The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher sounded awesome. Set in a dystopic future where there isn't enough water for everyone, and only the truly rich and powerful are even able to obtain pure water, the book sounded like an awesome read. I love dystopian fiction and thought the idea of a world without enough water was plausible enough to truly be scary. However, the reality of the story didn't live up to my expectations.
Don't get me wrong. There was a lot to like about the story. But the most important aspects of the story, the relationships between the characters and how they interact within their world never felt fully realistic, or solid to me.
One day while waiting for the school bus, Vera meets Kai and sees him wasting a few drops of what is obviously fresh water. It's pretty obvious he's from a wealthy family, but he becomes friends with Vera and her brother Will anyway. We are told that they chat at the bus stop nearly every day, and that when possible, they hang out. Then, one day, Kai vanishes and Vera is certain he's been kidnapped. Given that his apartment (which they snuck into) has been ransacked, and the insulin for his diabetes was left behind, they have a pretty solid reason to suspect something sinister. Their narrow escape from the evil guys in suits who enter Kai's apartment was a little too easy, and they make off with the meticulous (although slightly coded) notes of Kai's father, a water driller. Seeing something in the papers, they set out to find Kai.
Although there are some parts of the story that don't really work for me (ahem... Vera and Kai's first kiss. Lamest first kiss ever, which definitely did not fit into the proper flow of the story) but up to this point, I'm willing to believe it. I can definitely understand wanting to find your friend, and could have seen a younger me go off searching. But, once they realize that Kai is not where the only lead they have takes them, Will is ready to go home, but Vera is adamant that they keep searching. And, I didn't buy it. They have very little food or money, their transportation just fell apart, meaning they have no idea how to get home across the scorching desert, let alone keep going, and I really didn't feel like they spent enough time with Kai, even with Vera's kiss, to warrant that extreme of a reaction within Vera.
And then, none of the characters that come later are at all believable. Some are around for such a small amount of time that I seriously wondered why they were included at all. The 'villian' was a rude jerk to whom the author added 'fangs and claws', kind of like little kids who put in those fake vampire teeth and think they are scary. We were supposed to believe he was this hard-core bad nasty, but I just thought he was kind of a jerk. Definitely not someone to inspire too much fear.
I also thought that the pacing of the novel was off. There were no segues, no real transitions. We went from this, to that, to this, to this, and on and on. There was never anything to bridge the distances and I found myself rolling my eyes more times than is good in a novel supposed to instill fear of the future.
Ultimately, I felt no connection to the characters or their predicament. And then, when the ending is revealed, and all is understood I felt a little cheated. It was not explained well enough, and the conflict was resolve far too easily. Without giving away the ending, I'm just going to say that there is no way the main bad guys would have given up so easily.
I really wanted to love this book, but there were just too many things missing. However, I do think this was an enjoyable read. I don't regret it at all, and will probably read any follow ups Stracher releases. (I'm assuming there will be more, because there always are). Stracher has a lot of potential as a writer. The idea here was solid, but the execution needs a little more work.
*Disclaimer: Received through Around the World Tours.