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apollo222's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
x0pherl's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this book quite a bit, although not as much as Windup Girl. A 3.5 star book. I would have liked it better if the main character wasn't so often at the very center of the action in situations where no one would have even let him in the room. Instead the adults seem very happy to patiently explain things to him in mid-crisis.
emleemay's review against another edition
3.0
A good read but not, I eventually realised, for me.
The story is about a boy called Nailer who works hard gathering copper wiring from old oil tankers in order to make quota and keep his pitiful job. The setting? A bleak and miserable future 100 years from now. One day he finds something on board a wrecked clipper ship that is destined to change his life forever in ways he could never have imagined... sounds suitably ominous and intriguing.
But, ah, there was a bit too much oil and ships and copper wiring for me.
There were some great fast-paced action scenes, some real gritty nastiness and the author had a tendency to describe the gory details very accurately. I thought some parts were better written and more interesting than others but, on the whole, the story failed to grab me and, thereby, failed to hold my interest.
One of my favourite parts of this book were the constant moral battles the characters faced of self-preservation vs doing the right thing. Getting rich or saving a life? Helping your colleague out of a sticky situation or using their misfortune to further your own career prospects? The tagline of the book is:
Oil is scarce. But loyalty is scarcer.
And that couldn't be a better summarisation of what the novel is about. I was thankful that, even though a lot of the story is built around trust (or lack of) and relationships, there was no birds-singing, cupids-flying, starry-eyed romance; it seems to be an almost unavoidable component in modern dystopian fiction and it made a nice, refreshing change.
rakesrogues's review against another edition
3.0
Posted at: http://muggle-born.net/book-review-ship-breaker-by-paolo-bacigalupi/
Review Overview:
* Bacigalupi is a fantastic world-builder; stellar descriptions and imagery
* Felt disconnected from the main character because it was written in 3rd person POV
* Makes you think
Initially, I had problems getting into SHIP BREAKER. Paolo Bacigalupi is, without a doubt, a fantastic world-builder, but the lack of background info about this world made it confusing. It took me a while to understand all the ship terms and figure out exactly what Nailer and friends were doing. However, after a few chapters, I found myself completely immersed in the world Bacigalupi had created. Bacigalupi's descriptions were so vivid; I could definitely imagine all the cities of the past submerged in water. I can picture the landscape of what had become of the United States.
What prevented me from truly enjoying this book was the point of view that the novel was written in. Because it was written in third person, it was difficult to connect specifically with the main character, Nailer. I could certainly sympathize with Nailer, but I wasn't able to empathize with him. I probably thought, "That sucks," whenever Nailer got himself into another conundrum, but I really couldn't put myself in his position.
SHIP BREAKER does make you think, which I loved. It made me question how we were using our natural resources, what we our doing to our environment, and how the world will end up in the future. The world in SHIP BREAKER is definitely not unlikely which makes it much more effective as a dystopian novel.
According to GoodReads, there will be a sequel to SHIP BREAKER. I'm not entirely sold on reading it at the moment, but I may change my mind in the future. Unfortunately, SHIP BREAKER was not as great as I thought it would be, but it was still a decent read. I wouldn't go as far to say that it wasn't worthy of winning a Printz (what do I know about those awards??) but for me, it really does not stand out against all the other dystopian novels out in the market.
Review Overview:
* Bacigalupi is a fantastic world-builder; stellar descriptions and imagery
* Felt disconnected from the main character because it was written in 3rd person POV
* Makes you think
Initially, I had problems getting into SHIP BREAKER. Paolo Bacigalupi is, without a doubt, a fantastic world-builder, but the lack of background info about this world made it confusing. It took me a while to understand all the ship terms and figure out exactly what Nailer and friends were doing. However, after a few chapters, I found myself completely immersed in the world Bacigalupi had created. Bacigalupi's descriptions were so vivid; I could definitely imagine all the cities of the past submerged in water. I can picture the landscape of what had become of the United States.
What prevented me from truly enjoying this book was the point of view that the novel was written in. Because it was written in third person, it was difficult to connect specifically with the main character, Nailer. I could certainly sympathize with Nailer, but I wasn't able to empathize with him. I probably thought, "That sucks," whenever Nailer got himself into another conundrum, but I really couldn't put myself in his position.
SHIP BREAKER does make you think, which I loved. It made me question how we were using our natural resources, what we our doing to our environment, and how the world will end up in the future. The world in SHIP BREAKER is definitely not unlikely which makes it much more effective as a dystopian novel.
