THE WATER WARS by Cameron Stracher

The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

(from Goodreads)
Vera and her brother, Will, live in the shadow of the Great Panic, in a country that has collapsed from environmental catastrophe. Water is hoarded by governments, rivers are dammed, and clouds are sucked from the sky. But then Vera befriends Kai, who seems to have limitless access to fresh water. When Kai suddenly disappears, Vera and Will set off on a dangerous journey in search of him-pursued by pirates, a paramilitary group, and greedy corporations. Timely and eerily familiar, acclaimed author Cameron Stracher makes a stunning YA debut that's impossible to forget.

I was excited when I first got this book because the story sounded really good and the cover is awesome! But then I read the book and became disappointed.

I am not saying that this book isn't worth reading, because I am sure others will surely love it. I though, had to give it 3 stars because there was just something missing from it and it just fell kind of flat to me.

This story is set in the future, although I don't know exactly when, and water is very scarce. There are no more "states", but instead "republics" and there is a war going on.

Two teenagers, Vera and Will (brother and sister), meet a new kid one day and after only hanging out with him for a short time he turns up missing. Vera has the bright idea to go looking for him because certain things point to something bad that possibly happened to him. (why would a teenager who hardly knows someone risk her life for them?)...and her brother Will agrees.

This idea of theirs ends up turning into a not so good thing, and before they know it, they are kidnapped by two different types of people, almost drowned, shot at and in the middle of a war of sorts with other people.
There is definitely non stop action in this book and it seems that every chapter has something new going on, but it all happens over the course of one (or a few) days and because of this things seem to happen really fast and there doesn't seem to be too much substance to anything.
The story is about people fighting for water, but it doesn't seems to hit the mark on that. I wish that this story was more in depth and stayed focused a little longer on certain elements of the story.

As for characters...I didn't really like Vera's character because she literally was a no body, but she is put up like she is a huge hero, when she really didn't do much. I started to like Kai (their friend who went missing), but he wasn't in the story that much and Will wasn't too bad. I think the character I liked the best was Ulysses...a pirate who took Vera and Will under his wing....

All in all, not a book I would read again and one I will soon forget I am sure, but like I said before, I am sure others will enjoy this book.

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