The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher

Title: Water Wars

Author: Cameron Stracher

Series: Stand Alone

Pages: 240

Published: Available now from Sourcebooks

ISBN: 9781402243691

Source: Sent for review

 

Description:  Welcome to a future where water is more precious than golf or oil - and worth killing for.  Vera and her brother, Will, live in the shadow of the Great Panic, in a country that has collapsed from environmental catastrophe. Water is hoarded by governments, rivers are dammed, and clouds are sucked from the sky. But then Vera befriends Kai, who seems to have limitless access to fresh water. When Kai suddenly disappears, Vera and Will set off on a dangerous journey in search of him-pursued by pirates, a paramilitary group, and greedy corporations. 

I Give This ...

 

I knew when I accepted this book that it was getting overall mixed reviews.  I wanted to read it any because I was really intrigued by the story line.  I ended up liking it ok, but add my thoughts to the mixed bag.

I really liked the idea of the world running out of water.  The way everything is run seems very believable to me and not a life I would want.  I thought it was interesting how the US has separated and how each area basically takes care of their own.  The way the area that Vera's lives in was described really gave me a new appreciation for my cold glass of water and my hot bath.

But sadly, I really didn't feel anything for the characters.  I didn't dislike Vera at all, but I didn't really get her obsession with finding Kai.  There friendship didn't feel developed enough to warrant that kind of devotion.  Plus, the poor kids never seemed to catch a break.  I felt like the constant danger was driving the story forward when it didn't have to be that way.

In the end, I wasn't surprised that it was one greedy corporation that was causing all the problems and controlling everything.  What I didn't understand was if there really was water hiding someplace or not.  There seemed to be a piece of the story missing.  Also, totally irrelevant to the story, but I found it almost laughable that it was the Canadians that were to blame.  They caused all the environmental problems that caused the ice caps to melt and the water to go bad.  And then they controlled all the precious little good water.  For some reason, I just didn't buy that, so the rest of the story didn't flow right for me.