Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hajóbontók | 2010 | Paolo Bacigalupi | N/A |
| 2 | Ship Breaker | 2010 | Paolo Bacigalupi | Buy |
| 3 | The Drowned Cities | 2012 | Paolo Bacigalupi | Buy |
| 4 | Tool of War | 2017 | Paolo Bacigalupi | Buy |
The Ship Breaker series takes place in a future Gulf Coast where rising seas have swallowed cities and the gap between rich and poor has widened into something almost feudal. The first book follows Nailer, a teenager who works on a crew stripping old tankers for copper and scrap. When he discovers a wealthy girl in a wrecked clipper ship, he has to decide whether to save her or strip her vessel for parts.
Paolo Bacigalupi published the main trilogy between 2010 and 2017, with The Drowned Cities and Tool of War expanding the world beyond Nailer’s story. The series won the Michael L. Printz Award and brought Bacigalupi’s environmental themes to a younger audience. The worldbuilding is consistent with his adult fiction, painting a picture of climate catastrophe that feels uncomfortably plausible.