Title:

“Once over the spine Deryn could see the wreck much better.

Inside the gondola the decks and bulkheads leaned to starboard ,a fun house full of overturned furniture.  With the scent of hydrogen everywhere, the oil lamps had been extinguished, leaving he chaos lit with the sickly green of glowworms.  Men jostled in the slanting corridors, filling the air with curses and shouted orders.”

Summary (from the publisher):
It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up.  The Austro-Hungarians and Germas have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition.  The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry.  Their Leviathan is a whale airship, and the most masterful beast in the British fleet.

Aleksandar Ferdinand, prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is on the run.  His own people have turned on him.  His title is worthless.  All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men.

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service.  She’s a brilliant airman.  But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With the Great War brewing, Alek’s and Deryn’s paths cross in the most unexpected way….taking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure.  One that will change both their lives forever.

Opinion:
Westerfeld is a master storyteller.

Can I say it again?

Master.

In Leviathan he’s crafted a wonderful mix of creative historical fiction with the scifi’ish stylings of steampunk.  But that’s nothing in comparison to the plot AND character driven story constructed that can appeal across age and gender lines.  Have I mentioned the book itself is a work of art?  Because it is.  It’s filled with spectacular illustrations.  If for some reason you find your imagination can’t put a visual together for the many unique settings and characters he’s devised then the many lovely pages certainly will.

Heck, I’d buy the book for that alone.

But wait!  You shouldn’t pick up the book for that reason alone.

Why? Because it’s got a great story.

There is action a-plenty in Leviathan.  Whether soaring through the sky as a passenger in a Darwinist airship or pounding across the land in a metal war machine it’s a race against time and war.  Told from the perspective of the two main characters Aleksandar and Deryn we see the events of their singular lives eventually collide to create a perilous, yet potentially fruitful, journey.

Aleksandar is being hunted.  The son of now assassinated parents he must be secreted away to a place of safety in order to assure his future ascension to the throne.
As part of that attempt he and his protectors cross paths with Deryn and her shipmates as they navigate the airways in an attempt to further their own mission.  Delivery of precious cargo.

So let’s talk characters shall we?  What’s most impressive about Leviathan is that Westerfeld has created powerful and compelling male and female lead characters.

Aleksandar is a wonderful combination of haughty, regal, brave, and childlike wonderment.  Sheltered his entire life, he’s quick to adapt to his new situation and surroundings while bearing the burden of hope for his people.

His counterpart Deryn is all things fearless.  A girl pretending to be a boy she’s not the picture of asugar and spice in this story.  A tomboy at heart, in her mind girls can do everything just as well as boys, maybe even better.  Don’t worry though, there is a certain softness to her, an appealing need to do what’s right at all costs.

Together Aleks and Deryn are the perfect friends.

There is also a cadre of unique and interesting secondary characters in Aleksandar’s caretakers and Deryn’s shipmates.  This is an eclectic group that play essential roles in how the story progresses.  Steadfast and loyal Aleks’ saviors protect his life with their own while Deryn’s shipmates and the quirky doctor she is tasked with keeping after all provide for some light-hearted and entertaining moments.

World building is another skill Westerfeld has undertaken with great finesse.  Infusing World War I history within a time of Darwinist creatures and Clanker machines he’s constructed an otherworldly yet familiar feeling.  We know just enough to be comfortable yet there are still these fantastical human and man made elements that provide an air of unexpectedness and mystery.

This book most definitely has it all.

But wait!  There’s more….

While I do have Leviathan in print I ended up listening to it on audio.  How glad I am that I did because doing so only added to the experience.

Narrated by the awesomely talented Alan Cumming I knew from the jump I’d adore it.  Boy was I right, listening to Leviathan on audio gave it an air of authenticity.  Cumming was the absolute perfect choice and did a great job of giving the story a very European vibe.  He created individual personalities for all of the characters (though I will say that at times Volger sounded so much like Arnold Schwarzenegger that I half expected to hear him say “I’ll be back”) and infused pitch perfect emotions for each of the situations they were placed in.  It was truly an amazing listen.

No matter how you partake of Leviathan, be it print or audio, all that matters is that you do. I strongly encourage it!

Happy Sunday!

