WATER IS POWER In the near future, the Colorado River has dwindled to a trickle. Detective, assassin, and spy, Angel Velasquez “cuts” water for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, ensuring that its lush arcology developments can bloom in Las Vegas. When rumors of a game-changing water source surface in Phoenix, Angel is sent south, hunting for answers that seem to evaporate as the heat index … the heat index soars and the landscape becomes more and more oppressive. There, he encounters Lucy Monroe, a hardened journalist with her own agenda, and Maria Villarosa, a young Texas migrant, who dreams of escaping north. As bodies begin to pile up, the three find themselves pawns in a game far bigger and more corrupt than they could have imagined, and when water is more valuable than gold, alliances shift like sand, and the only truth in the desert is that someone will have to bleed if anyone hopes to drink.
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So good!
One of the best dystopian futures for the American Southwest I have ever read. It’s very realistic and makes me wonder how much of it will come true.
Paolo Bacigalupi Explores Climate Change and Corruption in Near-Future Sci-Fi, “The Water Knife.” I enjoyed interviewing the author on Charlotte Readers Podcast.
The Water Knife is a thriller set around 2065 (by my calculations), in which climate change has followed a business-as-usual scenario and large parts of the world have become uninhabitable, or inhabitable only to those wealthy enough to live in newly constructed arcologies (massive self-contained residential environments). The Water Knife is tightly paced and I had a hard time putting it down. Its characters and dystopian setting–mostly a half-abandoned, dust-choked Phoenix–are memorable. Water is the only meaningful currency. The characters are neither saints nor truly evil. Except for the journalist Lucy (who truly does care about Phoenix and its inhabitants), everyone is struggling to survive and morality takes a back seat. I was a little disappointed in the ending, which relied too much on luck and was somewhat anticlimactic, but all in all, The Water Knife was an excellent book (as good as the Windup Girl, his previous book) and I highly recommend it.
The Water Knife is a frightening cautionary tale. Temperatures are projected to rise significantly in the southwest U.S. as the planet continues to warm, and precipitation is expected to decrease. Yet Phoenix displays incredible arrogance regarding water use. The city is located in a desert, but is full of watered lawns and golf courses. The city government actively encourages continued sprawl, claiming their economy is based on non-stop growth. Such shortsighted pollyannish thinking is a recipe for disaster. To quote a character in The Water Knife, “We knew it was all going to go to hell, and we just stood by and watched it happen anyway. There ought to be a prize for that kind of stupidity.”
Few books have left the longstanding impression of The Water Knife’s lingering aftertaste.
Bacigalupi has done an outstanding job of portraying each character and the tangled, unforgiving twists of fate which bring them together. The cruelty of scorching drought, the various dark sides of broken human psyche, the perilous outcomes of ostensibly insignificant choices… everything in this book just leaves you gasping for a breath of air – and a glass of fresh, cold, filtered water!
Yes, the characters might not be relatable due to their annoying naivety, desperation-driven inhumane actions, murderous tendencies and complete lack of the moral values you’d expect them to cherish. Nevertheless, all these anti-heroes play an intrinsic role in the story’s appeal in a depraved sort of way. I wasn’t rooting for any of them, yet I found all of them to be compelling, and kept wondering where their journeys would take them.
I can honestly say the perspective of living in The Water Knife’s dystopian future is more savage, monstrous and frightening than anything I’ve come across in the literary world so far.
Bacigalupi has a firm grasp of what our world will become. His work is immensely entertaining to read and illuminatingly prescient.
A prescient look at the not so distant future.
A scifi novel set in a believable future when water becomes scarce and control of which is the source of political power. Story location was set in southern Nevada and Phoenix plus the western portion of Arizona. I found it geographically easy to follow as I live in a western suburb of Phoenix. The characters are well developed by the author. The story line is tied to a number of personalities. Exciting action events and anticipation of others kept me turning the pages. Very enjoyable reading for me.
A scary preview of a very likely future. I am looking forward to more from this writer
I highly recommend this book. The premise is what got my attention but the story is what held it. I ended up reading it in one day. Having traveled throughout the southwest And seen the lack of water made this book a scary view of the future. After sharing it with a close friend, we both went back and read “Cadillac Desert”. I gave it a 4 star rating because I couldn’t figure out how to give a 4 1/2 rating. Brings to mind the saying ” Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over” and the time is coming.
It was enjoyable. The dialogue was one of the strengths of this book.
All Paolo Bacigalupi’s books are Original, but realistic page-turners!
Can’t wait for the next one!
Typical post-apocalyptic craziness. Just read the factual book “Cadillac Water” by Marc Reiser, and skip the fiction. The facts are bizarre enough, and Reiser was a genius.
Too many words, too many images, a lot of cynicism, all of it carefully politically correct. The author can write, the characters are alive but the content is empty despite all the glitter. I could not finish this book.
Good examination of drought issues and stealing water from other states
A plausible scary look at the future if the 1%er’s have their way. Luxury for them, trip to the pool for you (read the book to understand).
a scifi. In the near future the US is suffering from a critical lack of water. Political entities are fighting and manipulating to gain water rights and control. Once I got into it it was a captivating read. The author describes a world that the reader can not only visualize but can also imagine happening. Not his best book but it was interesting.
Good science fiction.
Devastating look at water in The West
As a former zonie and current maker of adaptive solutions for drought (and staving off the apocalypse) – I enjoyed the blistering ride! Paolo Bacigalupi