Review: The Water Wars

Title: The Water Wars
Author: Cameron Stracher
Pages: 240
Published: 2011

Summary: 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.

Review: While I have to admit that the main reason that I picked this book up was for the cover (I am such a sucker for a wonderful or exotic looking cover), that was not the reason I chose to read it. The description of the book, mainly the part about Kai and his complete disregard to the need to save water, was the reason that I was so determined to sit down and read this book.

The Water Wars's concept of a future dystopian world where countries will be fighting over who owns what water supply and where they're going to get their water from is something that I can really see happening, and that was a main thing that brought me to want to read this book. The concept that in a hundred years or even a thousand years our actual planet could be in this very same sort of situation was intriguing, so I gave it a chance, and while I don't regret giving it a chance, I almost feel like reading this novel was a waste of my time.

The main reason that this novel bothered me was Vera. She was just annoying in my opinion. She and her brother, Will, set off on an adventure to find their missing friend, Kai, and while I understand that that's all well and good, I just couldn't stand her at some points. Another reason that I wasn't a fan of the novel had to do with it being slow at some parts. When you sit back and think about it, it is a good novel, but there were just some points where I had to set the book down and walk away because I was getting too bored with it to actually bother and continue.

The ending, overall, was adequate. The way the novel was ended was cool, with the geyser, but I kind of wish that it had ended there rather than continued on those last few pages because where it could have been a wonderful ending, it lacked a little with the way it was ended. I was glad that Vera and Will's parents got to meet Ulysses and the woman who helped them (whose name I honestly cannot recall at the moment), but I think that it would have been better if that scene had happened in some other way.

I have to say, I did like the book. It just sort of lacked that wow factor that made it an amazing novel, and with the plot line, there really could have been so much more done to it to make it less of a lackluster novel. Regardless of all of that, I would still recommend it to a friend to read, because it is an intriguing novel.

Rating: ★★★ 3/5 Stars