The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi is an amazingly vivid description of the potential disaster that the world is capable of falling into. Its artistry and description made a movie in my head that I watched while reading the book. Its wording was not as confusing as many science fiction books seem to have and makes it easy and fun to follow along with what was happening. It also has a dark side to it which I find missing in most popular books now. Paolo brings to life all of the torment, both mentally and physically, that all these characters have to go through and it really brings you closer and gives you a great description as to what is going on through each characters head when faced with a tough choice. It proves that each and every character, whether they are supposed to be the bad guy or not, goes through their own changes. They grows a little and become more compassionate where before they had none and were willing to do anything to survive even if that meant killing anyone and anything that got in the way of their interests. In other words, he put hope in a hopeless and brutal environment. “The novels greatest success lies in the creation of a world that is so real, the grit and decay of war and ruin will lay thick on the minds of readers long after the final page. The narrative, however, is equally well crafted…. Breathtaking” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Not only does this story convey the brutality of any war torn country in its realism, it also takes the readers outside of their comfort zone and into a brand new and terrifying world. The characters are our age and have to deal with boys and men that were born without their innocence and do not shrink from the duty they were trained to believe they have, due to the war. Its oddly familiar feel yet completely alien nature makes this as compelling a book as you will ever read. It not only separates but adds onto what the world, with new, improved and lost technology can accomplish and destroy. It sucks you in and won’t let you come out again until you close the book and finish the last sentence. Readers will be transported into a world where they are hunted by anything and everything that can walk and has an appetite. They will not believe what Paolo has to bring to the table and will be amazed and shocked at the realness of everything is this new frightful world. The books ability to capitalize on the imaginary aspects and turn them into something that has a very good possibility of happening in the real world makes it very rare in the literary world. Today’s headlines give us some hint of war and this book brings it close in a personal level. It also ties in some real aspects that make it even more interesting to read because it gives a scary image as to what could possibly happen in the far future.