Bacigalupi, Paolo

For readers who enjoy fantasy full of political and family intrigue, such as A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, and for those who like coming-of-age stories focusing on a young man’s battles, such as The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

Hugo and Nebula Award winner Bacigalupi (The Windup Girl) has written a fresh cautionary tale classic, depicting an America newly shaped by scarcity of our most vital resource. The pages practically turn themselves in a tense, taut plot of crosses and double-crosses, given added depth by riveting characters. This brutal near-future thriller seems so plausible in the world it depicts that you will want to stock up on bottled water. [See Prepub Alert, 11/24/14; seven-city tour; highlighted in "Editors' Spring Picks," p. 35.]

There is a black pool of mad at the center of Bacigalupi's companion to the 2011 Printz Award- winning Ship Breaker—mad at the unacknowledged impact of climate change, the exploitation of children, and an American political system more intent on tearing itself apart than knitting our nation forward...