Ship Breaker and Bacigalupi
I just finished a great book by author Paolo Bacigalupi called Ship Breaker. My son (9) read it first (and that’s only because he stole it from me when I wasn’t looking – seriously he did – and then told his mother that I said it was all right to read it. For the record I told him it was all right to read the first chapter because he had no other book to read at that time and he had fifteen minutes to kill and who am I to stop a boy from reading? Seriously. I’d already read the first 8 pages and he doesn’t read that fast and I figured how bad could it be…)So my son read it first. He loved it. He’s getting into sci-fi and this was a deep sci-fi experience in world building. I finally got my hands on it and finished it yesterday. If you haven’t read it yet, got out and get it. It’s for the 13 and up crowd for the violence and deeper themes of loyalty, family, and what it means to maintain your humanity in a world that has gone over to the dark side with global warming. This is the best kind of science fiction – thought provoking with an eye for the larger epic picture yet solidly focused on character – on the lives of only a few characters, one main and several minor. My only complaint is that, like many good books, it ended too soon and I was left with the wonderful question of what happens next?
The follow-up to Ship Breaker is coming out in the spring called Drowned Cities following the tale of the half-man, Tool, one of my favorite secondary characters from Ship Breaker and whose fate is not known… I can’t wait. Neither can my son.
Here’s the link for the book: Ship Breaker
Lunievicz 
I thought this one was phenomenal. I read it a few years ago. I think the slang, in particular, was incredibly authentic.
Blood and rust!
February 28, 2012 at 7:10 am
I’m in total agreement. Awesome read.
February 28, 2012 at 7:34 am
Joe, stories about your boy make me smile.
I loved Shipbreaker–I agree with you about the world-building, which I think is hard to do well. Looking forward to the sequel. My students enjoy this book, too, even ones who aren’t into sci-fi. I like how books like this expand worlds for them in ways they didn’t expect.
February 28, 2012 at 12:07 pm
A found it to be an incredible commentary on global warming carried through to a realistic and frightening endpoint. Also a great adventure story (I’m such a sucker for that!).
February 28, 2012 at 10:01 pm