paperback, 384 pages
Published May 26, 2015 by Alfred a Knopf.
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 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.
I couldn’t get past chapter 9. It was all too bleak and hopeless. Will there be solidarity and cooperation after the climate collapse? I don’t know but i want to – have to – hope so. But the author’s answer (up to the point i got to) is a clear »No!«.
Not Mad Max.
The prose is poetry. Go slow.
A lot of interesting material here. Scenarios which are credible in many regards. Reasonably fast paced and a solid story. Slightly slow start for me but an enjoyable read overall, thought provoking
the world this book portrays seems....all too possible, really
content warning, if you want to read it, for just about every kind of violence possible
i had a good time reading it! wasn't sure how the various plot threads were going to link up most of the time, but they eventually did and it was amazing
I've completely enjoyed every book I've read by Paolo Bacigalupi and the undertones of his futuristic vision are not at all lost on me. I get it, Paolo, I get it.
The Water Knife, for me, is the weakest of all his books I've read so far. It is a story about people, as all his books are, and how they react to, and survive, a crisis, again, like in all his books. This one differs in that the events occur in the near-future whereas most of his other books happen deeper into the future. As the title suggests, the crisis in this book deals with access to water.
The story is good. It paints a bleak and dry future for common folk and an opposite future for those with money and power. It does not follow a typical rebellion versus the empire story line. This is one of those …
I've completely enjoyed every book I've read by Paolo Bacigalupi and the undertones of his futuristic vision are not at all lost on me. I get it, Paolo, I get it.
The Water Knife, for me, is the weakest of all his books I've read so far. It is a story about people, as all his books are, and how they react to, and survive, a crisis, again, like in all his books. This one differs in that the events occur in the near-future whereas most of his other books happen deeper into the future. As the title suggests, the crisis in this book deals with access to water.
The story is good. It paints a bleak and dry future for common folk and an opposite future for those with money and power. It does not follow a typical rebellion versus the empire story line. This is one of those things that sets Mr. Bacigalupi apart from other writers. He simply tells a story, usually the most likely actions and reactions to a crisis over a resource and how greed, survival, humanity and belief are effected. It is what it is. You can blame or you can press on to survive another day.
The scope of this story is narrow compared to his other stories, such as The Windup Girl, which paint a very imaginative world deeper into the future. The crisis here is more eminent and perhaps closer to becoming non-fiction, thus lacking some of the technology seen throughout his other works. In this aspect, Paolo Bacigalupi has maintained a good time-line in relation to his other works.
Well done sir, well done.
the plot was pretty standard pot boiler, with some scenes that I have seen before a bunch of times. But the setting was amazing, totally believable resource scarcity.
Rather more uneven than his previous efforts.
Solid
Terrifying reality that feels oddly appropriate in today's climate struggle. Very compelling through most then tapers into more traditional plot towards the end. Still a fun and haunting read
I enjoy Paolo Bachigalupi but he's becoming too preachy and has gone to far down the conspiracy rabbit hole .
Perhaps it's because The Water Knife is set closer to us in time and space, I find it harder to suspend my disbelief.
Perhaps it's because I live in a country that faced a water crisis, where there was talk of future wars being driven by water shortages in the region and where these issues have become mut after the construction of a number of desalination plants. Something that requires access the ocean and energy. Considering the level of solar plant technology available and Cali's access to the Ocean, I find the hole premise behind The Water Knife a bit shaky.
horrifying vision of our future, told with such gripping style. fantastic, couldn't put it down.
Good now-future thriller commentary, the lawlessly corrupt refugee narco states of MX transposed into water-desperate western U.S. states. How much of what we're creating and ignoring is solvable or the new normal?
"It's the end of times, Angel thought, [...] Guess that makes me the devil!"
To my own huge surprise I finished the second half of this book within two days, after stumbling through the first half over the course of two weeks. I had nearly added this to my unfinished-business shelf when I ran out of other digital reading material.
Just like [b: The Windup Girl|6597651|The Windup Girl|Paolo Bacigalupi|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1278940608s/6597651.jpg|6791425] this book looks at what climate change may do to our future. This time not in flood-threatened Bangkok but in a water-deprived, dusty apocalypse in the south-western desert states of the US.
