Review: Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

Not a Drop to Drink

Author: Mindy McGinnis
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Genre: YA Dystopian
Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
Release Date: September 24, 2013
Source: Mid-Columbia Libraries
Rating: 4 Stars
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Synopsis from Goodreads:

Regret was for people with nothing to defend, people who had no water.

Lynn knows every threat to her pond: drought, a snowless winter, coyotes, and, most importantly, people looking for a drink. She makes sure anyone who comes near the pond leaves thirsty, or doesn't leave at all.

Confident in her own abilities, Lynn has no use for the world beyond the nearby fields and forest. Having a life means dedicating it to survival, and the constant work of gathering wood and water. Having a pond requires the fortitude to protect it, something Mother taught her well during their quiet hours on the rooftop, rifles in hand.

But wisps of smoke on the horizon mean one thing: strangers. The mysterious footprints by the pond, nighttime threats, and gunshots make it all too clear Lynn has exactly what they want, and they won’t stop until they get it….

With evocative, spare language and incredible drama, danger, and romance, debut author Mindy McGinnis depicts one girl’s journey in a barren world not so different than our own.

My Review:

This book was chillingly realistic. The world has run out of water. In response to the crisis, the government has forced people into the cities, the only place where they provide water: rationed and extremely expensive. Those who don’t want to pay the government’s obscene prices are free to try and make it on their own. But the world outside of the cities is intense and dangerous.

The main character, Lynn, defends her small pond with her life. She isn’t afraid to kill anyone that threatens her home or her water. Her mother taught her to never trust anyone. Shoot to kill, save yourself. Lynn has been very hardened by her upbringing and often comes across as cold. I absolutely loved her character though. She’s tough as nails, but there’s still a human side to her and I loved watching that side develop.

Lynn gets to know her neighbor Stebb and a few other people including a little girl named Lucy. Lucy was definitely my favorite character in this book. She just had that perfect carefree childlike attitude. This girl has been through a lot and I cried for her throughout the book. But she’s also strong. Her smile lights up the dark world she lives in. Lucy really gets Lynn to open up and I think that she really helped Lynn tap into her human side, her softer side.

This book is really dark; don’t think that you’re going to be sitting down for a nice cozy read. There’s lots of blood, lots of death. But the realistic premise of this book is what made it so terrifying. The plot moves extremely quickly and I was always on the edge of my seat waiting for the next horrible thing to happen.

I would have liked a little bit more world-building. We get a brief explanation as to why the world ran out of water, but not really enough to satisfy me. I wanted to know more about the cities and how they worked. But that’s not what the story was about. The fact that I craved this information just goes to show what a great story Mindy McGinnis was able to write. I wanted to stay in the world and learn more.

The only thing I didn’t like was the romance. It was a case of instalove to me that I never really bought and because of that I never really cared about it. But the story was so great that I didn’t really miss a big romance. It was just enough to help Lynn grow without being overbearing to the story.

I really enjoyed this book. It was an interesting dystopian with a unique and realistic concept. There were so many awesome aspects of this book. There were a lot of interesting survival tips in here and I really enjoyed learning about water witching and other survival techniques. A dark post-apocalyptic read that will leave you breathless. Happy reading all!   

Have you read this book? What did you think? Did you want to stay in this world longer like I did? Who was your favorite character?