The Water Wars: 03/08/12

The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher is an environmental devastation dystopia. Like Restoring Harmony by Joëlle Antony, it's set in the United States (well, what's left of it). Both are set in the near future in a time when certain natural resources — in this case, water, have become scarce.

Vera and her big brother Will live in Arch, Illinowa with their father and ailing mother. Without freshwater the old government has collapsed. Fresh food is a thing of the past, replaced by synth this and synth that. Will is convinced that the rationed water created by an off shore desalination plant is poisoning everyone.

In the middle of all that a new boy appears, Kai. What catches Vera's attention is that he pours the remains of a cup of water into the soil. It's a crazy, dangerous and illegal act. When she calls him on it, he replies that there's plenty more where that water came from and he knows how to find it. Thus their friendship begins.

It's a friendship fraught with peril. Someone who knows how to find fresh water in a world of water pirates and, corrupt warring governments is bound to be a dangerous and desirable person. When Kai and his father go missing, Vera and Will try to follow Kai's instructions to find the hidden source of water. That, though, only leads to their own trouble — trouble that takes them across multiple boarders and into ever more dangerous situations.

The Water Wars is a short, fast-paced book. I got so caught up in the adventure that I didn't worry about potential plot holes or secondary characters who lack depth.

Recommended by Book Purring

Five stars.

Comments (4)

Comment #1: Monday, March 12, 2012 at 00:43:46

MarthaE

Book purring! Love it! I keep eyeing this. Although I have seen mixed reviews. I want to read it.

I couldn't get the comment to take on Robopcalyptic (or whatever the correct spelling is) post so I'll leave the comment here hoping this one takes. :-) Glad you liked this... I think I will put it my wish list for future.
Thanks for sharing.

Comment #2: Monday, March 12, 2012 at 18:50:04

Pussreboots

As long as you read it for an adventure and not for a YA romance, it's a fun, quick dystopian. The negative reviews I've read all mention the lack of romance. There is some flirtation / teenage crush action but not romance.

Comment #3: Friday, March 16, 2012 at 23:53:05

Bookworm1858

I didn't really like this book (not because of lack of romance) but the characters were so underdeveloped that I just couldn't love this book. But I do think the premise was very intriguing.

Comment #4: Monday, March 19, 2012 at 18:28:35

Pussreboots

I agree that the characters are underdeveloped but I argue that underdevelopment is fairly common for dystopians. The destructed world is ultimately the main character.