Image taken from Amazon.com for review under Fair Use Doctrine.
Spoiler Free Summary: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi is a science fiction novel in which Anderson Lake, a calorie man looking for a way to insert himself into a position to get a look at seed banks for foods believed to be extinct. Taking place in a futuristic Thailand, this book combines social and political intrigue. Anderson stumbles upon a “new person,” also called a Windup, and that chance meeting puts his life, and the very political balance of Thailand in danger.
Character: Honestly, the characters are a bit weak for me. Anderson isn’t very sympathetic. Emiko, the Windup, is sympathetic, but she’s not proactive. I’ll admit her lack of productivity is due in large part to her character flaw, which does add tension to the story, but it frustrates a guy who lives for sympathetic, proactive characters. This book isn’t without stars though. The Tiger of Bangkok is this books best character by far. Note my bias mentioned above. Emiko is fascinating in a lot of ways, but she spends a good deal of the book doing very little.
Exposition: This is better. The author moves things along, letting the reader figure things out or simply move with the plot. There’s not a lot of info dumping, and that counters the slow place created by the description.
Worldbuilding: To me, this is why this book deserved the awards it’s won. This world and these points of conflict are as visceral as they are allegorical. This fantastic world is fascinating for those who like high, speculative science fiction concepts deep with meaning. I won’t lie, it’s not actually MY cup of tea, but I have to tip my hat to this world building. Should the author combine this level of world building with stronger characters, I’d be over the moon. This book’s conflict is the world itself. It has disease, economical strain, and political rivalry; and all of these elements make the setting a tragically wondrous place to visit.
Photo by JT Thomas Photography pulled from the authors website with his posted permission.
Dialogue: This is fairly average, and there are some scenes here where the dialog seems to slow things down.
Description: In a book where the world and culture are so integral to the plot, it’s fair to expect a lot of description. I think these were necessary elements. Again, fans of books like Dune will love it, I just prefer stories more based in character than setting. That doesn’t make this a bad book, just not the flavor of ice cream I prefer (and everybody likes some flavor of ice cream!). What I will say is the degree of description, which really slows the book down in my opinion, is what makes the world and the culture in it so spectacular. I don’t think you can have world building like this without a lot of description.
Overall: Fans of deep, visceral science fiction like Dune will love this story for its fantastic world building and intricate plot lines that position characters against the setting in a fantastic man vs man vs nature triangle. This book sings to the heart of science fiction by asking tough questions about society and evolution as only science fiction can.
Thanks for reading,
Matt
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