It’s made even happier with the knowledge that the usual preparations for work are able to be pushed off an extra 24-hours in honor of Labor Day.  I was hoping to be far more productive than I have been this weekend but, you know, laziness gets in the way sometimes, haha.

What have I been up to this weekend?

I stopped by Books-a-Million and picked up a few books that I didn’t need but definitely wanted.  I’ve done a bit of laundry and dusting and other housework.  I’ve also uploaded my reviews to GoodReads, LibraryThing and Amazon.  Today I’m writing my True Blood recaps for Snark & Bark and working through my feed reader a bit more.  I hope to write a few blog posts and reviews at some point too.

As for my week in reading, I’ve been a bit slower on that front this week.  I’ve finished up my audio of Sophie Kinsella’s Remember Me which was an alright story.  I listened to Dedication by Kraus and McLaughlin yesterday.  I liked it a good deal, it’s a bit of a cross over between chick-lit and YA.  Definitely worth the listen.  I’m also reading Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters which I hope to finish up this weekend.

What are you all listening to and reading?

Yup, you guessed it, it’s about the time of year that the literary community starts talking about banned and challenged books.

Why is this important, you ask?  Because people who don’t know or your children are trying to tell you was is appropriate to read.  I don’t know about you, but I’m not really down with being told what to do.  Not even a little bit.

So what do I plan to do?  I plan to join in on Banned Books Week.  Sponsored by The American Library Association, The American Booksellers Association and a host of other really awesome and notable bookish organizations the last week of September is targeted as a time to shine a light on the freedom to choose what you read.

I’m not quite sure how I’ll express that freedom or how I’ll participate but I was recently advised of an excellent opportunity.  The wonderful Steph of Steph Su Reads has created the Banned Books Reading Challenge.  Running from today (September 1) through October 15 she is encouraging  readers with a voice online to participate.  Pick a goal, any goal, related to banned and challenged books and make your voice heard.  Network with other participants and publicize your activism in an effort to increase awareness about the issue of censorship.

Steph does a fantastic job of listing challenge goals, providing useful and insightful resources, and even outlines her own intentions for the challenge in her call to action.  So what are you waiting for?  Sign up, join in and make your voice heard!

Kidlitoshpere Conference

2010′s Kidlitosphere Conference is going to be held the weekend of October 23rd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  An event where children’s and young adult book bloggers, authors, publicity types and anyone at all who is interested in YA and kidlit to congregate for a few days of eating, drinking, networking and learning from each other.

I was lucky enough that last year’s conference was held right here in DC (wanna come back folks?  I’ll do the work!) and it was truly a fabulous experience.  One that I strongly encourage anyone who digs YA and kidlit to attend.  I won’t be able to make it this year and am quite bereft at not being able to hang out with all of the new friends I made.  But, I’m looking forward to following along on Twitter and reading the posts of attendees after the fact.

Wanna know another reason why I’m so bummed that I won’t be able to go this year?  The  awesome Maggie Stiefvater is keynote speaker.  She’s an excellent writer and her blog is fantastic to boot.  I can only imagine how amazing she’s going to be standing up at the podium gabbing away about it all.

The organizers are currently sifting through session proposals so the agenda isn’t publicized yet but trust me this is an event not to be missed if you can avoid it.  To register and keep tabs on all the news that’s fit to print check out the Kidlit Con 2010 blog.

Cybils Awards

The call for panelists and judges for the 2010 Cybils Awards was put out this week.   Anne Levy, organizer, details the amount of work that will go into participation, the eligibility standards, and various other details potential interested parties must be aware of before throwing his/her hat in the ring.

What are the Cybils Awards you ask?  It’s an annual award that is designed to recognize children’s and young adult literature “whose books combine the highest literary merit and “kid appeal”.  You can learn much more about it on the Cybils blog where there is a wealth of information about the awards past and present.

I’m excited to apply to participate this year, though I suspect the competition is tough.  Even if I’m not fortunate enough to be selected I can tell you you’ll be hearing all about what is going on here on my blog.

“Used to curses and hostile glares, I shrugged.  The mass of people in the tight corridor jostled and pushed me along.  Life in the lower two levels teamed with scrubs at all hours of the week.  They moved from work to their barracks and back to work. We were called scrubs because rust and dust were the twin evils of Inside and must be kept at bay; however, scrubs also maintained the network of mechanical systems which kept both uppers and lowers alive.”

