Author: Paolo Bacigalupi
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Dystopia
Recommend To: fans of Exodus
This was a really interesting read, and a really different spin on the entire post-apocalyptic/dystopian genre. Instead of a despotic government and rebellion, we just have total chaos and poverty. Nailer, our main protagonist, scrapes through life crewing for a team of people who scavenge valuable materials off broken ships and ancient oil tankers. It's dangerous, dirty, backbreaking work that requires total loyalty. When a storm blows an expensive ship onto the shore along with a mysterious and beautiful girl, Nailer begins to face the dilemma of upholding his morals or escaping his hellish life.
I really did enjoy this book, but I think that there were some aspects of it that others would like more. There was a lot of description of the ships, and a lot industrial details. Not to say that this is a book for boys, but the shipping and trade wars did dominate a lot of the book. The story behind the fall of humanity was explained only briefly, and some of the plot points were vague. For instance, the different countries and what kind of situation they've fallen into, as well as the genetically engineered men weren't really focused on that much (Tool was awesome, but there wasn't much explanation.) I wasn't really sure what condition the rest of the world was in other than Nailer's little world.
However, the characters were very detailed, and the story was interesting and exciting. Nailer's journey from frightened to courageous was real and believable. He was a wonderfully flawed character, and was easy to root for. Nailer's twisted father, and the other power hungry drug addicts were chilling. Tool was also alarming but awesome and very perplexing. The romance was okay, but at least it was slow, and grew over time. The adventure was new and different, and the story was very unique from others.
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