The Drowned Cities

by Paolo Bacigalupi
sequel to The Ship Breakers
PRMS paperback 434 pages
genre: dystopian fiction, adventure

Although this future Earth is extremely depressing and brutal, it's frighteningly believable. The disparity between rich and poor, the deterioration of society, and the desperation for power and survival all ring eerily true. His follow-up to Ship Breaker, I am eager to see what his next book will bring. This one opens with Tool escaping a cruel captivity. Out in the land outside the drowned cities, Mahlia and Mouse live with Doctor Mahfouz since no one else wants to associate with them. Mahlia is half Chinese (because of her peacekeeper father) and half drowned cities. Her right hand has been cut off by one of the paramilitary groups but she escaped them with Mouse's help. Mouse's family has all been executed by another group and Mahlia has helped him survive. The boy soldiers in this story remind me of the child soldiers written about in other books (based on events actually happening in various African countries).