Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Dystopia Publication.Date January 1st 2011 Pages: 240 Published By: Sourcebook Fire | Website Cameron Stracher | The Water Wars - Goodreads My review copy: Review copy received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Where to get: Barnes and Noble | Amazon | Book Depository
Welcome to a future where water is more precious than gold 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. Timely and eerily familiar, acclaimed author Cameron Stracher makes a stunning YA debut that's impossible to forget.
"Let us pray that the world which Cameron Stracher has invented in The Water Wars is testament solely to his pure, wild, and brilliant imagination, and not his ability to see the future. I was parched just reading it."-Laurie David, academy award winning producer of An Inconvenient Truth, and author of The Down to Earth Guide to Global Warming
(goodreads.com)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. Timely and eerily familiar, acclaimed author Cameron Stracher makes a stunning YA debut that's impossible to forget.
"Let us pray that the world which Cameron Stracher has invented in The Water Wars is testament solely to his pure, wild, and brilliant imagination, and not his ability to see the future. I was parched just reading it."-Laurie David, academy award winning producer of An Inconvenient Truth, and author of The Down to Earth Guide to Global Warming
We lived then in time of drought and war. The great empires had fallen and been divided. The land was parched and starved for moisture, and the men who lived on it fought for every drop.
Out tongues were like thick snakes asleep in dark graves.
"A butterfly beating its wings over Basin today," Mrs. D. said "can change tomorrow's weather two thousand kilometers away."
In a pinch I could drink tap water, but that could really make a person sick. The hospitals wouldn't even treat a patient who drank tap water; they claimed it was a "self inflicted" injury.
In his most recent novel, Cameron Stracher paints a vivid picture of what the world could become if the water shortage were to occur. It's a realistic and terrifyingly plausible scenario that will definitely make you reflect on many political and economical issues of modern times. The Water Wars is a dark and disturbing environmental thriller. It carries a profound message that will resonate with readers.
Cameron Stracher created a breathtakingly grim and horrifying reality. A world almost completely deprived of water. Or with not enough water left for people to live normally. Just the idea of that makes me instantly thirsty and, frankly, I can't imagine anything more horrible than dying from thirst. In fact, that's exactly what happened in the world created by Stracher. Hundreds of millions of people have died due to dehydration. There is no free access to drinking water anymore. Lakes, rivers, ponds.. everything have dried up and now the only source of drinking water is controlled by the government. The government gets to decide how much water you get per week. They can also send you to jail for wasting it, even if its just a few spilled drops.
Vera and Will get by just fine on the Government assigned rations. Sure, they sometimes have to survive a day or two without drinking anything, and even the water they get to drink, the one provided by The Water Authority, isn't anything like the fresh water in old days - it's a desalinated ocean water that tastes of chemicals and something burned. That is all they have, though, they can either drink it or die. Many people, including their mother, get sick and no one can tell whether it's the water, the air, or something else. Will, however, is convinced that it's something in the water that is making people ill. When they meet Kai, a mysterious boy who seems to have access to fresh water, they're intrigued and hopeful. Before they can learn his secret, though, Kai disappears. Moreover, evidence point to him being kidnapped! Vera and Will decide to find him. That, however, proves to be 100 times more difficult and more dangerous than they expected!
May I be absolutely and painfully honest? (Permission granted? Alright then...) I wanted to love this book so much. It seemed like s thrilling, profoundly meaningful read with a fascinating premise and well-thought out plot line. And then there was this drool inducing quote at the cover, suggesting this book to be "a rousing adventure in the tradition of The Hunger Games" and yes, I drool at every mention of Suzanne Collins' fabulous trilogy. Maybe it was the totally missed comparison that took away the pleasure of reading this book, maybe I just expected something totally different, or maybe I just had a bad week or something. I don't know. I just can't help to feel slightly disappointed with this read. What promised to be another brilliant and ground-shaking dystopia, turned out to be more of a bitter political rant. Well written, interesting and meaningful, but a rant nevertheless. I absolutely loved the premise and found this book to be utmost brilliantly written. Intelligent, thought-provoking, disquieting and often scary. But I would never in a thousand years compare it to Hunger Games or any other YA dystopian story. Why? Because, in my opinion, it should not have been written as a Young Adult in the first place. It didn't have the typical YA feel to it. The parts where author tried to convince us that he wrote a book for teens where not convincing enough. Sadly, they felt forced and awkward. It often felt as if Cameron Stracher had to hold back to fit the story into YA frames. I felt there was so much more he wanted to say, but had to bite his tongue, make it look nicer than it was so that the kids wouldn't get scared too much. I have a feeling I would enjoy this story so much more if only it was an adult book!
I had a hard time connecting with the characters and ended up not caring about what will happen to them. Their actions seemed quite random and, well, weirdly motivated. Would I risk everything for someone I just met? Probably not. One might argue they weren't really interested in helping Kai, maybe they just wanted to save him because he held the secret to fresh water source. I guess that would make sense, considering they needed water badly for their sick mother and themselves. But at the same time I didn't feel like they needed it at all. I didn't pick up any stronger emotions coming from Vera and Will, no heartbreaking thirst, no burning desire to save Kai. They didn't seem overly concern with their mother's well-being either. Their emotions were flat, gray, non-existent. They didn't know Kai well enough to care about him. They met him how many times? Twice? There was no reason for this weird rescue mission at all.
