Review: The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi

There's a reason Paolo Bacigalupi has won every science fiction award possible, some of them more than once. His crisp, articulate writing draws you in and holds you fast, only releasing you after the final word on the final page. The Drowned Cities, his companion novel to Printz award winning Ship Breaker provides yet one more example of why he belongs in such company as William Gibson, Ray Bradbury, and Robert Heinlein. Drawing from current socio-political trends and events, Bacigalupi weaves a tale that is as bittersweet and tragic as it is gripping and intense.

Mahlia and Mouse are two youths caught in the armed conflict raging through what was once the mid-Atlantic and southern United States. The United States has long since crumbled, crushed under its own weight and now a third world country resembling modern Somalia: ruled by warlords and battling factions, each claiming to more patriotic than the other, and China has become the dominant world power. After attempts to bring peace to the troubled region fail, the Chinese peacekeeping forces leave, abandoning the people of the once mighty nation to its fate. Also abandoned is Mahlia, a half Chinese "castoff," reminiscent of the children left behind by soldiers at the end of the Vietnam War. Mahlia and her best friend, a young boy named Mouse, encounter bio-engineered super soldier Tool, and before long they begin to plan their way out of the region of the Drowned Cities. However, before they can enact their plan, tragedy strikes and the two become separated. Continuing with the theme of family and loyalty encountered in Ship Breaker, the choice presents itself: rescue a friend despite seemingly impossible odds, or flee to a region of safety, security and peace.

Not a word is wasted by Bacigalupi as he propels the reader endlessly forward through this magnificent story towards its end that is both heart-rending and full of hope. From Little, Brown Books and available at your local, independent bookstore. (Want to make a genuine difference? Shop and buy from your local, independent businesses!)

Review: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

This book by Colorado author Paolo Bacigalupi was recommended to me by one of the staff members at the Boulder Bookstore, and I'm intensely glad he told me about. The Windup Girl is one of the best science fiction stories I've read in years; in fact, I'd say it's the best science fiction story to come out in the last five to ten years.

Oil is a thing of the past and the genetic engineering companies have won. Set in Southeast Asia in the not-very-distant future, calories are the new fuel and corporate espionage is linked to finding and creating variant strains of food, animals, and even people. Bacigalupi expertly weaves seemingly disparate threads into a rich tapestry that crackles with a tension and electricity that surfaces with whip-crack intensity before its end.

Emiko is one of the New People, a genetically engineered creature designed and intended to serve and pleasure "real" humans at a whim. Anderson Lake is a "calorie man," an employee of one of the major genetic engineering corporations with machinations and plans that will bring him out of the spring factory he currently runs and into the upper echelons of his employer. Emiko finds herself drawn into Lake's world and at the center of warring political factions in Thai society that threaten to rip apart the Thai Kingdom forever. Racism, abuse, corruption, loyalty, and the question of what defines humanity all play central roles in this tale that echoes the tone of some of the best works in science fiction, including William Gibson's Neuromancer and Frank Herbert's Dune with elements of Blade Runner tossed in for good measure.

Bacigalupi's writing and vision possess a potency that has been lacking in science fiction of late. The Windup Girl is a story that pulls you in from the start and completely envelops the reader in its world until the last word on the last page. From Night Shade Books and available from your local, independent bookseller (shop local, shop independent...it makes a difference!)