The Water Wars
By Cameron Stracher
Sourcebooks
January 2011
256pp
The Short of It:
The Water Wars is a fast-paced novel geared towards young adults. Its premise is promising… the nation is experiencing a water shortage and it’s left the landscape bone dry. However, as interesting as the story is, the characters take a backseat to the action.  Â
The Rest of It:
Vera and her family struggle to survive on water rations that are modified by desalinization. The removal of salt and minerals is the only way to make salt water palatable and it’s left them weak, Â and in the case of Vera’s mother, ill. One day, Vera meets a boy by the name of Kai. Kai is special in that he lives with the privileged and seems to have access to an unlimited supply of fresh drinking water. His ability to locate fresh water is soon found out and he is kidnapped. Vera and her brother Will trek across the barren landscape in search of Kai and encounter obstacles such as water pirates, government intervention and flash floods from compromised dams.
The premise behind the  book is quite frightening to consider. Stracher does an excellent job setting up the landscape. I could easily visualize the overall dustiness of a land without water. However, the characters, with the exception of Vera, seemed a little flat to me. Vera reminded me a lot of Katniss from The Hunger Games. She is determined and plucky and believable. However, Kai…who is such an important piece of the puzzle seems vacant in some way. Granted, he’s missing for a good chunk of the novel, but when he’s present, he’s not really PRESENT. His personality doesn’t really come through and this made it hard for me to buy the little romance between the two.
As far as action, there’s plenty of it but it didn’t allow a reader to linger with these characters for too long. They were off and running throughout the entire novel. From a tween’s perspective though, I imagine this would be right up their alley. Tweens don’t want to spend ages getting to the main story. They want you to get to the point quickly, and I do feel that Stracher succeeded in doing that. Also, the narrative structure played out like a movie which I think younger readers tend to like when reading a book.
In summary, younger readers (tweens and teens) will enjoy it whereas older readers  might find it lacking.
Source: Sent to me by the publisher.
Book Chatter 
I didn’t know you already read this! It’s sitting near the top of my pile! :–) Actually, I must move it up because the story line sounds a BIT analogous to Ship Breaker and I want to see how they compare.
I started it, thinking that I would email you the next day to tell you that I started it, and then I finished it. I read it in like an hour. I did the same thing with The Hunger Games. It’s a very fast-paced plot. I am on a reading binge right now. If I quickly pick-up a book right after finishing one, I seem to be able to keep the momentum going so I’ve been clearing off my TBR shelf.
p.s. forgot to say, love your review – it’s very well written and tells me just what I need to know!
I agree with Jill, very well-written. There’s been alot of buzz about this book, both good and bad. I thought about getting it for my daughter, but even she is very skeptical of all action/no character development in books. I think I’m rubbing off on her!
This book has been getting a lot of mixed reviews – maybe because it hasn’t been reviewed by the right audience. I agree the premise is frightening.
Agreed as well, very well written. This book sounds a lot like The Hinger Games (which you mentioned as well). Interesting, though!
This one just didn’t appeal to me whatsoever. I would love to have a tween/teen read it and tell me what they thought of it!
I agree with your analysis – it wasn’t deep enough for us older readers, but I’m sure the youngsters will probably like the ride.