How Paolo Bacigalupi packed so much action and and so many great characters into a novel I read in one night is a mystery to me. When I was 85% done with this book, I thought there was no way he'd be able to wrap it up to my satisfaction. So many excellent characters that I want to know more about! So many possibilities for our hero's future! So much drama on the high seas! And, honestly, I might have super-loved Ship Breaker if it had been a little longer and I'd had my curiosity satisfied. Still, it was a very strong book.

My favorite things about it:

1. Hard to put down
2. Filled with insight into class issues ("swank" sounds so much better than "very rich person," right?)
3. Shows the consequences of environmental degradation without building the whole book around the mistakes made by past generations. I told Jeff that I pictured the world of this book kind of like the movie Waterworld, only much much better.

Biggest bummer:

I was left with so many unanswered questions. What's up with Tool? What's going to happen to Nailer and Pima? What's Pyce's next move? Will there be a sequel?! ( )

I read this book as part of my class' lunchtime readers group. We all enjoyed it very much. ( )

2.5 Stars rounded up to 3

Well I expected more from an award winning book. There were some moments where it was so engaging and then the pace would drop off significantly and I would lose interest. It probably would have been okay if there were compelling characters, but I just didn't connect with their story. The writing itself was really quite good and I found myself admiring some descriptions or phrases etc. I will add in content warnings when I am on my computer tomorrow. ( )

While still dystopian, this novel was much easier to handle emotionally than the author's adult fiction. Less grim and more hopeful. I would consider it solarpunk. ( )

This dystopia takes place on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico in a time that seems to be about 200 years in the future. Global warming has resulted in more severe and unpredictable storms than we have ever seen. Current cities have long since been swallowed by rising sea levels, and it's unclear whether there is any real sort of government remaining in the U.S. or if society is only run by corporations and clans.

I was immediately pulled into the world described in the story as it is told by Nailer, a teenager who lives in poverty and works as a salvage collector. He crawls deep into ancient oil tankers to collect copper wiring and other valuable materials under horrible and unsafe conditions.

Many of the characters are pretty cliched and so is the dialogue, but the world and entire social system in the story are fascinating, and the action is very fast-paced. It was a really fun read, and I'm pretty sure that there will be a sequel. ( )

Shipbreaker ends up as being something of a heart breaker. After an auspicious beginning and a fascinating look at a totally different world of a future and the lifestyle of a particular group of the impoverished shipbreakers and beach dwellers (this is after the depletion of fossil fuels and a catastrophic increase in global warming), the book devolves into the usual poor boy-saves-rich girl adventure plot. The poor boy is shipbreaker Nailer and rich swank Nita on the run from kidnappers sent by her father's rival in the Patel shipping monopoly.

Certainly the most interesting part is the first half. There is an interesting sub-plot about the enslaved half-men clone mutants and their discrimination in society. This sets a theme that won't really be explored until [b:The Drowned Cities|12814594|The Drowned Cities (Ship Breaker, #2)|Paolo Bacigalupi|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1333712780s/12814594.jpg|13677912] sequel.

This is a true YA novel so there isn't any four letter words beyond "damn" and no explicit sex. There is plenty of moderately explicit violence. ( )

Bacigalupi, Paolo. Ship Breaker. Ship Breaker No. 1. Little, Brown, 2010.
Paolo Bacigalupi won the 2010 Hugo for his 2009 debut novel, The Windup Girl, but he is best known for his short fiction (some of which has been adapted for the Love, Death, and Robots series) and for his young adult novels. Ship Breaker is billed as a YA novel. It is a coming-of-age story with a 14-year-old protagonist, Nailer, whose small size lets him dive into the oily, water-filled holds of rusting tankers looking for salvageable materials. Ship Breaker also features the environmentalist themes and biopunk themes of The Windup Girl. It is set in an America that has suffered an environmental collapse that has melted the poles and generated frequent city-killer hurricanes. The currency seems to be Chinese. The oil industry has collapsed. Most of the economy is based on scavenging for a huge recycling industry. The very rich travel by high-tech, wind-driven clipper ships that also have some limited flight capabilities in ideal conditions. The plot begins when Nailer and his crew rescue a young woman from a wrecked clipper ship who is on the run from corporate pirates. The story is grittier than most young-adult fiction I have read, and Nailer is a well-nuanced character. The world-building is superb. 4 stars. ( )

I initially gave this 3 stars, but months later I'm increasing it to 4, because it stuck with me, and because it feels like a reasonable prediction of how the future could look if we don't do better. It was seeing like the 3rd or 4th hurricane of the 2020 season tee up for Louisiana that sent me back here to boost that star. The writing itself is OK but the world building is really good. ( )

I found the characterizations a bit uneven and the plot was rather predictable. The world building is fantastic in a tragic near-future. Reminded me how much I prefer good science fiction to fantasy. ( )

