In the world of the Drowned Cities, two very different characters dominate the war-torn landscape. Tool is an 'augment,' a genetically altered creation—part animal, part human—designed to serve as the perfect killing machine. Mahlia is a 'war maggot,' a crippled, castoff teenager left behind by the Peacekeepers, who tried to impose order on the fragmented, increasingly violent society known as the Drowned Cities.

Mahlia's relationship with her newly acquired 'family'—a doctor who teaches her the art of healing and a young boy named Mouse who once saved her life—keeps her connected to the world of human values. When devastation descends on her village and disrupts those fragile connections, Mahlia finds herself in an alliance with Tool, who may represent her last, best chance to save a friend—and preserve her own humanity.

The Drowned Cities is a story of love, war, loyalty, and survival. It is a portrait of a society in which natural and man-made disasters have combined to leave chaos and destruction in their wake.