The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher

Title: The Water Wars
Author: Cameron Stracher
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Incorporated
Acquired: Bought
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 83% or B-
Buy It: Amazon

Welcome to a future where water is more precious than oil or gold...

Hundreds of millions of people have already died, and millions more will soon fall-victims of disease, hunger, and dehydration. It is a time of drought and war. The rivers have dried up, the polar caps have melted, and drinkable water is now in the hands of the powerful few. There are fines for wasting it and prison sentences for exceeding the quotas.

But Kai didn't seem to care about any of this. He stood in the open road drinking water from a plastic cup, then spilled the remaining drops into the dirt. He didn't go to school, and he traveled with armed guards. Kai claimed he knew a secret-something the government is keeping from us...

And then he was gone. Vanished in the middle of the night. Was he kidnapped? Did he flee? Is he alive or dead? There are no clues, only questions. And no one can guess the lengths to which they will go to keep him silent. We have to find him-and the truth-before it is too late for all of us.

My Thoughts::
I bought this book a while back with my Christmas money because I've had my eye on it. I always try to get the most out of my money, but I also wanted to make sure I got some books that I felt I really needed to read. I've heard good things about this book, and the premise really appealed to me. Buuuut it got pushed behind review books until recently.

For some reason once again I had it in my head that the book was supposed to be about something slightly different, but that is most likely due to having not read the description or anything about the book for about 6 months. Eventually I got used to what the book was ACTUALLY about. I think I would have enjoyed the first half of the book more if I didn't expect something different to be happening. But once I got over that hurdle, the book became much more enjoyable.

I love every kind of dystopian or post apocalyptic world but this is always intensified when I can imagine it actually happening. Maybe not all of the technology seemed possible yet, but the problem seemed  eerily capable of happening. Just that possibility made the book come to life in my mind. My mouth grew thirsty as I read, and I could sense the desperation of the character's. Even though the different groups of people viewed things in varied ways, it was all sort of twisted you weren't really sure they knew what the problem really was. Which really hit home because there is always a lot of time of trying to fix things, but never actually addressing the issue.

Overall I think that Stracher did a great job of opening up a world. Dull moments were few and far between. The characters varies and had distinct personalities, changing as the book progressed.