Confusing and Confuzzled

It is hard to imagine a world where fresh water is not only in short supply, it is almost completely gone, save for one tightly controlled aquifer. In Jonathan Friesen's dystopia, the world will do anything to get the fresh water it needs to stay alive.

Luca knows his fate will eventually make him an Other. As the only son of the Deliverer, he will one day have to take over for his father and travel underground to barter for water from the aquifer. His father doesn't tell him anything about what lies underground, but the rumors of the Rat men are enough to terrify him. While he is a "normal" kid now, once he descends, the community will always think of him as an other: necessary to bring them water, but still disconnected from their own lives. He doesn't look forward to that day, but he knows he must accept his lot in life.

When his father goes missing, supposed to be Undone, Luca's entire life falls apart. He knows his father hid books in their house, and Luca's own desire for the books he can't even read is just as dangerous. But the Amongus aren't just concerned with a boy who has found contraband books. They want the aquifer. Despite generations of negotiations between the Rat men and the Deliverers, they are determined to find the path to the Aquifer even though the knowledge of the journey is only passed from one Deliverer to his replacement. And you should never underestimate people who have nothing left to lose.

First, I must admit I finally gave up on this story and put it away after weeks of trying to finish it. I read over 200 pages of a 300 paged book and just couldn't go on any longer. It's not that the story itself was uninteresting, its just that the characters weren't terribly likable and the story was so confusing with tons of different elements that I just couldn't invest in it. For instance, on the surface, there is a whole layer of the Council installing these meter-type things that calculate how much emotion a person is exerting. If you are too emotional, you could be undone. This whole element is confusing and intricate, but by the time Luca goes underground, it is also completely unnecessary. So why include it? Add to that all the different people who have different, hidden identities. Then the "secret" of what is underground. Finally, ask yourself why no one tried to get to the aquifer without the Deliverer before now. I mean, really? Generations go by and no one thought to follow him or blast the crap out of the mountain to get at it? Then there are the books. This whole description about why books aren't allowed, but it really didn't matter to the story. All these different elements leave the reader confused and uninterested (at least it did to me).

Most importantly, I never cared about Luca. Sure, I felt for the guy occasionally, but he was just not the type of main character I could get behind. In truth, he was uninteresting and flat. Even his interactions with other characters like Seward and Wren fell flat for me. And finally, when he was underground, I thought to myself, "Oh why don't you just drown yourself in the bloody aquifer you ineffectual, personality-less toad!" I got so annoyed with Luca that nothing else in the story really mattered to me. So, I gave up. The story had potential, but it was too bogged down by extraneous elements to really come together and the main character was too wishy washy to get behind. I simply couldn't go on any longer!

When All the Water is Gone...

With such a haunting and beautiful cover, this post-apocalyptic story by Cameron Stracher had a lot to live up to. How do you take a scary scenario and breathe some life into a hopeless world? The Water Wars does it with strong characters who keep you rooting for them through every obstacle and struggle.

Vera and Will live in a world where the water is gone, and with it, life as we know it has gone as well. People survive on genetically modified foods, are given water rations that barely keep them alive, and dream of the days with grass, animals, and rain. When Vera sees the new boy, who rides in a limo and has a bodyguard, pour a cup of water out onto the road, she knows there is something different about Kai. No one wastes water anymore, not when there isn't enough to keep the world alive.

Kai tells Vera and Will about a hidden river, and they can't stop thinking about it. One day, Kai takes Vera to an old abandoned mill where he shows her the water in a hidden aquifer below the surface. Later, when she and Will go to find Kai, they discover his body guard shot and his apartment trashed. Kai is nowhere to be found. Worried about their friend, they take off after him, using his father's notebook they found in the apartment. From the minute they leave their small, dehydrated town, they find themselves on a whirlwind journey that they just barely survive.

Kidnapped by pirates, they are taken out of Illinowa and to Minnestoa. There, environmental terrorists blow a dam that almost kills Vera and Will. Now they find themselves in the hands of the most brutal and greedy group- the environmentalists who destroy the earth just as quickly as the others, if they can make a profit doing so. Just when they think all hope is lost, Ulysses, the pirate leader, comes to their rescue. They continue on their journey to find Kai, but in the meantime, they realize all they knew about their government, the water, and the world is wrong. Now they must rely on the help of outlaws and pirates to get to Kai in time. Can they do it?

This was a really interesting post-apocalyptic tale. Since it was a shorter novel, it would be a good start for a student who is interested in this kind of topic but hasn't read much yet. The writing is fairly simple, and the horror of the story isn't in the language or the gruesomeness, but rather in the sheer possibility of something like this being possible. It would be a good story for any age group, from late elementary students through high school. It is particularly good for older students with lower reading abilities who want a mature subject. The action is non-stop and will keep the attention of any reader.

The beauty of this story is that even when the worst thing possible happens, there is still a way to survive it all and come out on top. Even when Vera or Will were ready to give up, the other one kept them both going, refusing to give up on their friend Kai. Nothing was going to stop these two kids. I also liked the idea that things are not always as they seem. With the pirates and the other outlaws, the ones who you would assume are good people turn out to be horrible and greedy, and the pirates turn out to be pretty good people- Ulysses even risks his life to save the kids. This story will defy all your assumptions and keep you reading until the very end. There is never a dull moment in a world where there isn't enough water.