The storyline is anything but fast-moving. I found it to be quite slow, even dragging at times. It's not necessary a bad thing, I kind of liked it that way. The narrative voice seemed quite authoritative and wise, which was one of the things that made me feel that it shouldn't have been a YA book. There is some action, though, and quite a few moments when I actually shifted uncomfortably in my chair, so yes, you could say the story was quite gripping. Once you get past the bland characters and their arbitrary choices, you get quite an interesting and compelling book. Not exactly a page-turner or a wild thrill ride, but definitely a solid, absorbing, well thought-out and intriguing read. The Water Wars' power lays in its strong scientific basis and the fact that a scenario like this one could easily be part of our own future. It's a book worth reading.
Cameron Stracher created a breathtakingly grim and horrifying reality. A world almost completely deprived of water. Or with not enough water left for people to live normally. Just the idea of that makes me instantly thirsty and, frankly, I can't imagine anything more horrible than dying from thirst. In fact, that's exactly what happened in the world created by Stracher. Hundreds of millions of people have died due to dehydration. There is no free access to drinking water anymore. Lakes, rivers, ponds.. everything have dried up and now the only source of drinking water is controlled by the government. The government gets to decide how much water you get per week. They can also send you to jail for wasting it, even if its just a few spilled drops.
Vera and Will get by just fine on the Government assigned rations. Sure, they sometimes have to survive a day or two without drinking anything, and even the water they get to drink, the one provided by The Water Authority, isn't anything like the fresh water in old days - it's a desalinated ocean water that tastes of chemicals and something burned. That is all they have, though, they can either drink it or die. Many people, including their mother, get sick and no one can tell whether it's the water, the air, or something else. Will, however, is convinced that it's something in the water that is making people ill. When they meet Kai, a mysterious boy who seems to have access to fresh water, they're intrigued and hopeful. Before they can learn his secret, though, Kai disappears. Moreover, evidence point to him being kidnapped! Vera and Will decide to find him. That, however, proves to be 100 times more difficult and more dangerous than they expected!
May I be absolutely and painfully honest? (Permission granted? Alright then...) I wanted to love this book so much. It seemed like s thrilling, profoundly meaningful read with a fascinating premise and well-thought out plot line. And then there was this drool inducing quote at the cover, suggesting this book to be "a rousing adventure in the tradition of The Hunger Games" and yes, I drool at every mention of Suzanne Collins' fabulous trilogy. Maybe it was the totally missed comparison that took away the pleasure of reading this book, maybe I just expected something totally different, or maybe I just had a bad week or something. I don't know. I just can't help to feel slightly disappointed with this read. What promised to be another brilliant and ground-shaking dystopia, turned out to be more of a bitter political rant. Well written, interesting and meaningful, but a rant nevertheless. I absolutely loved the premise and found this book to be utmost brilliantly written. Intelligent, thought-provoking, disquieting and often scary. But I would never in a thousand years compare it to Hunger Games or any other YA dystopian story. Why? Because, in my opinion, it should not have been written as a Young Adult in the first place. It didn't have the typical YA feel to it. The parts where author tried to convince us that he wrote a book for teens where not convincing enough. Sadly, they felt forced and awkward. It often felt as if Cameron Stracher had to hold back to fit the story into YA frames. I felt there was so much more he wanted to say, but had to bite his tongue, make it look nicer than it was so that the kids wouldn't get scared too much. I have a feeling I would enjoy this story so much more if only it was an adult book!
I had a hard time connecting with the characters and ended up not caring about what will happen to them. Their actions seemed quite random and, well, weirdly motivated. Would I risk everything for someone I just met? Probably not. One might argue they weren't really interested in helping Kai, maybe they just wanted to save him because he held the secret to fresh water source. I guess that would make sense, considering they needed water badly for their sick mother and themselves. But at the same time I didn't feel like they needed it at all. I didn't pick up any stronger emotions coming from Vera and Will, no heartbreaking thirst, no burning desire to save Kai. They didn't seem overly concern with their mother's well-being either. Their emotions were flat, gray, non-existent. They didn't know Kai well enough to care about him. They met him how many times? Twice? There was no reason for this weird rescue mission at all.
The storyline is anything but fast-moving. I found it to be quite slow, even dragging at times. It's not necessary a bad thing, I kind of liked it that way. The narrative voice seemed quite authoritative and wise, which was one of the things that made me feel that it shouldn't have been a YA book. There is some action, though, and quite a few moments when I actually shifted uncomfortably in my chair, so yes, you could say the story was quite gripping. Once you get past the bland characters and their arbitrary choices, you get quite an interesting and compelling book. Not exactly a page-turner or a wild thrill ride, but definitely a solid, absorbing, well thought-out and intriguing read. The Water Wars' power lays in its strong scientific basis and the fact that a scenario like this one could easily be part of our own future. It's a book worth reading.
Thanks to the fabulous
SOURCEBOOKS FIRE
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This review is posted as a part of the MEN in YA event (Nov 20th - Dec 20th)
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About the AuthorEvie is the Blogger behind Bookish. She enjoys reading many different genres, especially YA, Paranormal, Contemporary Fiction and Fantasy.She loves talking to authors and is always happy to welcome them for interviews, and guest posts. She also likes spreading the love for awesome books and chatting with fellow book-worms.
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