The Drowned Cities (Ship Breaker) [Kindle Edition]

I have to agree with many of the things that the previous reviewer has written. I have read three previous books by Paolo Bacigalupi, Pump Six, The Wind Up Girl and Shipbreaker. Each book is excellent and I expected the same from The Drowned Cities. Unfortunatly, although it is a good read it is not on the same level as Shipbreaker, which is set in the same timeline/world. The book is just to long, and I feel that the story could have been told in half the length. I didnt really feel anything for the characters and by the end of the book I didnt care what was happening to them. I have given it 3 stars as I think the writing is pretty good, but it lacks a real story. Hopefully with his next book Paolo Bacigalupi can revert to his previous form.

Set in the same petroleum-free dystopian future history as his critically acclaimed "Shipbreaker", with characters and a setting as compelling as his great literary debut "The Windup Girl", Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Drowned Cities" ranks among our best recent dystopian Science Fiction novels. It is also among the finest novels published this year, a mesmerizing tale about war and survival, friendship and loyalty that I have found far more compelling than recently published dystopian fiction from the likes of Ernest Cline, Colson Whitehead and Karen Thompson Walker. Paolo Bacigalupi demonstrates once more why he is one of our most impressive young writers of science fiction, conjuring yet another spellbinding tale that takes readers into some of the darkest corners of human behavior, emphasizing American Civil War Union general William T. Sherman's observation that "War is Hell". With "The Drowned Cities", Baciogalupi offers ample evidence that he is becoming one of the finest prose stylists writing in contemporary science fiction, joining the ranks of such impressive stylists as China Mieville and Michael Swanwick, and deservedly worthy of appealing to a broad spectrum of readers, not only those interested in Young Adult fiction. An unlikely encounter with a bioengineered living weapon of war, Tool, plunges adolescent outcasts Mahlia and Mouse into an epic journey of survival, as they attempt fleeing the pillaged, almost desolate, war-torn landscape of the Drowned Cities, located amidst a bleak dystopian futuristic America that readers may find all too probable. Theirs is also an epic quest in attaining adulthood, brought about by circumstances beyond their control - and those all too brutal and harsh -within a fictional setting far darker and dire than that depicted in Cormac McCarthy's "The Road". Without question, "The Drowned Cities" is one that merits ample consideration for science fiction's highest literary honors; it is such an engrossing work that it should be noticed and celebrated by those familiar only with mainstream literary Anglo-American fiction too.

Having read Shipbreaker last year, I was more than interested to see how the world would develop in future stories as it was dark enough to begin with. What this loose sequel to the original story does is amerces the reader into this dark apocalyptic future and takes them on an adventure where the cost of life and death is measured in seconds and choices have severe consequences.

It's well written, the prose as well as pace sharp and when added to dealing with harsh facts it's a tale that needs the reader's full attention as they get deeper within the pages. Add to this Paolo's wonderfully addictive writing style as well as his ability to take you there in an almost cinematic manner and you know that its definitely a story that will stay with you long after the final page is turned.