The Water Knife
written by Paolo Bacigalupi
www.ink2quill.com

“The Water Knife” is a sci-fi, dystopian, action packed novel that paints a disturbing picture of the North American southwest in the not-too-distant future. This is the author´s latest book and many of the elements that made his previous success, “The Windup Girl”, (and check out my Windup Girl revisited blog)are also in this story. when I walked into my favorite sci-fi bookstore and asked them for a good read they suggested Paolo Bacigalupi´s latest work. I can always count on their suggestions and “The Water Knife” is no exception. It´s a little too soon for the critics to have thoroughly digested it yet but let me tell you that it´s a good read. After reading “The Water Knife” you can´t help but ask yourself if this dry world of scarcity and ruthless competition, Paolo has created, is where we´re headed.

Paolo Bacigalupi website:

“The Water Knife” takes place in the North American southwest and deals with a future society were water is a very scarce resource and the powerful commit all kinds of crimes, including murder, to get it. Nevada, California and even the country of Mexico are the places were this story takes place and where the characters come from. The power struggles at the top of North American society is a jumbled mess of ruthless behavior where the states of Nevada and California are both trying to grab as much water as they can from the Colorado River or any other water source. You also have Chinese interests building arcology developments and offering the only available work in the area. This is a dry and dusty world where so many live on the fringes of a shrinking economy plagued by scarcity. Many are forced to scavenge, steal or beg in this part of the world. The once prosperous North American society has devolved with regions that resemble an underdeveloped country. In this dystopian society everyone fights over water the way countries do now with oil.

The main character of the story is Angel Velasquez and he is what´s called a `water knife´. They are assassins, spies, detectives and thieves all rolled into one and they work for organisations on all matters concerning water. Angel is basically a bad guy doing bad things for a powerful person. In Angel´s case he works for a woman name Catherine Case who´s best described as a water mogul or even water baron. She´s a very dangerous kingpin. Along the way he meets a journalist named Lucy Monroe and eventually a migrant named Maria Villarosa.

This story brings the ruthless international struggle for resources into a level of society where all are affected and the largest group of people, the poor suffer the worst. This isn´t a society where people cooperate and civil liberties have gone out the window in most parts of the country if not the world. It´s a society where the veneer of civility is gone for everybody.

This story is exciting and states an obvious fact that most of us take for granted everyday. The fact is that water, clean and drinkable water, is the most important resource we have, second only to the air we breath. In a world were there isn´t enough clean water or it is hoarded be criminals there can never be a good standard of living. Anyone who says otherwise is deluding themselves.

I really enjoyed “The Water Knife”. The characters are desperate and flawed and the ending was not at all predictable.

(Commentary by  www.ink2quill.com )
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