Book Review: The Drowned Cities

Title: The Drowned Cities

Author: Paolo Bacigalupi

Genre: YA dystopian

Review:

I absolutely adored Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker, a novel that is on my top 20 favorite books of all time (speaking of which, I need to make time to reread that book!) I was expecting a good read from The Drowned Cities, nothing spectacular, but still a worthwhile read. Well, I got much more than I bargained for. I loved The Drowned Cities and it has secured a place on my bookshelf. Although this novel is listed as the sequel to Ship Breaker, this book actually works as a stand alone novel as well.

I feel like The Drowned Cities was written with a naturalistic/naturalism theme in mind. Naturalism is basically a movement in which humans are stripped down to their most basic form and nature is depicted as neither good nor evil.  The world simply is the world. So basically naturalism deals a lot with survival of the fittest, man vs. nature and all that stuff with no sugar coating.  And let me assure you, there was no sugar coating in The Drowned Cities. The author didn't try to beat around the bush with the cruelty featured in this dystopian, futuristic world. The violence and graphic descriptions weren't gratuitous, but they weren't rainbows and ponies either.

Basically, due to wars and rising sea levels, all of America has become a smaller, drowning and war torn country. Actually, to be honest, America doesn't really exist as a country anymore--it's more like territories controlled by warring factions.  Paolo does an amazing jobs painting descriptions of the setting; details are fed to readers as the plot moves forward.

And gosh...the characters were simply amazing!  There were two main characters and two major secondary characters (the secondary characters played a larger role than just a secondary character, but not quite as big as a main character.)  The story is told from the POV of all 4 characters.  Normally, I dislike reading books with more than 3 POVs, but Paolo pulls it off beautifully.  Mouse and Mahlia are two war orphans and two main characters.  Ocho and Tool are the other two characters.  Ocho is a war hardened soldier working for the United Patriot Front.  Tool is...a fighting machine built for war.  He's a creature composed of the DNA of a human, wolf, dog, tiger and anything predatory.  Creatures like him are treated as entertainment in the richer cities--thrown into an arena and pitted against other creatures. But Tool is sick of being a "good dog" and escapes into the wilderness with a patrol of troops hot on his heels.

The character development was STUNNING! The characters were so well developed and had depth and so unique and ahhh.....I completely loved them all, even Ocho who had some questionable motivs/made questionable choices.  Tool was one of the specialest character I have ever read about--and it's not simply because he's not human.  Tool views the world as a cold, harsh place, where mistakes are not tolerated. He's also very logical and will do anything to survive.

The plot is simple enough: Mouse gets kidnapped and Mahlia needs to find him. After teaming up with Tool, the two embark on a dangerous journey, chasing after the United Patriot Front (UPF) who have recruited Mouse to be one of their boy-soldiers.  Meanwhile, Mouse, now dubbed Ghost, is struggling to stay alive among the ruthless UPF.  Actually, very little happens plot-wise, but the character development that you get in return is totally worth it.

Also, the author deals with some moral conflicts and issues. For example, Paolo explores whether it's better to make choices that ensure your survival or to risk your life helping others who had treated you badly. Or if it is possible to solve conflicts with violence or peace?

LOVED LOVE AND WILL LOVE this book forever!  

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