The Drowned Cities

Starred review from March 12, 2012
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.

Starred review from March 15, 2012
In the visceral and deeply affecting companion to the Printz Award-winning 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)

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May 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-This is a companion book to the author's Ship Breaker (Little, Brown, 2010). Tool, a ferocious bioengineered weapon of war that is part animal, part man, and built to kill, finds himself without a general and thinking for himself in this engrossing postapocalyptic novel. He begrudgingly becomes entwined in the lives of two orphan refugees, or war maggots, Mahlia and Mouse, and the pacifist Doctor Mahfouz, their guardian. Climate change has flooded the cities of America and made resources scarce. There is no centralized government, only factions fighting against one another for control of what is left. Chinese peacekeepers, including Mahlia's father, have long since abandoned the country, leaving behind their children, the castoffs hated by all sides, to suffer unimaginable horrors. All the while, the people of the Drowned Cities try to go about life as quietly as possible, to escape the notice of whatever army is in charge. The United Patriot Front is fighting the Army of God for control of Banyan Town, with the Freedom Militia not far off. UPF soldiers have burned Banyan Town to take what they need from its people and leave them with nothing. What happens to civilians is of no consequence. War is everything. The bloody adventures of Tool, Mahlia, Mouse, and Doctor Mahfouz peel back the layers of war and expose its amoral underbelly, revealing that the armies fighting with such brutal callousness are made up entirely of children. A compelling read, this engaging book does not glorify war and violence, but shows its true nature.-Cindy Wall, Southington Library & Museum, CT

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2012
Grades 9-12 *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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)