The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi

4 out of 5 stars

I received an ARC.

This one was more disturbing than I initially thought it would be. I read Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker duo and since that was fairly speculative I thought this one would follow suit. It was shockingly realistic though. From what I know of the Colorado River, it, and the states it supplies, are going to be in trouble in the near future. That, combined with the lack of futuristic technology in the book, make it seem very close to reality. This book is ultimately about water, and a future in which it has become dangerously scarce.

Set in the near future, three different characters try to navigate a water-starved Southwestern United States. The survival of different cities depends on their political clout  and ability to claim senior water rights. Las Vegas is one of the big players, with Catherine Case and her goons destroying nearby competitors by undermining their water supply. Angel is one of those goons, and when someone in the area starts claiming they have traced down a game changing water allocation document, Case send him to investigate. Lucy is a future Pulitzer prize winning journalist who is willing to risk her life to uncover the shady dealings and murders behind the ongoing legal battle for control of the Colorado. It is her friend who initially claimed possession of what might be the most valuable document in America, but when he is found murdered, she has the story of a lifetime in her hands. Maria is a refugee from the now ruined state of Texas who lives hand to mouth, trying to stay out of the way of local gangs and save up enough to escape to one of the more hydrated states.

I thought this book was going to read like a dystopian novel, but it actually had a lot of characteristics of a legal thriller. A lot of the action is around legal battles for water rights, since the United States has not quite dissolved and any state caught attacking another for water will face retaliation from the federal government. There are hidden dealings, gangs and murders, but it is not outright like it would be in a dystopia. The cities have to at least appear to be handling things legally and above board. The world is dystopian, but the plot is the type of action I would more expect to find in a John Grisham novel.

Maria’s viewpoint was probably the one I enjoyed reading about the most. Angel and Lucy both live fairly privileged lives within the world of the novel. Angel is employed by one of the most powerful women in America and Lucy has enough money to buy herself water. Lucy is also not native to the area, so she has the ability to relocate elsewhere (state borders were quickly shut down once the drought hit. Too many people were flooding into the states that had steady water supplies). It is from Maria that we get a good sense of what a prolonged drought and interstate tensions would do to the most vulnerable parts of the population and how it would potentially affect politics and companies. In Maria’s world, refugees from stricken states like Texas are taken care of by large companies like Dasani and Camelpack, who provide emergency water and other supplies to citizens who have no place else to go. Criminals can be bribed to sneak people across state borders, but since they are heavily policed by troops and local militias, that is a very dangerous option. Tensions against refugees even from other cities whose water has run dry makes moving around tricky, but when the water is turned off, people don’t have much of a choice. Local gangs prey on the desperate and those who cannot afford to live in technology rich, Chinese built condos often have to go to great lengths to buy the barest necessities. Maria’s best friend is a prostitute and Maria herself sells water to Chinese workers on their lunch breaks, all the while paying protection money to several dangerous men.

The plot is full of twists and turns as Angel and Lucy both try and find the truth behind the elusive document and the trail of bodies it seems to be leaving behind it. There are several torture scenes I found a bit intense, so while others on Goodreads have characterized this as a YA novel, I would probably recommend it more for adults. It would be a good thought-provoking read for older teens if they could stomach the violence, but I found it a bit of a hard read in places.

Bacigalupi built an insanely convincing world very close to our own. The most futuristic technologies are ones that are able to recycle water more effectively, and some medicines that are a bit more advanced. Nothing that could not reasonably come into being in the next 50 years or so though. Fighting is done with guns and cell phones and computers still look much the way they do now. That is what makes this book so scary. It is only a small step away from the present. Control of waterways is only going to become more important as the population continues to grow and average global temperatures rise. It is completely conceivable that battles over water rights in already drought stricken states will become more tense and water prices become more interesting than oil. It would be a great book for a book club that wants to tie speculative fiction closely in with world events.

This book was a quick read since I had trouble putting it down. Having a variety of characters occupying different layers of the social strata gives the reader a rounded view of the world the author has created, and fast paced action keeps you reading. This was definitely an attention-grabbing book by an author quickly making a big name for himself.

H20 by Virginia Bergin

1 out of 5 stars.

An asteroid is about to crash into earth. We manage to explode it before it hits, but the dust of the asteroid contains a deadly virus that makes it into the rain. Now, if water hits you, you die. If you drink it, you die. All water but bottled is contaminated.

The premise is wonderful because it adds an element of danger that you do not normally see in survivalist and dystopic fiction. I have read books where water is rare and precious, but none that take all natural water sources and turn them unusable and deadly. This immediately limits most of the protagonist’s options for survival and makes scavenging even more important.

The reason that I could not stand this book is that the protagonist, Ruby, is too dumb to live. One of her first acts on her own, after she has found some precious bottled water, is to use it to wash makeup off her face, having spent the last night looting the makeup and clothing stores and giving herself a makeover. She runs into two more survivors in the jail, who generously offer her some of their supplies when she faints. She takes them and then demands they give the rest of their supplies to the inmates whom she releases. Since one of the few living people left in the town is a seriously uncool nerd, she spends most of her time with him (when not freely giving away his medicine and water) complaining about what a nerd he is and how she would not normally give him the time of day. When she still has her stepfather around, she spends most of the time unable to comprehend that the water is bad and complaining about him. She is one of the most spoiled and oblivious protagonists I have ever encountered. I am not sure whether this is the way Bergin thinks teenagers think, but since Ruby is too dumb to realistically survive, I really don’t care what ridiculous plot twists the author is going to use to keep her alive. Not recommended for anyone. Seriously, you have been warned.

Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

4 out of 5 stars.

This is a fantastic bit of survivalist fiction. The world has run short on water and those not living in cities are forced to defend their water supplies through any means necessary. Lynn and her mother live alone, with one neighbour being the only other human they will not shoot on site until another group of people set up camp nearby.

This book is a really fantastic adventure. You get into the nitty gritty of how to purify water, preserve food and just plain survive in a way that other books about post-apocalyptic worlds don’t really touch on. This book has a small, intimate cast of characters, and a landscape that doesn’t reach out more than a 2 hour drive away. It is intimate and personal and you get to know the characters and the places really well. It is also unnervingly realistic, as we hear worldwide news in our reality about droughts and water shortages.

I love all the main characters in this book, as you can see the different types of damage being put in a long-term emergency situation can do. I love seeing Lynn trying to react to different people after only knowing her mother for so long. I love that the showdown of the book wasn’t someone racing off to save everyone, but simply trying to survive in an incredibly small community of people. I found the ending heartbreaking, but it fit the book. It was emotional, but still satisfying. You can’t always save everyone, and Ms. McGinnis does not try to sugar-coat that. This book was compelling both the first and second times I have read it. I definitely want more from this author.