Title: The Windup Girl
Author: Paolo Bacigalupi
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 300

Summary
The world after the oil bust is a grim place. Labor is provided by massive animals, expensive methane is the source of most light. Global warming has caused the seas to rise and engulf whole cities while genetically engineered and mutating diseases ravage those who were not drowned.

In this world, the city Bangkok is one of the few surviving population centers, the ocean held back by massive walls and pump systems. The surface calm betrays turbulence as the Environmental ministry and the Trade ministry war with each other over the best philosophy to use to continue survival.

Notes
Ok, first of all, I should mention this book has several fairly sexually expicit scenes in it so if that kind of thing bugs you this is not the book for you.

I almost gave up on this one. I was about 25% of the way through and I had no idea what was going on. There were so many characters, places and random words in different languages (mostly Thai and Chinese) which did a lot to provide flavor for the world, but ended up being really hard for me to get over and figure out what was going on. But I kept reading and right about 1/3rd of the way through everything started clicking and the book took off.

This is the author’s first real novel and I’m hoping it’s not his last. He did a wonderful job of (after the initial confusion and story setup) intertwining multiple threads of story into a single unit. It’s based around 4 sets of characters which have their own independent storylines which run parallel and eventually intersect.

A deep story that presents a realistic example of what might be in wonderfully written prose, I’d have to recommend this book to any fan of science fiction. Just don’t give up on it too early!

Next Book
For the next book, I’m reading Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass by none other than Lewis Carrol. Not only because I’ve never actually read the book before, but because this month’s City of Heroes FArt Competition challenge is based around Alice. So I’m trying to grab some ideas.