According to GoodReads, there will be a sequel to SHIP BREAKER. I'm not entirely sold on reading it at the moment, but I may change my mind in the future. Unfortunately, SHIP BREAKER was not as great as I thought it would be, but it was still a decent read. I wouldn't go as far to say that it wasn't worthy of winning a Printz (what do I know about those awards??) but for me, it really does not stand out against all the other dystopian novels out in the market.
lyricsninja's review against another edition
3.0
Ship Breaker is a decent read, though nothing outstanding. The story puts forth a rather grim future where the class gap has widened to the point where the rich sail yachts and the common man is left to become nothing more than a grunt in the industry. It’s gritty and contains a lot of depressing situations but has some equally interesting situations that are entwined with family matters. This novel centers on a teenage boy who works by scavenging various materials from ships for sale. After a hurricane, he finds a ship that contains more wealth and intrigue than he could ever have imagined.
Again it’s a decent read, though a little rote. I don’t think I would read it again, nor would I recommend it since there’s nothing that jumps out so much that I would feel obliged to pass it on.
Again it’s a decent read, though a little rote. I don’t think I would read it again, nor would I recommend it since there’s nothing that jumps out so much that I would feel obliged to pass it on.
isix's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
cornmaven's review against another edition
5.0
Another awesome dystopian fiction novel. Futuristic, yet gritty and not to techy. It pays homage to swashbuckler novels, too.
The action is intense and fierce, and the age old questions about loyalty, family, truth, etc. abound. Oh, and the character who is not fully human displays the good side of humanity. Well written. I couldn't wait to get back to it every time I had to put it down.
And if global warming does this to the world, I hope I don't survive it.
The action is intense and fierce, and the age old questions about loyalty, family, truth, etc. abound. Oh, and the character who is not fully human displays the good side of humanity. Well written. I couldn't wait to get back to it every time I had to put it down.
And if global warming does this to the world, I hope I don't survive it.
from_the_stacks's review against another edition
I reread this cos I vividly remembered the drowning-in-oil scene, but not the rest of the book - and the first half of this is great! Very well-established worldbuilding, believable danger, shifting loyalties, interesting locations, increasing tension, life-and-death motivations ... The themes of luck and belief are cool too.
But then halfway through the book there's a definite point where the quality dips, and I think it's because it's where the characters' agency is suddenly taken away. Instead of being rough teens on the run, relying only on themselves, they're dragged around by the adults and getting conveniently saved at the last second, which takes so much suspense out of the story.
That halfway point is also where the book started to have a ton of weird inconsistencies - the one that made me give up was when a character's standing right next to the main dude, and one minute's worth of dialogue/one page later he asks where she is, and is told she went to the beach (a mile away) an hour ago ?! Maybe I was just interpreting it wrong, but it definitely could have been edited better to make that - and many other niggly "huh?" moments - much clearer.
I also began to notice and get annoyed by heaps of repeated words and phrases, sometimes in the same page or even paragraph - "He made a face", "She grinned", "They exchanged a glance", etc etc. It's like someone told the author he wasn't allowed to just use "said" as a dialogue tag lol. In the end I didn't care enough about the characters, and couldn't get enough of a sense of where the story was heading, which is a shame because the first half was so well paced and intriguing.
Anyway, I've reserved Railsea from the library cos someone said that was similar, so maybe that'll be a better dystopian steampunk read ...
But then halfway through the book there's a definite point where the quality dips, and I think it's because it's where the characters' agency is suddenly taken away. Instead of being rough teens on the run, relying only on themselves, they're dragged around by the adults and getting conveniently saved at the last second, which takes so much suspense out of the story.
That halfway point is also where the book started to have a ton of weird inconsistencies - the one that made me give up was when a character's standing right next to the main dude, and one minute's worth of dialogue/one page later he asks where she is, and is told she went to the beach (a mile away) an hour ago ?! Maybe I was just interpreting it wrong, but it definitely could have been edited better to make that - and many other niggly "huh?" moments - much clearer.
I also began to notice and get annoyed by heaps of repeated words and phrases, sometimes in the same page or even paragraph - "He made a face", "She grinned", "They exchanged a glance", etc etc. It's like someone told the author he wasn't allowed to just use "said" as a dialogue tag lol. In the end I didn't care enough about the characters, and couldn't get enough of a sense of where the story was heading, which is a shame because the first half was so well paced and intriguing.
Anyway, I've reserved Railsea from the library cos someone said that was similar, so maybe that'll be a better dystopian steampunk read ...
pennsnape's review against another edition
4.0
This was a quick, enjoyable read. I look forward to reading more Bacigalupi novels. At some point while reading, with the talk of climate change causing category 6 "city killer" hurricanes, I had a flash of a rather bleak (and hopefully farfetched) future eerily similar to the book.
erine's review against another edition
4.0
Nailer is a ship breaker, subject to hard work, little reward, and a brutal existence with an abusive and drug-addicted father. Set in a future world after an environmental collapse (thank you BP et al), oil tankers are scavenged for parts using cheap labor. The characters are multidimensional and draw you in, and the plot is full of adventure and suspense.
Violence, death and abuse.
Violence, death and abuse.