While the US still exists the states are very nearly at war with each other, guarding their borders from refugees from Texas. South of the US there's no longer Mexico but the Cartel States. To the north lies the paradise that is Canada, where there is still green. It …
"It's the end of times, Angel thought, [...] Guess that makes me the devil!"
To my own huge surprise I finished the second half of this book within two days, after stumbling through the first half over the course of two weeks. I had nearly added this to my unfinished-business shelf when I ran out of other digital reading material.
Just like [b: The Windup Girl|6597651|The Windup Girl|Paolo Bacigalupi|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1278940608s/6597651.jpg|6791425] this book looks at what climate change may do to our future. This time not in flood-threatened Bangkok but in a water-deprived, dusty apocalypse in the south-western desert states of the US.
While the US still exists the states are very nearly at war with each other, guarding their borders from refugees from Texas. South of the US there's no longer Mexico but the Cartel States. To the north lies the paradise that is Canada, where there is still green. It is hinted at that climate change has also hit other parts of the country (crumbling sea walls in Manhattan, huge Storms at the East Coast etc.). But this story only deals with the (decades-old) water shortage. The Calies (Californians) are putting pressure on every one, and Nevada is ruled by water queen Catherine Case. Vegas has yet enough water for its arcologies, but Phoenix is about to go under. This is where the action takes place. Phoenix has less and less water, is always looking for another aquifer to drill into. (BTW: you know you read too many books on Mars if a word like aquifer comes to you naturally).
The book has three major characters. Angel Velasquez from Vegas, an assassin working for Catherine Case, who is sent to Phoenix to look into Case's spy networks there. Lucy Monroe, a journalist from up North who has been covering the downfall of Phoenix in #PhoenixDownTheTubes and Pulitzer winning articles. And there's Maria, orphaned Texan refugee, a small-time water peddler, who never knows if she'll make enough to pay off the criminals who rule her neighborhood. They are all caught in Phoenix' downward spiral.
The plot itself is mostly a murder-mystery because before long one of the dozen's of bodies that the blood-rags cover every day turns out to be a friend of Lucy who was involved in a shady deal with some powerful water rights.
The book starts out slow. The author takes his time to build the characters and the dreary world in which they live. I would argue that this could have been done faster and that's the missing fifth star. I nearly put down the book because the beginning just doesn't grip me and after reading the Windup Girl I was already missing something that only comes into play in this book around the 30% mark: a personal connection, sympathy for the characters despite themselves. For me this happened when Angel and Lucy meet and he experiences an inexplicable connection to her. So yes I am a sucker for love stories. Though this is anything but I like this small subplot that suddenly makes Angel human.
But ones this connection was made the pacing of the plot becomes smoother. I finally wanted to know what happened to Angel, Lucy and Maria.
I found myself enjoying the book. Up to the end. I find the ending somewhat disconcerting with Lucy being shot by Maria after taking the papers from Angel. But everyone acts out their role to the hilt. And I can see some kind of happy ending for the three of them. Not for Phoenix however. One of the best quotes: "Not all epic quests ended in success. Instead, paranoid and greedy people made stupid mistakes. People died and hurt each other and struggled, and in the end everyone came up dry."
If you are into apocalypse fiction, this is a pretty solid book. It even has some ash rain from the sky - once! If you like your sci-fi to be full of space, and techno gimmicks, this is definitely not it. And: no zombies, and no aliens. PS: If you always fall for the dangerous hero, you'll like Angel. I promise.
Another vividly imagined broken future, here focusing on water depletion and drought. Bacigalupi spins another tense thriller that at times feels it has shades of Gibson in it. Bacigalupi's excursions into sexual abuse feels gratuitous, though, and detracts from the tautness of the story.
I'm having trouble with this book. The author seems to be interested in bringing back scenes of poverty and climate change to the US. Saying to the readers, "This could be you and your children." Maybe he's trying to hard. Maybe I've read to many of his stories. I'm starting to lose interest. I'm 20% into this book and thinking about putting it down permanently.
Hits pretty close to home here in Reno, 4 years into drought and Tesla booting up east of town. The vision is amazing. The sex and violence are overdone for my taste, but it seems like subtlety is out of favor these days in those departments.
