In this century wars will not be fought over oil, as in the past, but over water. The situation is becoming desperate. The world’s water is strained by population growth. There is no more fresh water on earth than two thousand years ago when the population was three percent of its current size.

Oof.

Serpent started us down the road of an alternative to Dirk Pitt with the NUMA Files. It wasn’t the best book, but it’s a solid enough adventure story.

Unfortunately, Blue Gold is significantly weaker. The main plot revolves around ‘Blue Gold’ (it’s water), a mysterious organization buying up everything they can get their hands on, super awesome new desalination technology, and … apparently a woman stuck for a decade in the Amazon?

Characterwise, I do enjoy Austin and Zavala enough, especially Zavala. They’re not Dirk and Al, but they’re close enough (which is still honestly a bit weird). The Trouts are a lot of fun and a great addition to the team, but their plot here is weird and takes a while to tie in.

It’s … fine. But I hope they get better. Onward!

Side note: my absolute favorite phrase of the book (now completely without context):

… blasted to blubbery smithereens …

😄