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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
as a companion to Ship Breaker this feels less like an adventure and more like a brutal survival story and mirrors current-day war scenarios and a scary fashion. but Paolo creates a very brutal anti-hero in Tool. the genetically modified creature who was introduced in Ship Breaker.
These are YA stories i definitely didn't grow up reading.
These are YA stories i definitely didn't grow up reading.
I loved Shipbreaker, and definitely wanted to learn more about Tool, so I was looking forward to reading The Drowned Cities. However, it wasn’t so much about Tool as it was about Mahlia. The Drowned Cities wasn’t as good as Shipbreaker in general and was way too long. As I read, I wondered if Bacigalupi had trouble with it (from his “Acknowledgements” section in the back, it seemed like he did.) At one point, two of the separated characters that needed to get back to each other just ran into each other - luck? Or did the author need to make sure the book wasn’t too long? Overall, it was just ok, but I’ll still read the third book when it comes out.
Gritty book. Hard to read in places but couldn't put it down. More in depth look at Tool who is also in Shipbreaker.
It was a pretty grim and violent war book. You might rate it higher if you're into that sort of thing.
Very good. Much better than previous book in series, and tighter than Windup Girl.
it was a decent book, but it left me kind of disappointed. it says it's Shipbreaker #2, but the only real tie-through is a single character, and not one that I was especially interested in! it focused more on war and fighting, and was light in the character developing plots that I much more prefer. i kept putting it down, and not picking it up again until a few days later. if I had known all this in advance, I wouldn't have bothered reading it.
I didn't like it as much as I loved Ship Breaker and for the same reasons I didn't like Chris Cleave's Little Bee, which I feel are quite similar. At least they are for me, both being books that I read during times of great change in my own life, that were perhaps more violent than I'd anticipated, where a character loses a finger. And then I feel badly for not liking them, because I know they are good books, well written, and finely done, so I know that the something wrong is really me.
It's always hard to tell if I am adverse to these books from being in an itchy, anxious mood myself, or if reading books like these just builds that feeling in me. I don't always want a happy ending, but the deep sadness underlying this story was just a little bit more than I could take and enjoy.
I did, however, like reading about kudzu and the way in which The Drowned Cities were physically described. Maybe I will stick with softer stories until my move in complete in two weeks.
It's always hard to tell if I am adverse to these books from being in an itchy, anxious mood myself, or if reading books like these just builds that feeling in me. I don't always want a happy ending, but the deep sadness underlying this story was just a little bit more than I could take and enjoy.
I did, however, like reading about kudzu and the way in which The Drowned Cities were physically described. Maybe I will stick with softer stories until my move in complete in two weeks.
Darker than SHIP BREAKER. I wish there had been a context provided in relation to SB (or I missed it). Does this follow SB or precede it? Or maybe I need to reread SHIP BREAKER. Regardless, it's a story about loyalty, second chances, and - though it often doesn't seem that way - hope. Wish it also provided a bit more history/backstory; just curious when the Accelerated Age came to an end and China switched roles with the US. An interesting juxtaposition. And though a dark book, a glimmer at the very end. A good read.
Just like [b:Ship Breaker|7095831|Ship Breaker (Ship Breaker, #1)|Paolo Bacigalupi|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327874074s/7095831.jpg|7352929], this companion novel is a gritty and darkly imagined dystopian future. Of course, that seems like it should be a given in any dystopian novel, but Bacigalupi somehow does it better than other YA authors writing in this genre. He doesn't shy away from the violence and societal breakdowns that are necessary evils of a world that's gone over the edge.
In essence, Bacigalupi is telling a very simple story about the enduring power of emotional bonds, and the story itself is very tight. The entire plot takes place over the course of a month, with a pretty small cast of characters, and very little of the revolutionary aspects that are common in dystopian novels -- break down castes, cure the sickness, end the violence, etc. This book doesn't have a definitive ending of that variety, but rather tells a story about a girl and a boy who are survivors, and what they do to survive.
In essence, Bacigalupi is telling a very simple story about the enduring power of emotional bonds, and the story itself is very tight. The entire plot takes place over the course of a month, with a pretty small cast of characters, and very little of the revolutionary aspects that are common in dystopian novels -- break down castes, cure the sickness, end the violence, etc. This book doesn't have a definitive ending of that variety, but rather tells a story about a girl and a boy who are survivors, and what they do to survive.