Paolo Bacigalupi's The Water Knife

note to readers - due to many life events I have neglected this blog - but I am back...

Pulp of the Week or Year???

First up with the book blogs is a very timely novel...

The Water Knife

by

Paolo Bacaclupi

Having previously read Bacigalupi's debut classic, The Windup Girl, I was interested in reading his follow up. As with his first novel, there is an ecological element to this book. In this case he explores life in this post global warming near future. The book follows two women with radically different lives. All of the major cities in the southwest have built massive arcologies to house the upper classes. Everyone else is on their own, surviving by scavenging the ruins of the former Phoenix suburbs.

One of the characters is Lucy Monroe, a reporter in the Phoenix Arc that heads out chasing a story about a new water source. The other woman is Maria Villarosa, a migrant who is dreaming of esca[ping to the north, where life is said to be easier, and water is plentiful. The third character is the 'water knife' that is looking for a big score. The water knives are black marketers in water, buying and selling for a profit. These characters are all on a collision course testing their smarts, loyality, and grit. This one of the rare great novels that could be a truely great movie. At a smidge less than 400 pages it was a quick (largely due to me reading it in every spare moment) and rewarding read  that is a solid follow up to Bacigalupis' equally great The Windup Girl.

Check it out - I give The Water Knife a solid 9+ out of 10.