A review by tome15
Water Witch by Connie Willis, Cynthia Felice
4.0
Willis, Connie, and Cynthia Felice. Water Witch. Ace, 1996.
Connie Willis is always a class act who finds new ways to treat traditional genre material. Water Witch would seem at first to be pure fantasy, but we gradually realize that all the seemingly paranormal elements are really bits of far future tech. A father-daughter team is running a game on the Tycoon (it seems to be an official title) in a desert city. The daughter pretends to be a princess with a paranormal gift of water divination. But then the game goes sour, and the plot thickens in unexpected ways. Characters are surprisingly nuanced, and the story has several satisfying twists. Fun.
Connie Willis is always a class act who finds new ways to treat traditional genre material. Water Witch would seem at first to be pure fantasy, but we gradually realize that all the seemingly paranormal elements are really bits of far future tech. A father-daughter team is running a game on the Tycoon (it seems to be an official title) in a desert city. The daughter pretends to be a princess with a paranormal gift of water divination. But then the game goes sour, and the plot thickens in unexpected ways. Characters are surprisingly nuanced, and the story has several satisfying twists. Fun.