The Drowned Cities

By: Paolo Bacigalupi

Narrated by: Joshua Swanson

Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Soldier boys emerged from the darkness. Guns gleamed dully. Bullet bandoliers and scars draped their bare chests. Ugly brands scored their faces. She knew why these soldier boys had come. She knew what they sought, and she knew, too, that if they found it, her best friend would surely die.

In a dark future America where violence, terror, and grief touch everyone, young refugees Mahlia and Mouse have managed to leave behind the war-torn lands of the Drowned Cities by escaping into the jungle outskirts. But when they discover a wounded half-man - a bioengineered war beast named Tool - who is being hunted by a vengeful band of soldiers, their fragile existence quickly collapses. One is taken prisoner by merciless soldier boys, and the other is faced with an impossible decision: Risk everything to save a friend, or flee to a place where freedom might finally be possible.

This thrilling companion to Paolo Bacigalupi's highly acclaimed Ship Breaker is a haunting and powerful story of loyalty, survival, and heart-pounding adventure.

Apocalypse now: also listen to Ship Breaker.

©2012 Paolo Bacigalupi (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Suzanne Collins may have put dystopian literature on the YA map with The Hunger Games... but Bacigalupi is one of the genre's masters, employing inventively terrifying details in equally imaginative story lines." ( Los Angeles Times)

"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." ( Publishers Weekly, starred review)

"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.... Breathtaking." ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

A little better than mediocre

This is a dystopian tale filled with the strong praying on the weak. The violence and intent of some of the characters is disturbing. Included in the story is a man beast that makes it a little more interesting but really adds little to the final product. I listened to the entire thing but it's not one I'll come back to.

Terribly realistic!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes definitely. Its gripping and troubling and definitely worth the read. This is not a light read as it deals with gruesome topics: child soldiers, war and all its horrors but it is touching and well written.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This is one of those tear jerkers and despite it all, it leaves you with hope.

Any additional comments?

Dystopian yes but very adult, well written and the characters are so very real!

Repetitive and Unnecessarily Gruesome

I have enjoyed several Paolo Bacigalupi novels, but this title was too painful to get through. The character introspection became repetitive, was more like filler, and did not advance the characters' growth. The gruesome depictions of violence were over the top, revolting, and did not advance the plot.

Just okay.

The Drowned cities was yet another dystopian society novel. It was pretty good, but it did not have an anding. I assumes there will be a sequel , but I am not that curious about it. The narration was good .

Enjoyable to the last drop

A far reaching dystopia that keeps ones interest throughout. A dark story line that will continue to provide material on many levels. When is the next book expected.

I've seen this book before

Bacigalupi has kind of hit on a formula here: Young adult survival novel in the ruins of post climate-change America, the protagonists struggle across a hideous wasteland, fighting the evil bad guys and overcoming insurmountable odds to come out on top and ride away on a super clipper ship. Kinda saw this already in Ship Breaker.
I love PB's landscapes and extrapolations of a future world that is taking shape before our eyes, but sometimes his characterizations and story lines can get a little tedious. This one was a little tough to swallow, and the ending chapters were frankly unbelievable. But, yay, the heroes come out all right, sorta, and it sets up his next novel in the Drowned Cities saga, which I've already purchased, but I believe I'll wait awhile to get into.

Another engrossing Bacigalupi book

This is another book in Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker series. Like Ship Breaker, it's touching and interesting, with in-depth characters and a plot line which is not predictable. Like Shipbreaker, it's more than a little depressing. This is not the right book to look for if you want light reading, but the story is engrossing and will suck you in.

Disappointing

Had I not gotten this in part by using a $10 coupon, I would have returned it. Cannot imagine that anyone would think this is better than Ship Breaker. Without reading the reviews I was expecting a sequel vs a "companion" book. With the frequent mention of Patel Global I kept waiting for the characters from Ship Breaker to emerge. Neither of these companion books come anywhere near the Windup Girl. Other than Tool, the main characters are not at all particularly compelling and there is not much plot.

tool rules

Would you listen to The Drowned Cities again? Why?

Great story with great characters.
There's about 3 dire chapters of moralising about a third of the way in but then everyone packs that in and gets on with scheming and killing things.
Awesome.

What other book might you compare The Drowned Cities to and why?

suppose hunger games fans might enjoy this.

Which character – as performed by Joshua Swanson – was your favorite?

Sergeant Ocho

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Nope, I have a life

Any additional comments?

Perhaps this reflects more on myself than the story but I find this vision of the future both believable and alluring.

Another grim, gripping collapsed-world adventure

For my money, Paulo Bacigalupi is one of the few writers of dystopian science fiction right now who's not just channeling the social anomie of the moment, but is gazing out over the ramparts towards the approaching dust cloud. He asks a direct and urgent question that other novelists don't: what would happen if our fossil fuel-driven, environmental havok-wreaking global economy broke down? Would human society have to foresight to adapt, or would it just start to cannibalize itself, reverting to ugly old patterns?

Forget the Hunger Games, with its elaborate Big Brother fantasy -- The Drowned Cities (and its companion novel, Ship Breaker) portrays a more immediate kind of dystopia, a "future" that's already arrived in places like Somalia, the Congo, Iraq, or Afghanistan. It's just not a future that's gotten to our shores. Yet.

Just as importantly, Bacigalupi is a visionary who can write. His novels burn with a quiet, measured intensity, the calm of the language bringing the fear and struggle of his world to vivid life. He doesn’t give his characters easy moral choices, but puts them in a position where doing the right thing is often very dangerous, and being less-than-heroic is sometimes the only way to survive.

The Drowned Cities is a page-turningly grim novel, perhaps a shade or two more intense than it’s companion book, Ship Breaker. Here again, we meet two adolescent characters trying to keep their heads down and make it to adulthood, although not the same two characters from that book, and in a new setting -- near the flooded remnants of Washington, DC. We also have a return of the monstrous half-man, Tool, who plays a more prominent role as both a reluctant ally and a knowing but decidedly unsympathetic observer of human affairs, and is perhaps Bacigalupi’s best character to date. Here, the plot puts its protagonists squarely in the middle of a war between vicious militias of mostly-teenage conscripts, who, as we come to see, are as much victims of their circumstances as anyone else, unable to escape what their exploitative warlords have turned them into.

If that sounds like heavy material for a young adult book, it is, and I don’t know that I’d recommend this one for younger readers, given some frightening characters and scenes of brutality, torture, and enslavement. But, it is, like Ship Breaker, a very good book, framing its moral questions in a sober, even-handed way, and keeping the level of action high. I’m pleased to see that the economy required for shorter works has improved Bacigalupi’s chops at plot and characterization, and look forward to seeing him return to writing grown-up novels with those lessons in hand.

PS. If you haven’t read Ship Breaker, it’s not really a prerequisite, but I’d still suggest that one first, since it introduces Tool and is a bit more of an adventure.