Another adult writer delves into the world of teen literature with a dystopian novel set in the not so distant future along the Gulf Coast. Nailer is a teen working as a scavenger among the various shipwrecked vessels that now seem to line the coast. They are picking over the wrecks for precious copper and other useful materials to sell in the hopes of bringing in enough income to survive. And the challenges against survival are quite broad. With the new ecological climate in disaster, giant hurricanes wreak havoc, local citizens fight over resources, and his own father, who is a drug addict, presents his own troubles for Nailer.

While scavenging after a major storm passes through the area, Nailer comes across Lucky Girl, a shipping heiress who has been stranded on a local beach. She provides an interesting opportunity as she is from the part of society where no one is really struggling to survive other than through trade disputes tied to the massive corporations they own.

In a not-so-surprising turn of events Nailer and Lucky girl find themselves on the run as everyone seems to be on the hunt. Nailers former scavenger friends and people from his world want them for one reason while the wealthy upper-crust are looking to find them for their own reasons. In the process, the two find themselves with only each other for protection. While the interaction starts out bumpy, things start to smooth out quickly as the need for each other and trust blossom.

While they are making their way to the ruins of New Orleans, they are confronted with all sorts of challenges including futuristic pirates. In the process, Nailer finds himself exposed to even more of the world's economic structure, opening his eyes to the full range of inequality.

While this is an interesting tale, I didn't find much that I could say was incredibly original, which was really disappointing. Bacigalupi is a well-known science fiction master and, as you can see from the seals on the cover above, the title has been quite honored with the top award for teen literature (the Printz Awawrd) and as a finalist for the National Book Award for Youth.

I found a book that was overly filled with (often repetitive) description. A friend of mine threatened to pull her hair out over the repetitive references to LED paint used throughout the book. Since I don't have much hair left to follow in her threat, I definitely agree with the sentiment. The constant detailed description really weighs down the plot and characters. It is a shame because both are interesting.

The characters really cover the whole landscape of society, giving a real sense of how bad things have gotten in the future. It is a carefully crafted morality tale about how our current weak and dangerous economic policies will end up not only causing the habitability of our planet to be problematic, but also crushing the economic stability that is so often cited as a reason to delay attempts to control greenhouse gases and other dangers to our environment. Both rich and poor live a horrible existence that no one would ever hope for.

To be honest, this is the first book I have struggled to finish in a long time. In fact, I probably would have given up on it if it wasn't a nominee for the 2012 RI Teen Book Award.