The Water Knife
The American Southwest has been decimated by drought. Nevada and Arizona skirmish over dwindling shares of the Colorado River, while California watches, deciding if it should just take the whole river all for itself. Into the fray steps Las Vegas water knife Angel Velasquez. Detective, assassin, and spy, Angel "cuts" water for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, ensuring that lush, luxurious arcology developments can bloom in the desert and that anyone who challenges her is left in the gutted-suburban dust. When water is more valuable than gold, alliances shift like sand, and the only truth in the desert is that someone will have to bleed if anyone hopes to drink. Decimated by drought, Nevada and Arizona skirmish over dwindling shares of the Colorado River, while California watches, waiting. Into the fray steps Las Vegas water knife Angel Velasquez, who "cuts" water for the Southern Nevada Water Authority and its boss, Catherine Case, ensuring that her lush, luxurious arcology developments can bloom in the desert and that anyone who challenges her is left in the gutted-suburban dust. He becomes a pawn in a game far bigger, more corrupt, and dirtier than he could have imagined.
Stats for nerds
40recommend
72mentions
61people
2015–2025years
67% recommend31% neutral3% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Saw this on a social network with a mention of Paolo Bacigalupi's "The water knife", which is a great scifi book about a future with water wars.
- The Water Knife is a fun fiction book about exactly this.
The synopsis is that in the near-future water in the west is SCARCE and there are dueling factions (NGOs, state governments, criminals) fighting legally and physically over water, including digging through old libraries and government offices for water right contracts that may be older than the known ones to usurp the standing owner's right.
- "The Water Knife" by Paolo Bacigalupi
- A harrowing near-future dystopian tale, definitely worth a read. His "Windup Girl" is better; "Ship Breaker" is like a YA version of Windup Girl, IMHO. His "Water Knife" is also quite interesting, imagining a future where climate change has dried up water supply to the southwestern US, and the states have militarized against each other.
- Have read Bacigalupi’s The Water Knife[1], Tool of War[2], and The Tangled Lands[3]. Recommended!
[1]: https://booko.us/w/7764514/The-Water-Knife_by_Paolo-Bacigalu...
[2]: https://booko.us/w/9720770/Tool-of-War_by_Paolo-Bacigalupi
[3]: https://booko.us/w/9323748/The-Tangled-Lands_by_Paolo-Baciga...*
- The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi. Exactly that story and wonderfully done. Essentially a horror story for someone living in California etc.
