The Water Knife: WHEN THE WATER RUNS OUT BLOOD WILL FLOW Paperback – 3 Mar. 2016

Another great read, he imagines possible future scenarios in fantastic and believable detail, as you read you are thinking, yes, it really could turn out like this...In this book water shortages in the southern states in the US are taken to "a" logical conclusion and are the backdrop for a story about love and friendship and expediency.Paolo's books are so good I don't even read the blurb anymore, I just buy them.

This book reads like a warning. It depicts a future where U.S. States fight over rights to water. Borders are closed and corruption is rife. It is a future that feels an out stretched hand away; you can almost touch it. It is a griping thriller with a great cast of characters who, by the end, you really care about. It stayed with me long after I had finished reading it, and I haven't felt the same about drinking a glass of water since.

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. An intelligent look at a very possible future for that part of the world and its geography. The main characters were believable, admirable (no matter what their origins in life) and easy to identify with.

Unfortunately, when you write a book like the Windup Girl, anything else you write will inevitably be held up against it. This book cannot hold that particular flame up. In nearly every aspect this work is narrower and shallower. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it. If I had not read PBs earlier work I would have scored it much higher. A let down.

The author describes a fairly brutal near-future dystopia, which is at least plausible and somewhat grounded in today's reality. The characters are nuanced and while not particularly likeable, interesting enough to keep me reading to the end. The story keeps moving at a decent pace, with smatterings of action, sex, drugs and torture. If it were made into a film it would be an 18 (or R I suppose).

complex, "soon future" SF , could easily e a companion piece to his other works , set in a world troubled by global warming , shifting populations and poverty , this time in south west USA , extrapolating water-wars along ( and for ) the Colorado river . The hero is not a particularly nice guy, there are a lot of morally ambiguous decisions that need to be made , and it's difficult to know who is in the right - as is likely to be the case when this kicks off in earnest. This should be a contender for all sorts of prizes this year , who knows..

I've enjoyed a number of books by this (arguably underrated) author over the years and The Water Knife was no exception. It's not necessarily an easy read with several plot lines running in the early chapters, but the vivid detailing and the grittiness of the two parallel 'worlds' is captured so well. The genre is noted as Science Fiction - I don't think that does it justice, as many of the themes Bacigalupi covers are infinitely imaginable.

interesting premise; what does happen when the water really does run out in the south west of the US? Some quite clever plot devices like that keep it moving. Perhaps a slightly derivative style and some of the lesser imaginings in this SF book are rather familiar from other writers, and the characters can be slightly cardboard cut outs. But overall worth the read, and keeps you reading until the end.

This is an intriguing and futuristic story of water shortage focused several states in the USA that depicts states fighting against one another as well as mafia like organisations to control having more of the scarce river water resources, than their neighbours.The water knife is the main character who is charged by his boss, a woman with no trust or morals to track down an important agreement that would mean greater ownership of water rights.There is lots of adventure and California is depicted as having a CIA type group which is also after this water right and I guess like the CIA anything goes for them.So it's a future story but basically appears to be set around the present times so don't expect science fiction.I did like the way the author built the setting, with the rich on one side able to 'deal' with water shortage by living in I guess you would say gated communities with all the luxury of water recycling and flowing in fountains. While the other majority fights it out to try to get by, basically turning one against another, drinking their own recycled piss if I can crudely say, with some elements of China technical superiority thrown in. Food for thought.

J'ai acheté ce livre parce que j'avais adoré la femme automate.Le style est complètement différent. C'est une prouesse que de savoir se renouveler à ce point.Le livre est visionnaire. RdV dans 20 ans pour vérifier la prévision...

Beginning..not so interesting..but in the end you will feel the rush...good read

I enjoyed this novel by Bacigalupi. He writes a good story with strong female characters. The vision of a future world where global warming has worked its destruction on the world and venal idiocies of the kind we are familiar with in our own world continue is convincingly achieved.

This book had been on my 'to-read' list for a while, in fact ever since I read Bacigalupi's short story 'The Tamarisk Hunter' in the book compilation "I'm With the Bears: Short Stories From a Damaged Planet".In the genre of dystopian cli-fi this book is right up there with the best. Great characters that you actually build a rapport with, a ripping narrative, beautifully evocative scenes of drought, devastation and urban decay, and the emerging realization that there probably aren't going to be a whole lot of happy endings in this tale of greed, corruption and (almost) every person for themselves!Bacigalupi does a brilliant job of creating a near-future world of climate change induced drought in the south-western US, and cleverly brings in existing insights from scientists, journalists and other experts on the precarious nature of water scarcity and the myriad social implications once we exceed planetary tipping points. The generally pessimistic vision of human society in a situation of crisis is, I think, pretty accurate. Our neoliberal, consumer-driven society is far less adaptable to the existential crisis of climate change than popularly assumed, and in reality the transition to lawlessness and civil breakdown will probably be fairly swift (for example, witness how quickly advanced societies have pivoted to authoritarian and degrading immigration policies in recent years - a sign of things to come!).The story itself is grim and violent, and at times reads a bit like a cli-fi version of a hard-boiled crime drama. However, the central characters are well-developed and nuanced with lots of first-person rationalizing and clever multi-perspective plot developments. Amongst the scramble for survival are some surprisingly compassionate actions that ring true (e.g. the unlikely hero or heroine facing insurmountable odds). There is no easy black and white morality in this tale, just plenty of shades of grey. Overall, a grim but compelling vision of our future world and thoroughly recommended.