Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi

3 reviews

sr_marshrat's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

My favorite parts of Bacigalupi's works are his vividly believable dystopian landscapes, harsh predictions about the trajectory of our world if climate change is not addressed. But Water Knife's cautionary drought tale is overshadowed (and accordingly underdeveloped) by a James-Bond-style race-for-highly-valuable-object, rife with violence for shock value and improbable coicindences. What could have been a heart wrenching mystery centering on a tough-skinned orphan is instead a shallow action movie centered around two washed-up, and frankly less engaging, adults.
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mordshunger's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Potent, snappy, depressing and depressingly real. The plot is just a little garnish, an excuse for us to see how all this works, how the people work in this world.

This pairs really terribly well with all the news of Texan heat records being broken, 30+ days with temperatures over 100° Fahrenheit etc etc etc. 

The future is now, and water rights are human rights.
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charlie_borowicz's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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