BookRank

Reading order

Ship Breaker Trilogy reading order

Paolo Bacigalupi

  1. Ship Breaker2010
  2. The Drowned Cities2012
  3. Tool of War2017
7.77.7 / 10
203 ratings
Score
3 volumes
Volumes
2010–2017
Published
about 21 h
Reading time
Completed
Status
Young adult#51
Genre

Quick answer

Ship Breaker
Start withShip Breaker2010 · Volume 1 of 3
Open the volume →Buy the first volumeListen to the audiobook

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Publication order

3 volumes2010–2017Completed

  • Young adult science fiction set after climate change has drowned coastlines: in Ship Breaker, Nailer scavenges copper from wrecked oil tankers on the Gulf Coast until a storm washes up a ship and a rich girl.
  • It won the Printz Award.
  • The Drowned Cities is a companion set in a war-torn former Washington; Tool of War brings the two together.
  • Read in order.

A plan for the whole series

3 volumes, 1,151 pages, about 21 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 4 weeks.

38%

Share of volume 1’s readers who reach the last volume. Chance of reaching the last volume: medium

Stages

2 stages, with 1 short book from outside the series between them. You finish around November 30, 2026, 4 days later than in one go.

  1. Stage 114 h19 daysby November 17, 2026
  2. Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.82 h, by November 21, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
  3. Stage 27 h9 daysby November 30, 2026
    • 3. Tool of War2017 · 381 pages · 7 h
  4. The end of the series
    November 30, 2026
In one goNovember 26, 2026about 4 weeks
In stages, with breaksNovember 30, 2026about 5 weeks · +2 h of other books

We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.

How this plan is calculated

The plan comes from the pages and ratings of each volume: we split the series into stages of about three weeks’ reading, size each break to the stage before it, and read the chance of finishing from how many readers rate the last volume compared with the first. How we work out the plan →

Every volume in order

Read: 0 of 3
  1. Ship Breaker
    Ship Breaker2010 · 147 ratingsStart here
    7.77.7 / 10
  2. The Drowned Cities
    The Drowned Cities2012 · 56 ratings
    7.87.8 / 10
  3. Tool of War
    Tool of War2017 · 18 ratings · Not ranked yetBuy
    –Not ranked yet

Order checked by hand · Order and years: Wikidata (CC0). Spotted an error? Tell us. · Data updated October 29, 2026

Frequently asked questions

Which Ship Breaker Trilogy book is the best?

By reader score, The Drowned Cities (7.8/10). The lowest-rated is Ship Breaker (7.7/10).

Which Ship Breaker Trilogy book is the longest?

“The Drowned Cities” is the longest at 434 pages; the shortest is “Ship Breaker” with 336 pages.