Memory Of Water
Emmi Itäranta
Harper Voyager, Jun 10 2014, $14.99
ISBN:
9780062326157
The period now
known as the Past World ended with dramatic climate change that started with
fights over oil, but ended with battles over water as the global ice totally
melted. When the Past World died,
humanity adapted to a new earth without oil.
After this Twilight Century of adjustment ended, the present New Qian era
began with China using an iron fist controlling much of Eurasia.
New Qian oversees
the Scandinavian Union; where seventeen years old Noria Kaitio apprentices as a
highly respected tea master.
Understanding the importance of her vocation because tea masters know
the secret water holes, she hopes to be as admired one day as her father by her
villagers. However, when her dad dies,
the military seeks his special spring that provided water to the locals. Noria feels unready as she must choose
between personal safety and challenging the army, government and some villagers.
This is a bleak
future as Emmi Itäranta extrapolates the long term impact of climate change on what
remains of Scandinavia in which water is the prime
commodity. The cautionary speculative
fiction storyline starts slow as the background is established, but once that
is done, the Memory of Water flows at a very fast pace. Teen readers and adults (except deniers) will
appreciate this strong dystopian saga that warns mankind that unless we act now
the world we know will die.
Harriet Klausner
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