The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi

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.

HMM this was pretty good? It's really not my favorite genre. Neither was Ship Breaker but I figured I'd lose street cred if I didn't win it after it won the Printz. But, Tool was the most intriguing character from Ship Breaker so I picked this up because it promised more Tool. (That's what she said?) Anyway IDK, it was pretty grim but I think I found it more compelling than Ship Breaker. Go Tool!

Young adult, similar in world as windup girl but set in an America that mirrors the child solider situations in other parts of the world. Some of the gen-melding that you see in some of his other stories. Really well one stories of survival and loyalties, where it's more then you can afford but all you have to survive with.

I had expected a more miserable ending but I'm not sure it could be YA if it was as depressing as all that. I don't know what I'd call this, post-climate-change-apocalypse-enviro-scifi-distopia? or just... Good.

Very good. Much better than previous book in series, and tighter than Windup Girl.

This book is somewhat a surreal experience for me. That is because that this books prequel, Ship Breaker, was the first book I ever reviewed, way back in 2014. Now, two years and over 100 novels later, I've decided to take a look at The Drowned Cities and see if it can stand up to and maybe ever surpass it's predecessor. Does it? Surprisingly yes.

And I say surprisingly because I did not think that this could ever be better than Ship Breaker. That novel managed to be nominated for the National Book Award, and receive the Printz award to boot, and yet, I'm seriously confused as to why this didn't receive something close to that because, in my opinion, this novel is far superior to Ship Breaker. It is darker, grittier, and has a deeper message than anything Ship Breaker was trying to tell. In some ways it is sad that many people will mostly, like me, skip this novel in favor of something else, when really, it shouldn't be overlooked.

And this is because the characters are really well done, not just in terms of their backstory, which is there when needed, but also in terms of their motivations. All of these characters exist to show the differences about the feelings towards war, such as the main female character, Mahlia. She grew up in this post-apocalyptic world where resources are scarce, and global warming has caused massive flooding to turn the once thriving capital of Washington D.C. into a swamp. She now has to deal with gangs of boys with military grade weapons who seem to come and go with the next boy-armies, all the while trying to help care for people with her adoptive father, a Doctor, who is willing to put everything at stake because he sees the good in her, when her community does not. What I like is that her views on war are described here in a way that doesn't feel contrived. She believes that the soldier boys who took her hand deserve to be killed, and that is understandable. Meanwhile, the doctor always teaches peace and nonviolence. Because all he has seen is the violence and what results from it: boys dying and bleeding out on his operating table. In many ways there is an excellent argument of nature versus nurture here, and that is what makes this book so good.

Now we've come to the plot ladies and gentlemen and let me say...this confused me. At first, I was a little angry when I discovered that I had read almost halfway through the book and very little had happened to the characters in terms of plot progression. They mostly send their time standing around trying to figure out what to do about something, having an internal struggle, and then they do it. Now don't get me wrong, when they do do things, the action scenes are written well and are very exciting, but it still boggled my mind that here was a dystopian book where very little happens in this novel. And then I realized that the problem was not with the book, it was a problem with me, or, more accurately, what I expected from this novel. You see, this is nothing like the dystonia that we have gotten in the past (since its date of publication in 2012) 4 years or so. It isn't a novel where the main protagonist, who is special because the book says she is, is going to start a revolution that will overthrow the society and lead for a better one. That's not what this book is. It instead follows Ship Breaker and becomes a novel about a main character trying to survive in a harsh world. She won't make a damn bit of difference on the world around her, she is just trying to survive and keep her friends alive. So, weather you like that kind of thing is up to you, but personally, I enjoyed it.

So I say that if you are looking for a novel that isn't your typical YA dystonia novel, I'd say pick this one up. I give it a four out of five.