The Drowned Cities (Ship Breaker, #2)

#825
Title: The Drowned Cities (Ship Breaker, #2)
Author: Paolo Bacigalupi
Publisher: Little, Brown
Year: 2012
437 pages

Audiobook.

Good world-building, lots of action, strong female main character. There's a lot of covert commentary on civil war, child soldiers, and the difficulty of imposing peace. It certainly resonates with Vietnam and many African conflicts. The narrative is picaresque in that the plot advances because adventures happen, not because of character growth or change. As in Ship Breaker, the story ends with the hope of an escape. Less here of the caloriemen, though much more of the half-men. Tool is arguably the real protagonist.