In a dark future America where violence, terror, and grief touch everyone, young refugees Mahlia and Mouse have managed to leave behind the war-torn lands of the Drowned Cities by escaping into the jungle outskirts. But when they discover a wounded half-man--a bioengineered war beast named Tool--who is being hunted by a vengeful band of soldiers, their fragile existence quickly collapses. One is taken prisoner by merciless soldier boys, and the other is faced with an impossible decision: Risk everything to save a friend, or flee to a place where freedom might finally be possible.
"Suzanne Collins may have put dystopian literature on the YA map with
The Hunger Games...but Bacigalupi is one of the genre's masters, employing inventively terrifying details in equally imaginative story lines." --
Los Angeles Times
A 2012 Los Angeles Public Library Best Teen Book
A 2013 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Book
A 2013 CBC at Bank Street College Best Children's Books of the Year Book
A 2013 Capitol Choices Noteworthy Titles for Children and Teens Book
A Junior Library Guild Selection
A 2014 Tennessee Volunteer Book Award Nominee