Mr. Bacigalupi’s description of a future Gulf Coast region ravaged by a once oil-addicted society provides the base for the compelling story centered on Nailer, a teenage boy on the “have not” side of an abysmal economic divide. Nailer scrapes a living together as part of a crew that scavenges copper wire and other scrap within the rusting husks of ships from the oil-hungry past. It’s deadly work for little pay, but Nailer worries about this livelihood disappearing as soon as he grows too big to navigate the narrow ducts and passageways where he finds “scavenge”. Yet even in this wasteland, friendship and trust, and some good luck, make way for hope.

Ship Breaker presents several challenging and, I would say, timely themes in a way that may be provocative, but is not pedantic.

Sleepless, a well-crafted story told well, presents a realistic dystopian LA landscape ravaged by a worldwide plague of sleeplessness—a terminal disease that infects indiscriminately (young, old, rich, poor). The city teeters on the edge of chaos, yet somehow also maintains an indulgent elite with enough toys (many of them virtual) and money to distract it from the surrounding devastation. And everyone, whether or not privileged, must carry on.

For me, Huston’s details hit the mark every time, from his description of the misunderstood origins of the disease, to the virtual world that emerges to exploit it for profit, to the dissolution of a family affected by it. The character of Jasper and his abilities seem the only part of the story that may reach beyond “believable,” but I don’t care. The story works. All that being said, I can’t recommend it wholesale. Sleepless is bleak, not just in it’s landscape, but in every way. The message I took away from it is not necessarily one that I want to spread. And yet, I think this is a very good book.