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Summary
Summary
Soldier boys emerged from the darkness. Guns gleamed dully. Bullet bandoliers and scars draped their bare chests. Ugly brands scored their faces. She knew why these soldier boys had come. She knew what they sought, and she knew, too, that if they found it, her best friend would surely die.
In a dark future America where violence, terror, and grief touch everyone, young refugees Mahlia and Mouse have managed to leave behind the war-torn lands of the Drowned Cities by escaping into the jungle outskirts. But when they discover a wounded half-man--a bioengineered war beast named Tool--who is being hunted by a vengeful band of soldiers, their fragile existence quickly collapses. One is taken prisoner by merciless soldier boys, and the other is faced with an impossible decision: risk everything to save a friend, or flee to a place where freedom might finally be possible.
This thrilling companion to Paolo Bacigalupi's highly acclaimed Ship Breaker is a haunting and powerful story of loyalty, survival, and heart-pounding adventure.
Author Notes
Paolo Bacigalupi won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Compton Crook, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards for his debut novel, The Windup Girl, which was published in 2009. His short story collection Pump Six and Other Stories was a 2008 Locus Award winner for Best Collection and his young adult novel Ship Breaker won the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature and was finalist for the National Book Award. His work has also appeared in High Country News, Salon.com, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in the same horrific world as Bacigalupi's Printz-winning Ship Breaker, this superb, violent tale concerns "war maggots" Mahlia and Mouse, two kids trying to survive in an impoverished village not far from the tropical Drowned Cites that were once Washington, D.C. Life is a war zone, with gangs of marauders periodically sweeping the area-raping, pillaging, and forcibly recruiting new boy soldiers for their half-remembered patriotic and religious causes. When Mouse is taken by the United Patriot Front, Mahlia, who has already lost a hand to the war, makes a foolhardy rescue attempt, aided by Tool, a hulking, genetically enhanced half-man, a killing machine who has broken away from his masters. Tool still remembers "how he and his pack had run the streets under fire, blades and machine guns held high," but finds himself forming a new pack of sorts with the determined Mahlia. Beautifully written, filled with high-octane action, and featuring badly damaged but fascinating and endearing characters, this fine novel tops its predecessor and can only increase the author's already strong reputation. Ages 14-up. Agent: Martha Millard, Martha Millard Literary Agency. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Bacigalupi expands the dystopian future America of his Printz Award-winning Ship Breaker (rev. 7/10) in this companion novel about the further exploits of the half-man Tool. The setting has moved north along the East Coast to the Drowned Cities (a.k.a. the remnants of Washington DC), a bleaker flooded landscape than Ship Breakers Orleans -- a place where "city and jungle bled into one." The isolated, ruined region is a battleground for warring political and religious factions, with fighting spreading out to the suburbs where two refugee "war maggot" friends, Mahlia and Mouse, live with a local doctor. Both children are victims of war, having lost their parents and homes during the futile fighting; Mahlia has also lost her right hand. When the children find Tool almost dead in the jungle, a violent group of armed child soldiers are hunting the half-man. After the soldiers capture and recruit Mouse by force, Mahlia and Tool risk their lives journeying into the Drowned Cities to rescue him. Bacigalupi uses multiple alternating narrative voices to present distinct perspectives in brutal yet poetic language that vividly depicts a harrowing world of violence, destruction, and ruthless cruelty. Characters continually reassess abstract concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, freedom, and equality, creating an overarching commentary on the negative consequences of world politics and war. Bacigalupis intense, action-filled novel is a heartbreaking and powerfully moving portrait of individual resiliency amidst extreme circumstances that rivals, if not surpasses, the excellence of its predecessor. cynthia k. ritter (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Two damaged children, Mouse and Mahlia, are the focus of Bacigalupi's brutal novel that further explores the world depicted in the 2011 Printz winner, Ship Breaker. With the half-man, Tool, making a reappearance, the action shifts to the flooded ruins of the Drowned Cities (a futuristic approximation of Washington, D.C.), where rival warlords battle for control of the ravaged metropolis. The Chinese Peacekeepers, who had held the city for a decade while trying to stop the warfare and preserve the city's treasures, have fled. Mahlia, branded a cast-off war maggot, and quick-thinking Mouse are taken in by a doctor. When the children discover the badly injured Tool, they unleash a horrifying series of events that leads them back to the ruined heart of the Drowned Cities. Bacigalupi takes on child soldiers, global warming, the soul-numbing impact of violence, and even the current political discord in this disturbing and propulsive page-turner. Anger radiates from the searing descriptions of a world brought down by selfishness and greed, where mindless brutality triumphs and priceless paintings are fuel for cooking fires. All three main characters are believably drawn, while their struggle between loyalty and self-preservation raises uncomfortable questions about what it means to be human. Bacigalupi writes with a furious energy that makes this brilliant depiction of an all-too-believable future impossible to forget. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The media blitz that will accompany this release should increase demand from Bacigalupi's crossover audience of adults, too.--Rutan, Lynn Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-In the ruins of an America toppled by greed, gas shortages, and flooding caused by climate change, civil war runs rampant. Orphans Mahlia and Mouse have been taken in by a kindly doctor, but when they cross the wrong soldier boys, even he may not be able to save them. Mahlia has turned hateful and pessimistic since the maiming that left her without a right hand. She decides that hope lies in saving a bioengineered soldier-beast, a half-man, who could protect her as she flees the Drowned Cities. It is only when Mouse is taken by soldier boys that Mahlia turns deep into the city's broken heart to try to rescue him. Joshua Swanson brings to life Bacigalupi's dark and compelling companion (2012) to his Printz Award-winning title, Ship Breaker (2010, both Little, Brown). Good pacing and staunch delivery keep listeners on the edge of their seats as Mahlia and Mouse fight to survive in a post-apocalyptic America. The inclusion of a creepy half-man ratchets up the tension a notch for the whole second half of the listening experience. In libraries where patrons are clamoring for solid dystopian novels, this will be a solid choice.-Jessica Miller, West Springfield Public Library, MA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In the visceral and deeply affecting companion to the Printz Awardwinning Ship Breaker, Bacigalupi returns to a dark, war-torn dystopian future in which severe climatic change and years of political upheaval have left the United States a bloodied and ravaged landscape. Bands of child soldiers roam from village to village, raping, pillaging and brutally murdering, all in the name of endless civil war. Against the backdrop of this blood-soaked chaos, two unlikely allies, a crippled teenage "war maggot" and a half-man/half-beast genetically altered killing machine, risk their lives and their freedom to save a boy forced into servitude by rebel soldiers. Mahlia and Tool (whom readers may recognize from Ship Breaker) venture deeper and deeper into the Drowned Cities, each fueled by unwavering loyalty. As they do, readers are given glimpses of proof that love and humanity can shine through even the most unimaginable darkness. Arguably, the novel's greatest success lies in the creation of a world that is so real, the grit and decay of war and ruin will lay thick on the minds of readers long after the final page. The narrative, however, is equally well crafted. Told in the third person, the novel alternates between Mahalia and Tool's stories, allowing both characters the time and space to imprint themselves on readers' hearts. Breathtaking. (Dystopian. 14 Up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
