Set in a near-future American Southwest, the story follows Angel Velasquez, a hired mercenary for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. As drought collapses civil order, Angel enforces Las Vegas’s water rights by sabotaging the infrastructure of rival cities like Phoenix. The plot centers on the discovery of legendary senior water rights that could bypass existing interstate compacts. Alongside a journalist documenting the humanitarian crisis and a refugee living in the ruins of the suburbs, Angel navigates a landscape where corporate militias and corrupt bureaucracies treat hydration as a weaponized currency.
This book is for readers interested in climate modeling, resource scarcity, and the legal complexities of riparian rights. It attracts those who want to see the logistical consequences of environmental failure applied to geopolitical borders. Readers walk away with a cold understanding of how legal seniority and physical infrastructure determine survival during ecological collapse. It provides a sharp look at how regional identities dissolve when fundamental biological needs are commercialized and protected by private military force.
Outward-looking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Curious Generalist. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2015
- Language
- EN