Summary (from the publisher):
I’m Trella. I’m a scrub. A nobody. One of thousands who work the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I’ve got one friend, do my job and try to avoid the Pop Cops. So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels? The only neck at risk is my own…until I accidentally start a rebellion and become the go-to girl to lead a revolution.

Opinion:
Inside Out is a unique view of the usual conflicts between the societal class structure of haves and have nots. The Lowers are charged with the care taking of the world in which both they and the Uppers live.  Keeping mechanics purring, maintaining the cleanliness of duct work and a variety of other custodial tasks the Lowers are thought to truly be the bottom of the barrel.

To add insult to injury they do this all as a result of living in a police state.  They are made lower not by choice or even by circumstance, they are such by being oppressed by the higher class. They are forced into labor,  made to dress a certain way and even eat according to the choices of others.  These people do not have any freedoms at all.

Main character Trella is a Lower, her responsibility is to crawl through duct work sanitizing it so that the Uppers have clean air.  She should be a relatively simple character but Snyder has created her with depth and complexity.  Sure, she knows her station in life and she knows she shouldn’t want more but she does.  She wants to know what Upper is like, she wants to experience the differences and what she perceives as the luxury and most of all she wants the freedom to do so.

This is where everything in her life (and frankly the lives of everyone) starts to change.  Trella explores the duct work, memorizes its every nook and cranny until she’s fluent in the language of her surroundings.  She’s bold and in some ways carefree enough to expand her exploration over time until she finally finds herself in Upper.  Only now she’s not entirely alone.  She’s met Riley, an Upper boy.

Their romance is certainly intriguing as it builds over their mutual desire to seek a better understanding of how the division of power both came about and can further be destroyed.  The latter is where most of the story is told.  Will there be a revolt?  Will there not?  How do they get there and stay safe if it does? All questions to ponder as you read this book.

In addition to building a convolutedly simple and sparse world — it seemed quite box-like to me — Snyder does an excellent job with character development.  From the almost rabid Pop Cops to the group of unexpected conspirators from Upper and Lower we meet a great variety of personalities.  Through them all we learn lessons on trust and loyalty, love and friendship, but above teamwork.

Inside Out is an excellent dystopian read with a strong female in the lead.  It has the potential to teach readers valuable and useful lessons all while keeping them entertained.

Title:

“I opened the journal to a heavily creased page; I’d put the envelope with the Devenish Prep crest embossed on it there as a bookmark.  When I had seen that envelope addressed to Athena after she was already gone — after the police had shown up, after I’d had to pick out a dress for her funeral, after I had said good-bye at her grave — I’d thought I’d have a breakdown right there in front of my family’s mailbox.  Ant then I’d found her diary…When I read about her dreams, so like my own, it shook me to the core.  She wrote of a recurring dream about a place she’d never been before.  A place with old redbrick buildings.  A place that she finally identified as a boarding school in Shadow Hills.  When I had read that, everything became crystal clear to me.  I wanted to feel that clarity again.  I scanned to the end of the entry, to the last words my sister has written in her diary:

The nightmares are so vivid now I’m afraid to sleep.  I feel my energy dragging constantly.  I’m a walking zombie.  I have to find a way to go to Devenish Prep’ maybe there I’ll be able to figure this out.”

Summary (from the publisher):
Since her sister’s mysterious death, Persephone “Phe” Archer has been plagued by disturbing dreams.  Determined to find out what happened to her sister, Phe enrolls at Devenish Prep in Shadow Hills, Massachusetts — the subject of her sister’s final diary entry.

Phe immediately realizes that there’s something different about this place — an unexplained epidemic that decimated the town in the 1700′s, an ancient and creepy cemetery, weird “townies” — and somehow she’s connected to it all.

But the deeper she digs, the more entangled Phe becomes in the haunting past of Shadow Hills.  Finding what links her to this town….might be a deadly mistake.

Opinion:
What did I enjoy most about Shadow Hills?  The fact that it was an interesting step outside the normal paranormal fare.  It didn’t center around vampires or werewolves but rather a relatively normal set of teens.  I say relatively because several main characters do actually have some sort of ability that is outside the realm of normal human capability.

