Having just finished (and loved) the audio of Ship Breaker last week, I was excited to start reading The Drowned Cities. I knew it would be good, I just didn't expect it to be even more amazing than the first book! The Drowned Cities serves as a companion novel to Ship Breaker. It takes place in the same world, but a different cast of characters dominate this story. I was happy to see more of Tool in this book. He was such a complicated and wonderful secondary character in Ship Breaker is was nice to learn more about him. I had some preconceived notions about his character and I was pleasantly surprised, as the more I read the more layers there were to his personality. The same goes for all the characters in this book. Not a single one is one dimensional or boring and even the so called “bad guys” were relateable (For example - the soldier, Ocho is probably one of my favourite characters of the year.) The world building in this novel is also spectacular. I talked about Paolo's ability to paint a picture in my review of Ship Breaker, so I won't expand on it to much here, since there are a lot of similarities. I will say, however, that I preferred the jungle-like setting of The Drowned Cities more than the costal setting of Ship Breaker. I just didn't feel as cold and damp when I was reading this novel. Finally, I like this novel, because it's clear that Paolo Bacigalupi respects his readers. In this horribly disturbing world he has created, he doesn't avoid the negative. He doesn't just allude to it or steer his characters away from it, which is a common gripe I have with some YA dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels. Here bad stuff happens and it happens to all the characters. People die, are tortured, have their lives immediately threatened in horrible ways. It is not a sugar coated world. This makes his stories even more realistic and gritty and so much more interesting to read about. Final recommendation: A must read for anyone who is a fan of good storytelling with realistic characters. The Drowned Cities is now tied with The Wind up Girl for my favourite Paolo Bacigalupi novel and I will happily buy any book he writes the day it comes out from now on. This and other reviews at Hooked on Books (http://christashookedonbooks.blogspot.com)

Okay hypothetically Paolo Bacigalupi made Drowned Cities to be a sequel to Ship Breaker and while I immediately fell in love with Ship Breaker I struggled to open myself up to Drowned Cities because I had been so intent on a book directly related to the first one that it took me a while to warm up to it. Drowned Cities starts off with a brief story on one of the minor characters in Ship Breaker but then spins away in a completely new direction. Drowned Cities introduces us to a whole new cast and a new perspective on things, providing readers with a completely new story although it does incorporate some of the familiar faces of the first novel, Drowned Cities could easily stand alone entirely separate from Ship Breaker. If you go in knowing that this book is more of a support than a sequel it is hard to deny Paolo's gift when it comes to writing. He offers his readers choices and then snatches them away leaving them aching and following his plot through the pages like a faithful companion. It's hard to not marvel at his societal ideas and how the world is. Aside from a few minor fantastical elements, Paolo provides us with a very real way society could progress providing us with a true post-apocalyptic narrative that will leave readers craving more. If you have never read Paolo's works before I guarantee you he is an author worth reading.

I'm feeling kind of bad because this is the second book in the Ship Breaker series and I didn't read the first one. Even though I read them out of order, because I will be reading the first book, I have to say I really enjoyed The Drowned Cities. There were a few things that confused me, but I think I'll understand those things a bit better after I read Ship Breakers. I don't think it makes that much of a difference in terms of the story line since there is only one character in common, so I'm told. This was my first time reading a book by Paolo Bacigalupi and I have to say, he's a pretty darn amazing writer! As for the cover, it probably wouldn't catch my eye right away but after a read through the synopsis, I had to read it. The Drowned Cities revolves around a few different characters, showing each of their struggles and thoughts. There is Tool, a half-man, who just wants to escape and be free, not taking orders from anyone. Mahlia, a cast off, left by her father to die in the Drowned Cities with her mother. Mouse, a "war maggot", whose family was killed by the soldier boys. Then there is Ocho, one of the soldier boys, but he isn't like the rest, he seems to still have feelings and compassion. All anyone wants is to stay alive and be free, but in the warring world, it's easier said than done. There are very few adults left, so all that is left for recruiting is the children. Giving boys guns isn't exactly the best thing to do. Some of them can get a little trigger happy and ammo is scarce. Can they get their freedom? One of the nice things about The Drowned Cities is that there was no romance. At least none that I was able to see. It's somewhat of a nice change. We have a kick butt female character who's not drooling over some boy for once. Very refreshing. And Mahlia is pretty kick butt. She is first and foremost a survivor, everything she does is something she feels will ensure her survival. She only has one hand, and yet she still takes off into the jungle to save her friend because while she wants to survive, she is very loyal to Mouse. Tool, the half-man is a very interesting character. If you've never read one of these books before, you've probably been wondering what exactly a half-man is. Well, he's a bio engineered beast, whose instinct is to kill. He is human, jackal, bloodhound and tiger, all of their best traits. Super human strength and speed, he can decimate a group of soldiers in no time. He is deadly, and yet he helps Mahlia. Overall, The Drowned Cities is an action packed story that I had a hard time putting down. You think I would be tired of dystopian worlds after how many I've read recently, but this was really good. I would suggest reading Ship Breaker first because it might give a little more information on the world. I never really figured out why everyone is fighting, so maybe it explains a bit more. I also want more background on Tool, to figure out why he's the way he is. Either way, this was definitely a great story that I really enjoyed and I would highly recommend it! Thank you HBG Canada for the review copy.