"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.