bibliomancy

[boxofdelights]

Grab the nearest book, flip to page 117, the second sentence is your life in 2017.

Oh, fuck. The only book on my desk is The Water Knife.

"He was pointing down at the new corpse, the one they'd called Vosovich."

That could have been a lot worse!

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Haven't read The Water Knife. Is it violence bedecked?

[boxofdelights]

It is so violent. And full of rape. Water shortages, and what happens when corporations have more power than governments, are both relevant to my interests, but I still would not have read this book if it weren't for book group.

Thanks for the heads up

[jesse_the_k]

I'd put it on my hold list since the subject matter was also interesting, but given the current climate I'm passing on any optional bad news.

Re: Thanks for the heads up

[isis]

Here is my review (I read it in the summer of 2015):

This started out really really good, but devolved somewhat into bog-standard thriller territory. Bacigalupi lives in Colorado (as do I) and used to write for a regional environmental magazine I subscribe to, and his vision of the future rings unhappily true to my darkest fears.

Unfortunately his sex scenes are typical male-gazey fare, with 'strong women' who seem like they are only strong for pandering purposes (hi, you were just tortured, why are you having sex now with the man who saved you?) and I found his prose style (Dark places. Couldn't stop staring. Mesmerized at the sight) irritating, and the McGuffin was a little hard to believe (water rights aren't like bearer bonds! You have to actually transfer them legally).

Still, I really like the concept! I just wanted more of the worldbuilding and the characters dealing with it, rather than the gunplay and sex. I wanted more wonky legal machinations! Smuggling across the border! High drama! But I can't fault Bacigalupi for writing the book he wanted to write, not the book I wanted to read.

[loligo]

"Figure 3.4 compares the cycle of new account openings for four different regions."

If that means my life is going to be SUPER BORING this year, I am okay with that!