“The Water Knife” by Paolo Bacigulapi – The Dry States of America

Water: the essence of life. While at first sight the Earth seems to be more than abundantly covered in it, countless people on Earth find themselves struggling against thirst and mother nature's consistent droughts.

In the back of our heads we may know the day won't come very soon, but we still fear the moment when water becomes scarce for all of Earth's citizens. Will the world devolve into utter chaos like many works of literature predict?

In The Water Knife, Paolo Bacigulapi offers to share his own perspective on the matter, setting his story in a not-so-distant future, one where the entire American Southwest has fallen victim to unprecedented droughts, making water the most valuable and scarce of all commodities.

Needless to say, the rich wasted no time in establishing their monopoly, and needless to say, they aren't putting it to the use of the common good. Meet Angel Velasquez, a detective working for a Nevada water corporation who is sent to Phoenix in order to investigate a most startling rumor: a new and abundant source of water is found.

Of course, the journey there is riddled with dangers and perils, as well as new companions in the form of a rugged journalist and a young migrant with hopeful dreams of her own. In the end, very few things are what they seem to be and conspiracy is the name of the game.

To begin this review, let me say that the way I saw it, there are two main aspects to The Water Knife. To begin with, there is the thrilling science-fiction story that goes along rather quickly and doesn't shy away from throwing twists and turns at you like it's nobody's business.

The mystery surrounding the fabled water source really draws you in as bits and pieces of information come to light, slowly changing the big picture until it becomes completely unrecognizable.

The three main characters actually have a rather interesting dynamic between themselves, with their personalities, drives, motivations and ambitions being different, but in a way so as to complement each other. In terms of excitement and entertainment, it seems Bacigulapi really pulled out the big guns, and it works like a charm.

Now, going beyond the thrilling story that makes it hard to notice anything else, the book also seems to be a thought experiment, a study of a potential future which awaits humankind.

The author takes great care in establishing this world for us and explaining how different things work, which mechanisms humanity has established in order to cope with the problem it is facing.

As a result, Bacigulapi creates world that is rather familiar to ours, but with a heightened sense of danger and violence, one where the survival of the fittest is the reigning law.

In the end, it even ends up being a meditation on human nature and how much we value personal comfort versus the general good, especially when we are distanced from the consequences of our decisions.

All in all, The Water Knife is an excellent piece of dystopian science-fiction, one that works on multiple levels and showcases the author's genius in all of its colors as he carries you through an exciting adventure the first time around and really gets you thinking on the second one. Recommended to all fans of the genre.

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Paolo Bacigalupi Paolo Bacigalupi is an American author of science-fiction and fantasy stories, and is the winner of the Hugo, Nebula, Theodore Sturgeon, Compton Crook and Michael L. Printz awards. His debut novel, The Windup Girl, is what earned him three of those.