Ship Breaker is a dystopian novel that focuses on a boy named Nailer and his journey out of poverty. In the changed Earth from the future, all metals and materials must be scavenged from previous creations, and the sea covers port cities. Also, there are frequently violent storms called city killers that can destroy even well built structures. Nailer’s usual day, usually scavenging copper wire from old ships, turns into a life on the run after he meets a wealthy girl with a bounty on her head. He leaves his old life behind with just a friend of his estranged father and the girl he barely knows, risking everything for a chance to leave poverty behind.
    Ship Breaker was extremely well written that kept me excited and turning to the next page. One problem with the story is that it is fairly predictable; plot points at the beginning of the novel clearly will return later. Although predictable, having potential indications of future plot sometimes increases the anticipation of the moment, so this is not completely a bad thing. There is also a character that is very important to the plot who leaves the book in just a couple of sentences, which leaves an abrupt empty space. Ship Breaker has a sequel, which usually means the main character will be picked back up, but it is actually the character that went missing that stars in the sequel. This means that the usual “what happens next” ending is not really resolved, which was frustrating. The book was a page turner and a quick read, and it was lots of fun to read, but it certainly was not perfect.

Reviewed by PJ M.