The reason this book stands out, at least for me, is the world building. Beautiful. Everything from the great iron ships, to the white sandy beaches to the sunken city of New Orleans. The characters were interesting and the plot moved quickly, but it was the world that gripped me and held me until the end. ( )

Teen fiction; disappointing dystopian adventure without very much adventure. Bacigalupi creates a world where the poor compete for backbreaking jobs (salvaging metals from rusted ship wreckages) that provide barely enough to eat, and the rich bathe in luxury upon luxury. It was ok, and though the main character has a near-death adventure in the 2nd chapter or so, the story never really took off, but sort of just languished in this murky puddle of dirty tidepool water. I gave up after the first 80 pages or so, not really caring to see whether the characters managed to dig themselves out of their meager existence or not. ( )

Edit: I had to go back and up my rating to 4 stars. Despite the few misgivings I mention in my review, this story has really stuck with me over the past month and I often find myself thinking of their world. Can't wait to pick up the sequel soon.

Just finished this today. It's going to be such a tough review. This was an intriguing read. As someone who takes interest in environmental issues and the climate change crisis, I really enjoyed that aspect of the book.

This is a look into a dystopian future where Category 6 hurricanes level entire cities and the poor fight for the right to work in any conditions.

Nailer and his crew are shipbreakers. Laborers from an oil-soaked beach that spend their days stripping abandoned rigs of their scrap metal. It's dangerous work; the kind where someone desperate is always there, waiting to fill your place at whatever cost. Blood oaths are sworn amongst crew to keep each other's backs. But what's blood worth, in a place where people are worth less than the scrap they harvest?

I thought Ship Breaker was set at a great pace, with just the right amount of conflict and brushes with danger along their journey.

Still, it didn't entirely grab ahold of me and captivate me like I was hoping for. Maybe I'm still jaded from The Winternight Trilogy, but Ship Breaker's plot just seemed to miss the mark. I didn't feel as invested in Nita as Nailer immediately was, and she fell a bit flat. I will say that I like it and that it made for a great casual read.

I loved Nailer as a character and the world building in this book was great, but it was like I wanted this world and these characters...doing something else.

I look forward to seeing how Nita continues learning to relate to Nailer.. under less dire circumstances, maybe, in the sequel. ( )

Edit: I had to go back and up my rating to 4 stars. Despite the few misgivings I mention in my review, this story has really stuck with me over the past month and I often find myself thinking of their world. Can't wait to pick up the sequel soon.

Just finished this today. It's going to be such a tough review. This was an intriguing read. As someone who takes interest in environmental issues and the climate change crisis, I really enjoyed that aspect of the book.

This is a look into a dystopian future where Category 6 hurricanes level entire cities and the poor fight for the right to work in any conditions.

Nailer and his crew are shipbreakers. Laborers from an oil-soaked beach that spend their days stripping abandoned rigs of their scrap metal. It's dangerous work; the kind where someone desperate is always there, waiting to fill your place at whatever cost. Blood oaths are sworn amongst crew to keep each other's backs. But what's blood worth, in a place where people are worth less than the scrap they harvest?

I thought Ship Breaker was set at a great pace, with just the right amount of conflict and brushes with danger along their journey.

Still, it didn't entirely grab ahold of me and captivate me like I was hoping for. Maybe I'm still jaded from The Winternight Trilogy, but Ship Breaker's plot just seemed to miss the mark. I didn't feel as invested in Nita as Nailer immediately was, and she fell a bit flat. I will say that I like it and that it made for a great casual read.

I loved Nailer as a character and the world building in this book was great, but it was like I wanted this world and these characters...doing something else.

I look forward to seeing how Nita continues learning to relate to Nailer.. under less dire circumstances, maybe, in the sequel. ( )

This is one of the best books I've read in a while. I love me a good rags to riches story. ( )

Climate change has taken hold of the world, polar ice caps have melted and poor laborers risk their lives tearing apart beached tankers for spare parts to sell to "swanks." Nailer and his friend/coworker Pima discover a wreaked "swank" ship with one person on board still alive. It could be the salvage of a lifetime but they'd have to kill the girl to get it.

Engaging and suspenseful. It was an entertaining read with some dire predictions of what out planet could become. ( )

Nailer is a ship breaker, one of those who make their living from scavenging the ships left over from the Accelerated Age. That was a time when oil, metal, resources in general were abundant. Things are different now, and for the poor of the world, like Nailer, life is hard. And it is getting harder for Nailer, as he gets older so he gets bigger. Soon he won’t be small enough to work the light crew, but he doesn’t have the build for heavy crew. Not nearly. And without a crew you don’t have a chance at surviving.

Ship breaker is a hugely entertaining story, set in a really well thought out world. Nailer is a great character. His life is hard, and it has made him hard in certain respects, but he still has morals. He knows that although getting ahead is important, so too is honesty, loyalty, and sticking to your crew. Or so he has learned, almost the hard way.

