Where Canada is Evil, and Water is Precious

The new Young Adult novel The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher is a thriller for any age, offering an acute and harrowing vision of a future not so far away. The world has run out of potable water and those territories in control of the few remaining fresh water sources — the republic of Minnesota and the very evil Canadians — hold power over all of North America, challenged only by the giant conglomerate Bluewater , corporate desalinators of the world who turn sea water into something barely drinkable and pollute the oceans with the byproducts of their evil process.

Told from the point of view of Vera (an engagingly innocent and yet surprisingly tough young teen) Stracher first sets up his new world for us with landscape so well-rendered that I felt myself growing more and more thirsty by the minute, and then plunges us into an exciting battle between the water-haves and the have-nots, where the entire future of the continent is at stake. Vera, her brother Will, and their mysterious friend Kai must battle it out against pirates, anarchists, child slave traders, corporate evil-mongers, and power-drunk governments in order to save their families — and their world — from desiccation and annihilation.

Fast-paced and exciting, The Water Wars satisfies like a long tall glass of cold water on a hot, dry day — and will leave you thirsty for more.