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)

Companion to 'Shipbreaker'

In this story, set in the same future earth as P B's earlier novel 'Shipbreaker', the world economy has fractured, the global seat of power shifted to China, and the former US has descended into barbarism, where religious gangs, gathered around warlords, perpetuate unimaginable violence. P B has obviously taken many current events, from global warming to civil wars in Africa and crafted a plausible and intricate future. As in 'Shipbreaker this world is viewed from the eyes of young adults struggling to survive and make sense out of the chaos,brutality and remnants of former greatness. If you enjoy suspenseful journey novels & dystopian novels then you might enjoy this one. I admire the authors ability to project current realities into the future and his ability to create scenarios that are detailed, original and plausible.[ see Greer's 'Ecotechnic Future' where Greer names the next step to be a ' Scavenger society' ]
I am not sure that this is a novel to let younger readers get into though. Again, as in previous novels, the author describes terrible violence in graphic detail. And, though I understand why it needs to be part of this story; I do not like it.
There is something about that novel overall that is a real downer; but then again it is about dystopia. There is a glut of dystopian novels coming on the market right now, many very violent as del. I think that P B is a little ahead of the pack in some ways. He has the stomach, the diligence & the talent to re- package current trends, and current realities and present them to us in an imaginative, exciting and sometimes strangely beautiful way. He tricks us, so that we have to face an aspect of human nature as evidenced in current events. If we let the supporting structure of security and affluence erode through decisions we make , even our own civilized way of live can give way to a brutal, hellish, barbaric scrabbling for survival.

Nightmarish Apocalyptical Tale of Child Soldiers

In Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Drowned Cities, the American Dream has shifted into an apocalyptic nightmare, and its legacy is a devastating cycle of violence ripping the country into warring factions. The surviving casualties are quickly drafted into the oppressing armies to perpetuate the cycle of violence. Armies made of children.

The Drowned Cities is a story about child soldiers, the seduction of violence, and survival and it’s the most brutal, unrelenting story I’ve read or listened to in a while time. Like Bacigalupi’s other books, it’s drenched with social commentary that manages not to get in the way of the story or come off as preachy. Instead, we see the effects of rhetoric as we’re thrust through a violent, possible future.

I made a conscious decision to listen to this book without listening to Ship Breaker, which shares the same world with this story (though not any characters), and it held up just fine on its own. If anything, it made me very anxious to go listen to Ship Breaker.

We follow several children – a girl named Mahlia who lost one of her arms to a group of soliders and is apprenticed to the town doctor; Mouse – a boy, who knows the swamps and terrain; Ocho – a wounded soldier boy; and a genetically engineered monster named Tool. Mahlia and Mouse discover Tool dying in a swamp after an escape from one of the armies, and do their best to nurse him back to health. Mahlia hopes that Tool might be their ticket out of the war-torn environment of the Drowned Cities. Unfortunately, the half-man’s been a tool of war mongers his whole life, and is violently opposed to being chained again.

At one point, Mouse and Mahlia get split up, and it’s interesting to see how both of them have to accept violence to survive. They both become child soldiers, in a fashion. Something Bacigalupi did incredibly well was give the murderous squad of soldier boys a sense of humanity. It’d be easy to play them as wicked, child-like monsters absent of concsciences, but Bacigalupi captures their lost humanity in painful way, showing us they’re victims as much as anyone else, and I was surprised by how much I ended up caring about their fates, despite all the horrible atrocities they’d helped commit.

This is my first experience with Joshua Swanson as a narrator, and he was more than up to the task. It’s not a flashy narration, and Swanson is smart enough to realize it doesn’t need to be for it to be as compelling as it is.

All in all, The Drowned Cities is a violent, gut-wrenching listen, about how violence and rhetoric effect children. It is not for the faint of heart, but it’s an absorbing listen, and highly recommended.

(Originally posted at the AudioBookaneers)

Different and Suspencful

This was a bit different from the way these books flow and the main character wavers between good and bad moral choices constantly but keeps you wanting to listen. The book touches on many different types of issues ranging from moral to political and has a pretty big underdog negative feel to it. You keep rooting for the main characters but bad things just keep on happening to them. It does not make it a bad book but it will bore those that like nothing but action and a certain amount of required architecture to these types of books. If you like end of the world (or at least society as we know it) books and have no problems with explicit violence and cruelty this book is pretty good, but if you are squeamish I would stay away from it.

Great.

Love this author. Will continue to listen to his work. Presentation was good quality on this audiobook

Nail Biter

This is not for the faint of heart. Excellently written story. Resonates with many current issues. Excellent for full alertness and speedy knitting on a long car trip. Not a dull moment.

loving this author!

Read The Water Knife first and wanted more of this authors works, not disappointed with this one!

Addicted to Bacigalupi

What I love about the author is that he spends little or no time on exposition. Bacigalupi doesn't spoon feed the reader. Drowned Cities may be a cautionary tale about a future world, where our failure to recognize climate change has led to a drowned and broken America. But that's for the reader to work out. Rather it's a horrifying story about a young girl surviving in a bleak and violent state of anarchy. With Ship Breaker, Bacigalupi took me deep into his nightmare world. And I for one will follow the author where ever he takes me.

Great Book

This was a great book! awesome narration, great characters, interesting topic. I think you'll love it.

Diverse POVs Captured to a T

Any additional comments?

While technically a follow-up to "Shipbreaker," this book stood on its own (which I love!). The viewpoint characters in each case were so well-done that I felt sympathy for each, even though many were on "opposite" sides for much of the book. The narration was stunning, keeping even side characters in distinct voices. My only gripe is that sometimes the narrative kept harping on Mahlia's emotions and feelings (especially annoying because she was the only female as well, making me wonder if the author subtly reinforced that even tough girls are by nature whinier?) and sense of powerlessness. If I'd been reading, honestly I'd have skipped over a few paragraphs of this. Still, the book is marketed as YA, so maybe that's a YA kinda thing that I'm not appreciating. Overall, a well-done book, and one that I can fully recommend.

Logical storyline, great story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Drowned Cities?

The descriptions of the physical world, especially the drowned cities.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There were many moments and they usually centred around characters being caught up by events and forced into doing things that went against their natures to survive. Sounds sad, and it was, but the book on the whole is uplifting.

Any additional comments?

Many futuristic books require huge leaps of imagination and acceptance of unexplained plotlines. This book's narrative was consistent and believable throughout. This made it very powerful.