The Water Knife

A very strong starter. Bacigalupi has constructed (revealed? I'd like to hope not) a near-future vision of inter-state water wars in the southwest United States. It's (readers of his previous works will not be surprised) grim, vivid, and plausible enough to frighten.

I was immediately drawn into the world, and into the characters: Angel, Lucy, and Maria were all interesting. And felt like they had some history and depth. The women seemed strong and cared about more than just the men. There was a great balance of action and hard science, the latter of which seemed very well done, providing a great warning and backdrop to the story. I thought we were on the way to a 5-star book.

In the end, it fell off a little. It remained interesting, and I was eagerly reading right until the end. I wanted to see how things turned out. Unfortunately, I was derailed by a few things.

1. The sex scenes. There were a couple major ones, and while one fit within the story, another grated. It was a little superfluous, I thought, and impractical given the actors' physical conditions. and the choking aspect repelled me.
2. Of course the rights were in the book. Very strongly telegraphed. And why weren't they ruined by the soaking? And why was whatsisname giving the book away anyhow?
3. Toward the end, the book devolved (mostly) into a series of firefights and explosions and chases and whatnot, like every action movie.
4. How did Angel get medical treatment? From whom?

Anyhow. Do pick it up, for the thrill of the read and for cool watery science ideas. But be prepared to read faster and faster as you get near the end.