Despite that fact I was appreciative of the opportunity to spend more time getting a glimpse into their lives at school and with their families and friends. The focus wasn’t always on them coming into their paranormal strengths, it was on how those traits influenced other more important aspects of their lives.  This isn’t to say we don’t see any paranormalcy, because we do.  It’s just not the whole point of the story.

The plot of this story uses the history of mysterious Shadow Hills and it’s lifelong inhabitants as the center point.  There is something about them that Phe just can’t put her finger on.  This, of course, gets her into investigation mode, where we see the bulk of the story playing out. This was the best most enjoyable aspect of the story.

The rest of the story revolves around the relationships she maintains with her family, friends at Devenish, and various other inhabitants of Shadow Hills.  As part of that, there were a whole bunch of characters to keep track of but because of their relationships with each other it was much easier to do so.  Hopcus did a good job of compartmentalizing the different groups — school, home, townsfolk.  Crossover between them was held to a minimum thus making the impact more significant and meaningful when they did meet up.

I wouldn’t say that the characters were super unique.  For example at Devenish we saw the usual stereo-typical teens — the rich overbearing princess, a computer geek, and the heart-throb.  Despite that fact, their interactions were entertaining and at times humorous.  It brought a much needed light spot in to an otherwise darkly focused story.

Additionally there was the burgeoning romance between Phe and Zach.  I can’t say I was all “O.M.G. they have to be together forever” about them as a couple, but their relationship added an urgency that benefited the story.  I’m interested to see where it goes in the follow-up.  I imagine we’ll get a bit more depth related to some of the larger connections between the two.

Overall, I enjoyed Shadow Hills and I’ll definitely be picking up the next in the series to see where everything goes next.  It’s certainly worth a read if you’re into paranormal but it’s not so heavy on that element that it’s not interesting to those who aren’t huge fans.

Title:

“She picks up one of her sticks and dramatically feigns stabbing it into her stomach with both hands.  I know behind the hara-kari is a hurt that’s growing, but I don’t know  what to do about it.  For the first time in our lives, I’m somewhere she can’t find, and I don’t have the map to give her that leads to me.”

Summary (from the publisher):
When her fiery older sister Bailey dies abruptly, seventeen-year-old Lennie, bookworm and band geek, is catapulted to center stage of her own life — and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two.  Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own.  Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent.  For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it.  But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding.

Opinion:
The Sky is Everywhere is a bittersweet view of how love and loss come together to shape one girl’s life and how profoundly it affects the people around her.

Nelson’s prose is beyond outstanding, I truly struggle how best to describe it’s strength and beauty.  Having rarely read a book so poetically written it was surprising to feel the emotion dripping off the page into my consciousness.  I’m even more rarely moved by a book, I mean genuinely moved but The Sky is Everywhere touched me, it made me cry and gasp and thrum with anticipation.  It was, in no small way a phenomenal read.

I could tell you all about this book — about the beautiful poems and anecdotes Lennie writes and leaves behind everywhere she goes.  About how she wrapped herself up in the memory of her sister through the boy that loved her as much as Lennie did.  About how she came alive again with Joe, her soulmate in the making, through their shared love of music.  About how her family had dysfunction galore even before Bailey left them behind. But really, my explaining it all would not only not do the story justice but would take something away from your experiencing it; and let me tell you this book was an experience, one to be felt and endured.  You feel the highest of highs and the lowest of lows with Lennie as she journeys through one of the most difficult periods of her life.

To say I recommend this book would be an understatement.  It is a book that everyone must read, lover of young adult literature or not.  Everyone.

Title:

“I gasped, though my throat was so dry I made an unearthly animal sound.  Three heaving breaths, then a thump-thump, thump-thump — a heartbeat.  My heartbeat?  It could have been ten thousand fluttering wings.  I tried to open my eyes, but with each blink there was a flash of blinding light.  Then another.  And another.”

Summary (from the publisher):
After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah Beaudonte, with the help of the handsome Rhode, has been able to realize the dream of all vampires — to be human again.  Now, as a raven-haired, sixteen-year-old, Lenah believes her greatest challenge is fitting in at her new school.  But the challenges have only begun. The vicious coven Lenah once ruled is threatening the new found pleasures of her human life, including the one guy who makes her feel most alive, Justin.  Can this ex-vamp survive in an alien time and place or will her past come back to haunt her….forever?

