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How long does it take to read The Water Knife?

Paolo Bacigalupi, Almarie Guerra

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi, Almarie Guerra takes about 7 hours 2 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 7 hours 2 minutes

A weekend read

First published 2015. 384 pages, about 105,600 words.

15 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 11 hours 44 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 7 hours 2 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 4 hours 24 minutes

The page count is the median across 12 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

The American Southwest has been decimated by drought. Nevada and Arizona skirmish over dwindling shares of the Colorado River, while California watches, deciding if it should just take the whole river all for itself. Into the fray steps Las Vegas water knife Angel Velasquez. Detective, assassin, and spy, Angel "cuts" water for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, ensuring that lush, luxurious arcology developments can bloom in the desert and that anyone who challenges her is left in the gutted-suburban dust. When water is more valuable than gold, alliances shift like sand, and the only truth in the desert is that someone will have to bleed if anyone hopes to drink. Decimated by drought, Nevada and Arizona skirmish over dwindling shares of the Colorado River, while California watches, waiting. Into the fray steps Las Vegas water knife Angel Velasquez, who "cuts" water for the Southern Nevada Water Authority and its boss, Catherine Case, ensuring that her lush, luxurious arcology developments can bloom in the desert and that anyone who challenges her is left in the gutted-suburban dust. He becomes a pawn in a game far bigger, more corrupt, and dirtier than he could have imagined.

Subjects: Water rights, Droughts, Fiction, Fiction, thrillers, general, Fiction, dystopian, Fiction, science fiction, general

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