The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

The  Windup Girl
Paolo Bacigalupi
2009, Orbit, London
97803500539
505p.

Set in the future where genetic engineering of food and animals has gone wrong, The Windup Girl tells the story of Emiko. Emiko is a windup, a genetically engineered human bred with the trait of subservience and designed to be a sexual slave. She is discovered by Anderson, a food company representative, who becomes enthralled by her and tries to help free her from her masters. This is all told within a story of political and military happenings, against the back drop of an environmentally ravaged South east Asia.

The settings in this novel were fantastically conceived - I really could feel like I was in South east Asia. It is a rather slow, meandering read, which allows the reader to become engrossed in the characters, their interactions, and the political intrigue.