Opinion:
First.page.WOW!

Yup, this was one of those rare books where I read the very first page and I was hooked.  So very very hooked.

In a market flooded with paranormal and vampire novels Maizel has created a stunningly original story in Infinite Days.  Sure, she’s got vampires, vampires galore in fact, but what is amazing is that instead of watching a beloved character turn into a creature of the night we get to watch this amazing transformation as Lenah Beaudonte transforms back into a human.

Bravo! Kudos!  Awesome! Cheers!

Maizel did a spectacular job of writing sixteen-year-old Lenah as a girl who was really a woman wise beyond her years.  Having already “lived” at least a hundred years, she struggled to reign in everything she already knew about life so she could experience it anew as a wider-eyed sixteen year old. Though she hid it well, the impossibility of previous experience was not insurmountable.  It naturally separated her from her peers while still making her all the more appealing to potential romantic entanglements.

The love affair between Lenah and Justin wasn’t any big surprise.  You knew from the first time they met that the lion’s share of the romantic angst would come from them.  Having said that ,Lenah was not without a past.  She’d loved and lost before.  Those elements brought a wonderful complexity to the burgeoning attraction between she and her new suitor.

Character development is definitely Maizel’s forte.  Outside of the fact that Lenah is amazingly intricate there is a series of secondary characters exhibiting equal complexity.  Case in point, Tony the artsy BFF.  He’s Lenah’s main support structure and just an all around good guy.  Oh, but wait, there’s more.  Lenah’s coven.  BAD ass!  A group built with such awesome diversity.  Seriously, they were like the musketeers of vampirism.  Too cool for words.  Each member had their own strength and weakness yet they were all drawn together in their quest to serve and protect Lenah.  Even after her transition from vampire back into human their number one goal was to bring her back.  Oh, and that was the crux of the conflict too.

Conflict there was!  A plenty.  Well conceived and written conflict.  I wouldn’t say it’s the most original aspect of the book but dang did it work for me.  Truly, liked it a lot.  This as definitely some adversity I wanted to see Lenah overcome.  I won’t speak to whether that actually happened since I don’t want to spoil you but I will say the ending was a risk-taking and phenomenal experience that opened the door for the second in the series.  A book I’m eagerly awaiting.

Title:

“I take the stairs two by two, tripping over the last one and landing hard on my knees.  I scramble to my feet and then make it down the hall and ling my door open.  I head straight into my closet.  I want to find everything from my childhood.  Every stupid, cursed thing and destroy it, before it comes to life too.  I stand on my tippy toes to find the boxes that have been occupying one corner of my closet for years.”

Summary (from the publisher):
Kayla McHenry is having the worst sweet sixteenth!  Just before she blows out her candles, she thinks: I wish all my birthday wishes actually came true.

The next day, Kayla wakes up to a life-sized, bright pink My Little Pony outside her window.  Then, a year’s supply of gumballs arrives.  An oddly plastic-looking boy named Ken shows up in a convertible and starts following her around!  Each day, another childhood wish comes true.  But they MUST STOP.

Because when she was fifteen?  She wished Ben Mackenzie would kiss her.  And Ben is her best friend’s boyfriend.

Opinion:
I really enjoyed this book.  It was a super duper fast read (I finished it in just about two hours which is pretty much unheard of for me) filled with the cutest scenarios.  A fabulous read for tweens and teens this book spans ages all the way up to adults longing to relive some of their fondest childhood memories.

Now, let me tell you, most of the plot of the book is given away in the jacket flap.  There isn’t a whole lot to the plot outside of the wish scenario and there isn’t super in depth character development and analysis.  But you know what?  It doesn’t need it.  It works perfectly just the way it is.

You Wish is seriously just a nice dose of good old fashioned fun.  Don’t get me wrong, there is a fair share of angst — Kayla’s got some pretty heavy family issues and her life-long best friend is starting to move in a different direction socially.  How these are dealt with is where the power of the story resides.  How Kayla works through these issues are focused on through this unique idea where Kayla is suddenly granted all of her birthday wishes.  Every day something new happens — a real life My Little Pony wagging it’s blue and pink tail in the yard, a room full of gumballs, a real life Ken doll to date, and worst of all great big giant knockers that grow from A to D cup over night!  All of these different childhood hopes and dreams just magically appear to her and start wreaking havoc and changing the direction of her life.

