"Ship Breaker", by Paolo Bacigalupi is an interesting update on an old theme. It's sort of a "Treasure Island" for the 21st century. There aren't exactly pirates, but the climactic naval battle is intense. A book set in the future is hardly the last place I would have expected a fight on the open seas. Maybe it's just the 400 times I've watched "Star Wars" (I know it's set in the past), or my love of Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers.
The book starts out on Bright Sands Beach, home to clans of ship breakers, who scavenge the rotting corpses of oil tankers for copper wire and anything else valuable. Nailer, the book's protagonist, is small enough that he can crawl down ventilation shafts to collect scavenge, crawling through dust and rat corpses, stripping the ship. When he's not salvaging, he's dreaming of sailing on one of the giant, sleek clipper ships owned by one of the trading clans.
Things begin to change for Nailer when word of a "city killer" hurricane is on the way. Nailer's crew make a frenzied push to gather additional salvage before the storm shuts them down. Nailer miscalculates the weight of the copper wire he's collected, and the ventilation shaft he's in collapses and plunges him into a reservoir of crude. Nailer has to do the impossible and free himself from a hold filled with oil, and with luck, he survives.
The "city killer" leaves a luxury clipper ship wrecked on Bright Sands Beach, it's crew and passengers seemingly wiped out. Nailer seems to have struck it rich, and punched his ticket to a life of ease - until he finds the sole survivor of the wreck. He then is forced to make a decision that will lead him on a journey through drowned cities and fierce nautical battles.
I have to admit, I was kind of unsure where the book was going at first. The first few chapters dwelling on the squalor and despair that the people of Bright Sands Beach are fine, but I didn't know if the story was really going to go anywhere. The adventure kicks in and takes you to places that you wouldn't necessarily would think of. It's funny how sci-fi has seemed to change in recent years now that most people are more aware of ecological disasters. One of my all-time favorite TV shows "Buck Rogers In the 25th Century"
was set on planet earth after it had been ravaged by nuclear war, but technology and science allowed everyone to live in secure cities, far away from the squalor. The writers imagined that we would always be able to outsmart whatever came our way. The world that Nailer lives in is probably closer to what would be true. Humanity doesn't really conquer so much as is fights to survive. People live in the waterlogged ruins of a city, scraping by and struggling not to starve. Instead of everyone living in a fabulous domed city, only a wealthy few can still live a life close to what we enjoy today.
To go back to the "Treasure Island" thought, the story arc is pretty standard for an adventure like this. A young hero gets swept up into a world of adventure, leaving behind humble beginnings, etc. The updated setting of an ecologically distressed world, rather than 1700s England or space, really made the book for me. It's a great book for people who like a darker, gritter tone for their sci-fi, and it's grounded in a sort of "things to come" way that doesn't tax your ability to suspend disbelief. The genetically altered half-men are a bit of a stretch, but they're pretty awesome, so they didn't really bother me that much.
If you like sci-fi, adventure and a bit of swashbuckling, this is a book I would recommend.
In honor of this being the 2nd book I've reviewed, and you, the faithful reader making it through the review without unplugging your computer, I would like to share this awesome video of awesome music, which you should know about. Enjoy.
2 comments:
"Like."
I'd say more than that, but don't know what. The review makes a book I would otherwise never think twice about seem like something I should keep my eye out for.
And that video's pretty damn good too.
I know! YLHCSD is awesome.
Post a Comment