cursing and drug use. With its lengthy word count and heavy conter, The Drowned Cities is not a book for light reading. At the same time, it is a book for keeps and one that I will be recommending for older YA readers. There are many amazing YA dystopians coming out this year, but I will remember this one the best for the picture of humanity it portrays.

Note: This can be read and understood without reading Ship Breaker, if you so desire. I still recommend reading Ship Breaker. It's genius.

You wouldn't want to live in the Drowned Cities - violent murder, poverty, hybrid animals and child soldiers amped up on drugs chopping limbs off those they hate. But this is a world almost recognizable to our own, a future that isn't so far from a mixed up reality. Bacigalupi's strength comes from the world building and an evocative place you want to stay in for the story, so I read this in 2 sittings. I loved the character of Tool, the dog-face hybrid whose desire to kill and destroy is still tempered with loyalty. The almost sibling love between Mahlia and Mouse keeps the story emotional when the violence would have been brutal without it. I don't read much fantasy but enjoyed this, as much as I did The WindUp Girl. Fantastic.

I've been looking forward to this book since reading Ship Breaker last year, after which I had high expectations for this book. Paolo Bacigalupi delivers. As with Ship Breaker, the writing is descriptive and action-packed without breaking the flow, and Bacigalupi once again tackles the dark and gritty without reserve. His books aren't meant for the soft of heart, and he won't coddle you.

The characters are complex and flawed, and each of them are fighting with their own demons that haunt them. Mahlia lost hand to a group called the Army of God, and Mouse's parents died in the war. Their attempt at finding a better life for themselves becomes complicated when they stumble upon Tool, a human that has been genetically advanced to be the perfect soldier. A recurring character from the first book, Tool is a central character to the story as it explores what it means to be human.

A major theme in this book is the impact of war, especially with children as seen through Mahlia and Mouse and the teen soldiers, and it is done in a disturbingly realistic manner. Once again, Bacigalupi explores the concept of humanity. In a war-torn area, humans transform and do things they would never have thought it possible of themselves, and morality takes on another meaning. The characters of The Drowned Cities belong to a dangerous world, and the impact of living in such a world becomes apparent through them as they grow and change over the course of the novel.

This is a dark, dark book with extreme violence and exploration of the darker side of the human psyche. There is cursing and drug use. With its lengthy word count and heavy conter, The Drowned Cities is not a book for light reading. At the same time, it is a book for keeps and one that I will be recommending for older YA readers. There are many amazing YA dystopians coming out this year, but I will remember this one the best for the picture of humanity it portrays.

Note: This can be read and understood without reading Ship Breaker, if you so desire. I still recommend reading Ship Breaker. It's genius.

I sometimes think that Paolo Bacigalupi is the only YA author writing real dystopias these days. After reading several feeble dystopian romances where the dystopian element is just a poorly-developed backdrop, it was a huge relief to read a good dystopia where there's actually a strong connection between our world today and the author's vision of how things could go wrong in the future. There are plenty of elements of the real world in Bacigalupi's Drowned Cities: climate change, and genetic engineering, and child soldiers. It's easy to imagine a path from the present world to that one, and this sense of possibility is what makes the dystopia so powerful.

It can also make for some difficult reading at times. Bacigalupi's future is a pretty bleak one, and reading about the helplessness of child soldiers is never easy. I don't think this is a book for everyone. I also find that Bacigalupi is stronger at world-building than character-building, which works for me because I find his worlds so fascinating, but which, again, may not be for everyone. Still, I'd certainly recommend this book.

The Drowned Cities is a sequel/companion to Ship Breaker, but I don't think they really have to be read in order. I actually preferred The Drowned Cities, but that may be only because I read Ship Breaker very soon after reading Bacigalupi's adult book The Windup Girl, which I found much richer. If you're looking for a solid, powerful dystopia that presents a frighteningly plausible image of the future, you'd probably be fine starting with any of his three novels. I don't think you'll regret it.

Paolo Bacigalupi is an amazing author who has blown me away with his skilled writing. Many positive points about this amazing novel have already been made, so I won't repeat them. For those who are looking for a YA dystopian novel, it is all that and more. It is a gritty, sometimes disturbing story, with multiple themes and is more grim and violent than the Hunger Games. There are some sexual references and language. This probably won't bother older readers, but I'd hesitate to hand this to a younger teen. I am not a war story fan by any means, but the violence is not at all gratuitous, and the plot, setting and characters are absolutely gripping. I could not put this book down!

The Drowned Cities is listed on some sites as the second in the Ship Breaker series. It's a novel set in the same post climate change world as Ship Breaker rather than a "Book 2".

So don't feel you have to have read Ship Breaker to get the full experience. The Drowned Cities shares some locations and one character with Ship Breaker - the half-man Tool.

Quality fiction
-------------------
The Drowned Cities is published in Australia by Atom, Hachette's Young Adult brand. To adult readers I would like to stress that this really has no impact on your enjoyment as an experienced or mature reader - it's just quality fiction.