Tremendously witty and filled with humor and fun You Wish also has the requisite cute boy crush going on.  Of course said cute boy is the aforementioned distance creating best friend’s boyfriend.  This could be a problem but the way Hubbard has handled it is respectful and mature.  I appreciated that Kayla had respect for her friend’s feelings.  She wasn’t some scheming trampy girl manipulating Ben away at the expense of her relationship with Nicole.  She genuinely wanted to maintain her friendship at all costs.  Watching her struggle with her own desire in an attempt to maintain that proprietary was an excellent part of the story.  One that I think could teach teen girls a thing or two.

This is the perfect book to escape with, it’s not heavy lifting but it’s not without depth.  It’s got a wonderfully quirky and interesting main character and a fun concept.  The best part, by far, was trying to guess what each new day would bring with it.  What wish would be granted and how would it affect Kayla’s life.  It was so much fun and written in a way that a person could actually believe it was happening.  Was it a joke?  Was it a dream?  Was it really happening?  Well you’ll have to read it to find out!

Title:

“As one, he and Pima crawled across the wreckage to the broken body.  The girl’s corpse was buried under furniture.  None of it had even been secured, as if the rich swanks thought a storm wouldn’t dare rearrange their furniture.  As if they were gods, and didn’t just predict the weather with their instruments and satellites, but also told it what to do.”

Summary (from the publisher):
In America’s Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being dis-assembled for parts, Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota — and hopefully have enough to eat.  But when, by luck or chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life:  Strip the ship for all it’s worth or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life.

Opinion:
Ship Breaker is definitely one of those dystopian novels that scares the pants off you.  You know, the kind of story that’s built around a world the reader could actually see becoming a reality.  Yea, this book is that type of dystopian.

Set in a post apocalyptic Gulf Coast region — New Orleans and surrounding areas have been virtually wiped out by “city killers”.  Described as larger than life hurricanes, these storms decimated whole urban areas and swept them under the sea.  As a result of the devastation beach dwelling colonies arose to perform the task of salvaging what was left.  Most specifically anything and everything that can be removed from old ship wrecks. This is where readers meet Nailer and his crew of scavengers for hire.  In Bright Sands Beach they are one of the resident “light crews” crawling down into a shipwreck’s smallest and tightest places to retrieve valuables for swanky bigwig’s.

I admit, for awhile I found it difficult to follow who really was who.  The introduction of so many characters in a very short period of time had them all sort of bleeding into each other for awhile.  This difficulty arose from the fact that most everyone was described the same way.  They all had the same job and had many of the same characteristics.  Sure, there were some notable differences between each but there wasn’t a lot to distinguish different characters until some of the larger plot started to play out.  I was finally able to wrap my head around it some when they started going their separate ways.  I was able to gain much more focus then.

The bulk of the plot revolved around Nailer, Pima and Lucky Girl’s quest to find their way back to the latter’s family safely.  Family being one of the issues delved into as well.  It was fast-paced, interesting and filled with a fair amount of intrigue.  Don’t worry, though there were some sparks of romance was in the air it wasn’t a large part of the story.  There were subtle hints here and there that feelings were increasing between Nailer and one of the lovely ladies in his company but it wasn’t the prevailing point of the story.  This worked in its favor as this story really wasn’t about love, it was about people.

The strength of Ship Breaker is in the world that Bacigalupi has built.  We can feel the grime and and taste the salt in the water air. I kept envisioning a world that looked like one of those disaster movies where the Statue of Liberty’s head is sticking out of 400 feet of water.  Bright Sands Beach was interesting, one the one hand it was as dark and seedy as the scariest back alley, yet it still had pockets of purity.  Then when on the sea and in the Orleans areas I got a very distinct old world vibe.  It was, without a doubt, the best part of the book.

Ultimately I will say that this wasn’t my most favorite dystopian, however, it’s a pretty dang good one.  An interesting departure from those that tend to focus a bit more on the more futuristic qualities.  It was real (dare I say current), there is no mistaking that.  It was compelling, no mistaking that either.  Know that if you read Ship Breaker you’re in for a very distinct and quality read.