5/10/12

The Drowned Cities, by Paolo Bacigalupi

In my review of Ship Breakers, by Paolo Bacigalupi, I said that "...the main reason I kept reading was Tool--an utterly fascinating character who is the most science-fictiony part of the book, what with being a product of genetic manipulation. There is clearly more of his story to tell--I hope it plays a large part in the sequel, coming out sometime next year."

And lo, the sequel (or rather, the prequel) is out, and Tool is a central character! And it was good.

The Drowned Cities (Little Brown, YA, 2012) takes place before the events of Ship Breaker. Tool, a human/animal hybrid, bred for war, has broken free of his captors. Half-men like himself are supposed to lose their will to live when their master dies, and they are the last of their pack, but Tool is different. Through the jungles and swamps of a future world of flooded cities and chaos a ragtag army pursues him...but he is a survivor, and even weakened by wounds that would have killed a lesser creature, he escapes...

And is found by two children, Mahlia and Mouse. Both are unwanted flotsam in this war-torn world. Mahlia, the daughter of a Chinese peacekeeper and a Drowned Cities woman, became a despised outcast when the Chinese withdrew and her father left. She escaped into the jungle, putting her own survival ahead of any altruistic thoughts for others, but lost her hand to one bloodthirsty faction in the process. Marked by her Chinese features, she's a lightning rod for fantastical hatred. Mouse's family was killed in more random slaughter--in this world, random slaughter is pretty much the order of the day-- and neither Mahlia or Mouse can envision a happy ending.

But when Mahlia and Mouse meet Tool, and the soldiers hunting him, things change.

It is a fearsomely dark place, this story. The children suffer. There is death--senseless, brutal, and bloody. There isn't a whole lot of hope. But still, Mahlia, and Mouse, and Tool are characters to care fiercely for. And Tool, impossible, unpredictable, unimaginable, makes it seem almost as though there can be a happy ending after all....keeping me reading as the characters wade through a swamp of near-death experiences and the horrors of insane, chaotic war.

I'd actually suggest reading this one before Ship Breakers, as this allows the reader to meet Tool for the first time here. In this book, a lot of the internal tension comes from not knowing if Tool can be trusted, not knowing if he can care for anything outside his own survival. Will he turn on the children, or will he help them? Is he a person to care about, or a monster?

The second reason (Tool being the first one) that the book is not entirely grim is that, even though every page makes it seem more likely that Mahlia and Mouse will be broken by violence, there is always just enough hope that they can survive with their fundamental selves intact, and make it through. In describing what happens to them, there's just the right balance of distance vs. immediacy. The reader is right there, caring fiercely, but is also able, like Mahlia herself does, to think about abstractions-- morality, altruism, and the effects of war on ordinary people.

In short: riveting, dark, powerful, and not one I'm giving to my eleven year old to read. However, I'd give this one to a YA reader who loved the Hunger Games, in a somewhat testy way: "ok, kid, you want senseless violence and struggle to survive in a dystopian world (one that seems much more horribly probable), and kids hurt and twisted through no fault of their own, take this!"

10 comments:

  1. I have not read either of these yet, but I am dying to! Bacigalupi was just at an open talk at this great bookstore near my apartment, and I was so sad I couldn't make it. Great, thoughtful review here. I will have to get the library STAT.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Huh, and I thought it was sequentially after Ship Breaker, but I guess maybe it makes more sense as a sort of prequel. Ah, well. I liked reading Ship Breaker and wondering about Tool, then discovering more about him in The Drowned Cities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I feel that if Ship Breaker were more fresh in my mind, I would have seen more connections between the two books besides Tool, but this definitely seems to be from before he has those adventures. It works just fine reading them in publication order, and certainly I was more emotionally invested in this one since I cared about him already.

      Delete
  3. I am happy to hear this has nothing to do with the story in Shipbreaker as I was good with where that ended. It will be great to read more about Tool.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I wasn't enthralled with book 1, but I will probably read this one at some point.

    (P.S. I got my postcard. Thank you!!!)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Charlotte. I really enjoy your blog and reviews. I have nominated your blog for the Versatile Blogger Award. If you choose to accept it, just follow the same format as I did in today's post.
    http://www.dianemaerobinson.com
    All About Children's Books.
    Thank you.
    Diane Robinson

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes! I agree that The Drowned Cities isn't an easy read, but I love that undercurrent of hope and that it isn't all dreary and I love that Mahlia and Mouse fight to survive. Plus, I too am glad that more of Tool's story is told.

    ReplyDelete

Free Blog Counter

Button styles