The Windup Girl

Story: 4 / 10
Characters: 7
Setting: 10
Prose: 9

The Windup Girl started so well ... and there were so many reasons to read it: Hugo and Nebula award winner; and someone literally bought me a copy.

The unique, poetic prose and clever post-steampunk setting immerse the reader in the first few pages. The story starts off fairly strong with compelling characters and strange relationship dynamics. However, the plot loses direction in a web of tertiary story threads. At 33% completion, it was clear that the story was ultimately never going to come together. Since I'm reading through all the Nebula and Hugo award winning authors, I cannot honestly suggest you skip this book. Nevertheless, I would suggest reading one of Bacigalupi's later works: I imagine the stories would be more mature.

Tags: generipping (bio-engineering), plagues, post-steampunk, energy-efficiency, asia, androids