Don't judge a book by its cover, but I did pick it up because of the cover - the title scratched on a surface which looks authentically flaky, rusted and verdigrised. It it 'Ship breaker' by Paolo Bacigalupi.
He says he was inspired by the work of Robert Heinlein, and especially 'Citizen of the galaxy'.
In 'Ship breaker' it is post-peak oil, the planet's natural resources have been exhausted, global warming is an actuality. Antarctica has disappeared, the Arctic is patrolled by displaced fierce piratical Inuits, the major cities have drowned.
On America's Gulf Coast, grounded oil tankers are being broken up for their constituent parts. Here Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota to big corporations - and hopefully live to see another day.
But when he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: strip the ship for all it's worth (which is the lucky strike of a lifetime) OR rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl heir to one of the biggest corporations, and which could lead him to a better life...
Yet, even for the swanks of the big corporations, the future is not all plain sailing, even here they must fight and manoeuvre to survive in a world totally different from ours. Here the divide between the rich and the poor is deeper than ever.
There is a sequel - 'The drowned cities'.
A dystopian post-apocalyptic young adult title, with a gritty background that portrays the struggles of loyalty, integrity and ethics.
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