by Paolo Bacigalupi
Ship Breaker is a post-apocalyptic novel that tells of a teenager's journey from a low paying, dirty and dangerous job of "ship breaker" or salvaging valuable scrap off wrecks, to running for his life with a beautiful, rich "swank" who he finds barely alive within a clipper ship wrecked during a violent storm. Nailer, along with his "crew", his work group, stay alive while working scrap by observing a strict code of honor of loyalty and trust. Pulling scrap copper and other medals off the beached iron ships that have been abandoned after the polar ice caps have melted and covered many of the major cities of the world is a deadly job since, at any time, the creaky and rusted duct works could collapse sending a body tumbling into the bowels of the wreck. Nailer's life is drastically changed one day when, as he is trying to recover from such an accident, a huge "city killer" storm hits the beach where the impoverished workers live. In the aftermath of the storm, he and his crew chief Pima, stumble across the wrecked clipper and decide to investigate it for any wealth they can pull off it. In one of the luxurious bedrooms they find a body of a beautiful young girl. When they decide to remove her jewelry, her fingers are too swollen. As they attempt to cut off her fingers to pull of the rings she comes to live unexpectedly. Nailer and Pima have to decide whether to kill her to take the wealth that will make them rich for life or let her live and chance that she will reward them for their help.
As a YA science fiction, I loved the plot and action of this novel. Once "involved" with the characters, which I admit took me awhile, I was engrossed in the story line and couldn't wait to see where Nailer and Pima's decision would take them. The dog-men, genetically engineered half-human half-dog, loyal and devoted to their "patrons", added a unique danger factor when we found out that "Lucky Girl" (as they named the clipper survivor) was being pursued by murderous corporate moguls trying to capture her and use her to force her father to agree to their power hungry demands.
Paolo Bacigalupi has done a phenominal job with this second full length novel. His first, The Windup Girl, received many awards. Ship Breaker has been nominated for the 2011 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. Bacigalupi has finished his third novel, a sequel to Ship Breaker called The Drowned Cities. To read reviews on this story, go to Goodreads, http://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/12814594-the-drowned-cities.
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