I liked a lot about this book, although I would have liked to learn more about the world in general, especially the “half-men” perhaps we will get a sequel…

But what set it above other books is the central character. Nailer is just great. He is far from perfect, battling his own demons and his sense of who he is. And how other people see him. I suppose in a way it is a great example of a coming of age story. Nailer certainly grows up a lot, and learns a lot, learns that there is a lot more to the world than he had ever thought.

But as well as that it is very much an adventure story. And a sea adventure story at that. Towards the end it really put me in mind of some of the Patrick O’Brian books I’ve read. This doesn’t go into quite so much details as regards ships and nautical terms, but there is a similar sort of feel to it. ( )

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This would make an amazing movie! ( )

This is definitely one of my favorite dystopias. I found it original. The world is fascinating and I wanted to know more about the ship breaking itself but I also loved the other part of the story where we got glimpses as to what America is like after the "city killers." I thought Nailer was a very likable and believable main character. Bacigalupi also did a wonderful job of developing the side characters. This is my first time reading Bacigalupi but I am positive I'll be picking up more of his stuff soon. I hear The Wind Up Girl is amazing and I think it might be in my future soon. ( )

Nailer has been working on taking apart ships as long as he can remember. When a storm blows into their ship breaking yard and with it a chance at a new life. When exploring an island, Nailer and his friend Pima find a ship wreck of a rich person ship. They find no one alive on board, but they find a girl that says she can make their life better. That is when is dad finds out and takes control of the operation. After that Nailer escapes with the girl to find her parents. Tool, a half-man comes along to help Nailer. When they reach New Orleans , Nailer's father kidnaps her, Nailer then sets out to save her. ( )

Before starting this I'd read some reviews that stated the first half was dull, some saying it was tedious and only marginally improved in the closing, yet some others saying it was excellent.

So going in my expectations weren't particularly high, however I was pleased to find I was in the latter camp. The beginning of the book paints a harsh dystopian world where the community survives by risking life and limb dismantling old ships in a manner that would make occupational health & safety managers faint.

This world it paints is harsh, competitive and unforgiving. Then as events unfolds we learn that outside of this community not everyone is doing it so tough, that in fact there is extreme wealth inequality. This is driven home when the protagonist, Nailer, stumbles upon a recently wrecked ship filled with a fortune in salvage, and so the story takes off as he encounters a living member of the crew.

I enjoyed the story and thought the touch of realism added by using a potential future scenario should human environmental damage go unchecked was and added bonus, I particularly enjoyed the closing chase on the clipper ships and felt the ending brought the book to a nice close whilst leaving plenty of opportunities for the story to expand in the following book. ( )

Excellent book, but despite it being very fast-paced, I found it easy to put down. I'm not sure why. The characters were all multi-faceted and interesting; the mild romance was believable; the writing was impeccable; the plot was very exciting and (mostly) unpredictable; and the setting was lush and very well thought out. I really am not sure why it was that this book didn't grab me the way it should have. Maybe it was too fast-paced for me? There was a lot of repetitive conversations that kind of bugged me, but not in a huge way. I'm grasping at straws here. ( )

This is a YA novel set in the same bio-punk post-apocalyptic universe as the award-winning Windup girl. Being constrained by the age of potential readers it is much simpler and more straight-forward, without some ‘adult’ themes or ambiguous characters. It always surprised me that a mild sex scene in a YA book is no-no, while murder or torture is tolerable – see examples from classics from The Treasury Island to Harry Potter. This novel has several murders as well, which post-apocalyptic novel doesn’t, so be warned.
The story starts on the western coast of the [former?] USA, where hurricanes and torrents bring old rusty tankers of a better age, which are disassembled for copper, stainless steel and aluminum. The main protagonist, Nailer, works for a light crew by getting into narrow parts of ships for copper wire and such. Paolo shows some of his anti-capitalism tendencies there but it is fine.
Overall a nice read, I enjoyed it a bit less than The Windup Girl, but I liked it nevertheless. Recommended.
( )

Good fun. I gather it is classified as young adult fiction, but I don't see why beyond the ages of the main characters.

It's a very nice picture of an age when the ocean has risen maybe 50 feet. Lots of desperate people but then lots of privileged people too. Some advanced technology but more just adaptations to the difficult circumstances. No miraculous cures for our ills.

I read through this in a day. It's a genuine page turner. Nice plot twists and turns, nice ways to bring things together, paths diverging and converging.

No profound philosophical reflection here, but good action set in a thoughtfully put together situation. ( )

Primera novela que leo de éste autor, y me ha parecido muy entretenida y me han dado más ganas de leer La chica mecánica o Cuchillo de Agua.
Al ser una novela corta a veces da la sensación que las cosas pasan muy precipitadamente, pero también se agradece este ritmo tan ágil. ( )