drey's library

The Drowned Cities isn’t an easy read – it’s set in a war zone, after all. Life is difficult for everyone, but even more so for the half-breed children of the Chinese peacekeepers who left the Drowned Cities to its bloody dead when the warlords’ chaos got to be to much for them to contain.As one of the half-breeds, Mahlia is lucky to be alive and even luckier that the kind Dr. Mahfouz has taken her in as his assistant, even though she only has one hand. She lost the other to soldiers, and would’ve lost her life too but for the distraction Mouse provided. Mahlia and Mouse are hunting for food when they find a half-man – a killing machine built for war – half-dead in the marshes.Next thing you know, Mouse is a hostage to Mahlia’s promise to get the Dr. and medicines to help Tool (the half-man). When she returns to the village, she finds soldiers. And she has to figure out how to survive them and get back to Mouse. Because these soldier boys would be only too happy to finish what the other soldier boys did – kill a half-breed.Mahlia and Mouse are just kids, and so are the soldier boys, which makes the bloodshed and the soldiers’ dialog that much more horrifying. In this world of us-vs-them, there’s no room for compassion, there’s no room to recognize one another as human beings – just soldier vs. soldier, soldier vs. civilian, soldier vs. half-breed. Instead, what we get is casual cruelty, gleeful taunting, and mob mentality, and even those who don’t care for it participate out of fear.The Drowned Cities brings all the horrors of war to its pages, but it also shows courage and bravery and compassion. Mahlia carries a lot of anger, but still does her best for Mouse and Tool. She’s spunky as all get-out, loyal, and idealistic in a way. Eventually the path she’s on crosses the soldier boys’ again, only this time they might all survive this war…This is a book I’ll be adding to my own shelves. It characters will resonate with you, and stay long after the book is done – which will be faster than you know, because you won’t be able to put it down. Read it.drey’s rating: Outstanding!