••• The International Writers Magazine: Review (Children's Fiction)

Tool of War (Ship Breaker #3) by Paolo Bacigalupi isbn13: 9780316220811 Published September 4th 2018 by Little, Brown Books • Sam Hawksmoor review

It took a while for this final part of the Shipbreaker trilogy to appear. (I wonder if the earlier readers have grown up and are now shunning YA stuff as they explore adult fiction - come back immediately you need to read this!). Tool made a brief appearance in the first book as this bio-engineered self determining creature. But now he's a great war leader to be much feared. The world is still divided between cruel global corporate entities and those who survive between the margins.

The book begins with Tool's victory over the rebels only for it to be cruelly smashed away in a massive missle attack. This volume is Tool's story of resilience and how the humans who are curiously loyal to him come to his aide. Familiar characters that were children in the first book are now adults - trying to make sense of a very cruel world. I always say that Bacigalupi knows the future better than anyone alive today - but I wouldn't want to live there.

Fast paced, brutal; 'Tool of War' delivers everything you could want in an all out battle for existence - a brilliant follow up to 'The Drowned Cities' (Part Two)

© Sam Hawksmoor 15.12.18
author of J&K 4Ever


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