Overview

Thirsty Animals is set in a near-future Scotland where prolonged drought has made water scarce. Aida returns to her rural family farm with her mother as cities run dry and borders close. When strangers arrive seeking help, the fragile balance of survival and trust fractures under the pressure of thirst and desperation.

Writing & Voice

We found Atalla’s prose vivid and compelling, moving between stark landscape and emotional interior. Her tightening tension and restrained voice make the unfolding crisis feel both intimate and epic, avoiding melodrama while keeping stakes high.

Content & Perspective

The story follows Aida’s perspective as social order frays and resources dwindle. Community bonds, fear of outsiders, and the raw struggle to survive are foregrounded. The narrative pushes us into moral dilemmas about sharing, isolation, and humanity’s base instincts under stress.

Themes

Thirsty Animals explores climate crisis, scarcity, fear of the other, and family. It asks how far we go to protect those we love and what we sacrifice when survival is uncertain. The novel reflects contemporary anxieties about a future shaped by ecological collapse.

What Worked

• Powerful world-building that feels eerily plausible.
• Compelling character focus grounded in survival instincts.
• Taut tension sustained through moral and physical scarcity.

Minor Quibbles

• Some pacing is slow as environmental detail accumulates.
• Close focus on scarcity can feel bleak without relief.

Final Thoughts

We found Thirsty Animals stark and morally tense, using drought and isolation to examine how scarcity strips communities back to fear, instinct, and uneasy choice.

Rating: ★★★★☆ / 5