Ship Breaker - Paolo Bacigalupi

Nailer is a ship breaker. This means he spends his days deep in the pipes and ducts of beached oil tankers stripping the valuable wires and metals from the insides of the ship. When you are on a 'light crew' like Nailer and his friends you have to have each other's backs. your crew is your family and you keep each other safe from the dangers that abound in this post apocalyptic United States. When Nailer is betrayed by a member of his light crew and manages to survive everyone thinks he's found his lucky strike, but when a storm washes up a ship worth more than Nailer could earn in a lifetime of breaking ships he knows he's finally found his luck. But when he discovers a survivor on board he has to balance his desire for fortune and his moral compass.

Bacigalupi has created a really interesting world here. In the wreckage of the Southern United States, which have been ravaged by city killing storms and drowned by the rising waters of the ocean the strong survive and the weak perish. The book is a bit scary in that it seems totally believable that in a hundred years the world could be in such a terrible state. Nailer is a great character, believable as a product of his upbringing, but also full of promise.

The book is also the companion of Bacigalupi's The Drowned Cities and features one common character, but it's not necessary to read one before the other.

A really great read!
Enjoy!

Enclave - Ann Aguirre

In this post apocalyptic thriller our main character Deuce has just graduated from being a 'brat' (an unnamed child) to being a Huntress, one of the elite warriors of her small community. The enclave where Deuce lives is situated in the remains of the New York City subway and is constantly under the threat of both starvation and of being over run by the monsters living in the tunnels that they call "freaks". Deuce has spent her whole life waiting to become a Huntress, however her illusions of becoming one of the warrior brethren are quickly shattered as she becomes aware of the politics that lie beneath the seemingly perfect exterior.

I really enjoyed Enclave. I thought Deuce was an interesting character and that the world she lived in underground was just as believable as any other post apocalyptic read, and there are certainly many! As with most Young Adult fiction there is a budding romance and Deuce has mixed feelings about the boy she has her eyes on. However, the romance does not detract from the main plot line of the story, but adds to it. Deuce is a kick butt heroine who certainly does not need a boy to protect her from anybody and she proves it time and again. I really liked how she and Fade (her hunting partner and love interest) are equals, working together to protect each other, rather than either of them making enormous sacrifices for the sake of the other.

The book also takes an interesting turn half way through as our main characters find their way out of the tunnels and into the world above, which Deuce has always believed to be uninhabitable. The world above is even more dangerous than the world underground and Deuce needs all of her fighting and survival skills to survive the surface.

Overall a great plot, engaging characters and an interesting premise! I'm looking forward to reading the sequel!

**The sequel Outpost was almost as good as the first book, looking forward to the third!**

***Third book also great! Interesting twist!***