A future dystopia or comment on current events
---------------------------------------------------------
With The Drowned Cities Bagicalupi builds upon and expands his vision of a dystopian future. Like Ship Breaker the theme and content mirrors or comments indirectly( I never feel as though Bagicalupi is preaching) upon present day issues. Ship breaker concentrated on a characters whose living was made stripping great containerships - a modern day inspiration, was no doubt something similar to The Chittagong Ship Breaking yards in Bangladesh.

The Drowned Cities' theme centres squarely on the horrors of low scale internecine warfare in failed states and the sad reality of child soldiers and child victims of war. Bagicgalupi brings the tale closer to home with his setting - The Drowned Cities being the flooded remnants of the eastern states of North and South Carolina.

The Tale
-------------------
Mahlia and Mouse are War Maggots, orphans or refugees taken in by Dr Mahfouz who administers medical treatment to the families of Banyan Town. Mahlia is a mixed raced daughter of a Chinese Peacekeeper and American/Drowned Cities mother, she's had her right hand cut off by the Army of God due to this fact.

Mouse is a country boy with a talent for dodging bullets. While their situation isn't ideal i.e. the town's folk distrust her, it's relatively safe. Until that is, Tool,an escaping half-man, a genetic augmentation, draws militia pursuers to their quaint little piece of post apocalyptic hell.

What ensues is part comment on the stupidity and futility of war but also on the strength of friendships borne out of survival.

Good Characterisation
-------------------
Mahlia is the star of the story and I find her depiction as a strong female character particularly realistic and refreshing. She's a child of war, a survivor and her strength shines through, in her dedication to her friends and her will to go on.

She displays cunning in her battles against forces that are physically stronger than her and is a refreshing hero in that she doesn't need a gun or kick-butt martial arts moves to be strong.

We also get a better understanding of Tool as a rare breed of half-man, one that has overcome his genetic tendencies and training to obey his masters.

I also saw the depictions of the various militias in the book as comments on the some of the extremes of current American politics or political ideologies both in terms of religion and patriotism/nationalism. No doubt some American readers might find Bagicgalupi's future imaginings a little pointed.

Concerns?
-------------------
The book deals with some fairly mature content. I never felt as though Bagicgalupi was playing to the more violent aspects of the book though. There's death and dismemberment but is well handled, repectfully depicted and fits well within the context of the world that's been created.

I can see Ship Breaker and The Drowned Cities as good jumping off points for discussions in a class mixing literature/reading with social studies.

The depiction of sex within the book, such that it is, is handled "off screen".

Judgement
-------------------
A good addition to Bagicgalupi's vision of a world in decline or crawling out of one. There's violence, poverty and calamity, but there's also hope. There's always a sense that the protagonists can prevail - not without consequences mind you, but that it is possible.

This book was provided to me by the publisher at no cost to myself

Set in the catastrophic ruins of a future America, THE DROWNED CITIES is a book that consumed my thoughts from nearly the first page forth. To be honest, I didn't expect to love this book. I actually took it for review only because I like to keep my reading horizons expanded. I had looked into the first book in the series, THE SHIP BREAKER, and was impressed by the acclaim it had received. Since THE DROWNED CITIES was a companion and not a sequel, I felt that I could safely jump into the world and not flail in the lost details. For the most part, I succeeded. Once I was able to grasp what this future America looked and functioned as, I was good to go.

Brutal. The story is absolutely, utterly brutal. Imagine the horrors of the never ending wars, the horrific genocide that has occured on an endless loop in Africa. The horror that we've only seen in newscasts, or movies watched in the comforts of our homes. But the horror is here, in America, and it's happening to you. Warring factions are deadlocked in a ceaseless battle for control of territories. They each claim to be working for the better good, but they only work to scavenge the land, leaving you alive long enough to fulfill your usefulness. This is your America. Flooded. Broken. Poisoned. Are you scared? That is the feeling that filled me as I read THE DROWNED CITIES. I despaired for the world, for Mahlia and Mouse.

I will probably be flogged for saying this, but in my opinion, Mahlia is a heroine that surpasses the exceedingly popular Katniss Everdeen. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with Katniss, but I am saying that I connected with Mahlia in a way I never did with Katniss. Mahlia's spirit, her will to survive, is one of the strongest I've ever read. She is faced with near impossible choices, with no sure or easy outcome. She makes dangerous choices, sometimes the wrong choices that cost those around her, but she stands behind the decisions. Although Mahlia isn't technically a soldier, she is at war. She is simply another casualty of the war around her.

In the end, you can do with THE DROWNED CITIES as you wish. You can read it strictly as an epic adventure. And it most certainly is. The journey that Mahlia takes is entertaining and tension-riddled as they come. You can also read the story as an allegory. A cautionary tale on the consequences of destroying the earth, and of war. Or you can do what I chose and accept it as both. THE DROWNED CITIES is a story that took me on a brutal, beautiful, terrifying, and thought-provoking journey. And although I did not need to read THE SHIP BREAKER to enjoy this, I have already ordered a copy so I won't miss a single moment of the haunting tale.

