Ship Breaker

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, Little-Brown Books for Young Readers, 2010, 336 pp, ISBN: 0316056219

If you want to be crew, here are a few things you ought to know:
- when you have enough copper to make quota
- where to run during a city killer
- when to paint more LED on your forehead

- how to deal with a swank

- how to be loyal
- who to trust

Nailer is crew. He always makes quota, and you can always count on him to be loyal. For Nailer, out-running a city killer is almost as difficult as out-running his father when he's sliding, but Nailer usually manages to do both. But when Nailer and Pima find a beautiful swank on board on a gorgeous, ship wrecked clipper, all bets are off. Is she their Lucky Strike? Or something more?

Ship Breaker is a book for the adventurer in all of us. It's set on the American Gulf Coast, near what Nailer knows as "the Orleans." In this post apocalyptic future world, drastic climate changes have created "city killers," monumental storms that have the power to drown whole cities. Nailer and his crew are ship breakers, making a living by crawling through dark and dangerous wrecked ships, hunting precious metals like copper and steel. Even though characters like the half-men added overtones of science fiction, it was so easy to envision our world actually becoming Nailer's world one day. So in some ways, Ship Breaker could actually be a cautionary tale for the damage that we're doing to our planet.

Nailer was a character I could truly believe in. He was tough and vulnerable; he wanted a better life more than anything, but wouldn't sacrifice his honor to create that life. His mental and physical battles against his father made me fight for him, and feel for him. I loved Nailer's friends just as much as, and maybe even more than, him. Pima and her mother Sadna are as flinty and loyal as any two people can be. If I was ever in trouble, they are the two fictional characters I'd want by my side!

The only sub-plot that I just couldn't fully buy into was the relationship between Nailer and Lucky Girl, the swank. I felt like they were supposed to be building a love story, but it just didn't ring true for me. Even at the end, I still wasn't sure where Nailer and Lucky Girl stood with each other. But... in the grand scheme of a rip-roaring adventure story, I am ok with a love story that's a little lacking.

If the name Paolo Bacigalupi sounds familiar, that may be because he is author of several science fiction and fantasy novels for adults. Ship Breaker is his first young adult novel, and it was recently announced as a finalist for the 2010 National Book Award!

If you're looking to lose yourself in a grand and gritty adventure, look no further than Ship Breaker.