Rating: 5/5

In this companion novel (meaning it's part of the same world as another book the author has written but the characters and/or place are usually different) of Ship Breaker we are taken into the lives of two displaced teens affected by the wars and militant factions of what is now a corrupted (government and geological) United States. Though the desolation is the same as Ship Breaker, the new characters and the new focus point of their lives - of what these characters are and how they live - brings a familiar and yet, different view of the devastated world in which both these novels takes place.

With Drowned Cities we are taken into the lives of Mahlia and Mouse, orphaned by the wars that continuously takes place. People call them war maggots and many feel as if they - war maggots - are bad luck or omens of ill will. This is reflected within the first pages as Mahlia tries to ignore the gestural warding that the villagers give her and what they say to her. Readers know from the beginning, Mahlia is not well liked. Mouse on the other hand is a traumatized young boy who unlike Mahlia is somewhat spared from the scorn of the village, saved by the fact that he doesn't share the same background as Mahlia. Throughout the novel we see these two characters change and morph into different people, new people, because of the situations that befalls them and Bacigalupi seems to effortlessly write a feeling that the two characters are searching for their lost innocence.

What amazes me about this book was it made me angry at the characters in certain points of the book and it also makes me think about myself in terms with the book. When Mouse decides to stay (the very first time around) I was angry that he made such a stupid decision, a thought I shared somewhat with Mahlia. But unlike other YA novels where I get angry at the characters and hate them for their decisions and wish they would die a horrible death, I understood and sympathized with Mouse (and the other characters). The empathy with Mahlia and Mouse was consistently present throughout the novel. Some choices they made were questionable, I might have disagreed with them... they even may be morally wrong, but because of the way their circumstances were revealed and the placement of readers in the character's world, it becomes understandable. I find myself questioning: would I do that if I was in their position because it's easy to condemn others in the comforts of our own homes, protected by our own perceptions and world.

Bacigalupi's prose is simple yet it conveys a lot. From setting up the mood, to giving a good visual of scene. His writing does multiple things at once. In a given paragraph, I knew what was happening around the characters, where they were at, what/who was with them, and what they were doing. The mood hung with each and every word. This book in my opinion is very well written.

Overall, The Drowned Cities is an evenly paced book, with interesting and emphatic two main characters. The world in which they live in is harsh and depicted well. Best of all, the book left me with a hope for the characters even in their bleak world.

Verdict: I'm buying this book.

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