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petercawdron 's review for:
The Drowned Cities
by Paolo Bacigalupi
The Drowned Cities has its moments, but the characters are caustic. I get that it's a violent post-apocalypse scenario, but I never found myself cheering them on. Tool (a genetically engineered wolf/dog/hyena/man) is the main character across THREE books (with this being the interlude) and he comes across as smart but without a character arc and no real personality. As for Mahlia rescuing Mouse/Ghost, there was never any real heart. At one point, she lies, kidnaps and threatens to kill a teen so as to get someone to ferry her down the river. Then she releases him and pretends everything's fine. Tool slips over the side of the boat to hide as they pass some guards, warning that if the teen or the guide alerts the soldiers, he'll kill them before killing the soldiers. And all this is just glossed over as okay and justified. Would Mahlia or Tool actually kill these guys? Doesn't that make them as bad as the bad guys? Don't our protagonists have ANY redeeming qualities? Can't they appeal to reason? Can't they rally people to their cause? I'm 3/4 of the way through, but I doubt I'll finish.