Favorite Quote:

" 'Lock it away,' the half-man whispered. 'You feel, after. Not now. Now you are a soldier. Now you do your duty for your pack. If you break, your Mouse will die, and you with him. Feel, after. Not now.' " (pg. 196)

"None of it made any sense. He hadn't done anything one way or the other to end up where he was. The tide of war had rolled in and swallowed him up, and Banyan Town with him, and they'd all tumbled in the surf. And for reasons he couldn't understand, he'd broken the surface and managed to breathe, while everyone else was drowning alive." (pg. 274)

The second book in the ‘Ship Breakers’ series is much the same as the first. The authors writing is good, but the plot doesn’t seem to move and the story, dialog and characters are just too juvenile for me.

Paolo Bacigalupi doesn't hold out much hope for the human race, or at least the United States, in the sequel to Shipbreaker. In his future America, climate change and intractable conflict have turned much of the U.S. into what parts of Africa look like today, right down to the drugged-out child soldiers. Some of the characters struggle against long odds to escape their hellish existence; as in Shipbreaker the most interesting character is Tool, an "augment" created for war but who also has a philosophical side.

Halfway through this book, I thought I would being giving it 4 stars. But there's no way I can do that after reading the second half. The characters are SO good, and each one is battling which something different. The only thing I would have liked to know, was if this book is supposed to be before or after Ship Breaker. Because Tool is a reoccurring character, but he never once thinks about Nailer, which makes me assume this is supposed to be before . . . but I would have liked it to be more clearer. Ship Breaker and The Drowned Cities are both in the same world, at opposite ends of the world, but very different books from each other. Highly recommended to everyone. After they read Ship Breaker...even though it's not needed. :P

Also, unlike most books these days, The Drowned Cities has ZERO romance in it. And yet, it's totally perfect without it.

I was disappointed that this story had nothing to do with Nailer from the first book (Ship Breaker). In fact, the only main character that's in both is Tool. This takes place in the same world, but otherwise the two novels have little to do with one another. Still, that said, I enjoyed it. Here's hoping that Nailer, and now Mahlia, show up down the road in another Ship Breaker novel.

This book is set in the same world as Shipbreaker, and is a fantastic follow up. We continue to follow the character of Tool, the halfman, and he meets new allies along the way.
I love Paolo Bacigalupi, his version of science fiction is akin to William Gibson's and George Orwell's in that it is an imagining of a possible future for our world. It is distopian, and it is also hopefuly. Scary, yet beautiful at times. When I read Bacigalupi's books I am utterly transported to the world's he creates and live there with his characters.

Before Nailer and his crew. In a different part of the country, war was raging. Many different groups were fighting over something no one could really remember. The Peacekeepers had abandoned their mission and left everyone to fend for themselves. Mahlia was one of the ones left behind. A doctor took her and Mouse in. Mouse was all that was left of his farmer family. Then things get turned upside down. There's a half-man in the swamp outside their village and UPF soldiers inside their village ransacking it. Mahlia is forced to make a decision to stay and accept the outcome of life, or run and fight for her freedom. She wants the doctor and Mouse to come with her too, but they might not have what it takes, they might not have enough Drowned Cities in their blood.

I didn't love this one as much as Ship Breaker. Maybe it was Mahlia; for some reason I just didn't care for her. My favorite characters were Mouse and Tool. I really liked Tool in Ship Breaker, and he's just as amazing in this one. He's just very wise and like a rock. He's just this solid level-headed character to guide the others. Mouse was a great addition to this story. I found myself very attached to him as he evolved throughout the story. This book had a very different feel from Ship Breaker. The Drowned Cities revolved around war and survival. Mahlia talks about Sun Tzu a lot, when speaking about strategy. Most of the people we see throughout the novel are children, young kids. There are hardly any adults left, since the wars have killed so many people. It was never to clear what everyone was even fighting about, the war had been going on too long. That's how I feel war often is though. No one really knows why they are fighting, they just know who they are fighting against. I liked the journey and the back and forth third person narrative in this novel. It was good to see all sides of what was going on. The end was quite a shock to me. I did not expect any of that to happen as it did. I definitely think this is worth the read if you enjoyed Ship Breaker.

First Line:
"Chains clanked in the darkness of the holding cells."

Favorite Line:
"He didn't think he was going anywhere but straight to hell when he died, so he wasn't eager for the afterlife the way the Army of God boys were."

Disclaimer: I was sent this item to review. This does not influence my opinion.

Does it make sense to call a dystopic fantasy novel realistic? If so, that's what Paolo Bacigalupi has written with THE DROWNED CITIES. In a world destroyed by flood and war (wonderfully, thoroughly, and masterfully created), all that's left are bands of militias fighting with each other over tiny plots of land and the scrap they contain. The story is about the creation of boy soldiers, the humanity of human mutants, and the loyalty of one tough young woman who has the heart of a warrior but the face of the hated peacemakers. Brutal and beautiful.

This is well worth your time. Well-written, though-provoking and well-paced.

But, Bacigalupi is on dangerous downwards path. The brilliant thing about The Windup Girl was that it mixed beauty, squalor and violence in roughly equal parts. Ship Breakers was heavy on the squalor and violence, lighter on the beauty. Here, the beauty has almost vanished. Depressing is the overriding feeling.

So come on, Paulo, get back to the balance of The Windup Girl, please.