Not A Drop To Drink by Mindy McGinnis

Not A Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

In the near future there is no water. Many are thirsty because the water is being rationed and hardly anyone can get enough to drink. All Lynn has known in her 16 years is to protect her pond at all costs. That is until her mother dies. Lynn then begins unexpected friendships with her neighbors as they fight to survive against a mutual enemy.

I had heard quite a bit about this book before I decided to read it. Overall I thought the novel was very good. The concept of no drinkable water was genius. McGinnis is able to create a world that I would be scared to live in while creating loveable characters.

Lynn goes through quite a transformation through this novel. She begins this story as a tough girl, inside and out. She would love everyone to die if that meant that her and her mother would be safe and their pond would stay theirs. She begins to soften when the new neighbors move in after her mothers death. She begins a beautiful relationship with Eli, five year old Lucy, and Stebbs. She becomes a caretaker for Lucy and helps Eli and Stebbs as much as she possibly can, something she never would have done if her mother was still alive.

Let's talk about the ending. SPOILER ALERT. I REPEAT. SPOILER ALERT. Eli's death did not do him justice. Seriously? That was the worst death for an important character that I have ever read in my entire life. And the Father bomb? COME ON. That sucked! McGinnis is able to create these characters that are so incredibly believable in a dystopic world and then she does these stupid plot twists? First off, Eli needed to die better. I felt that it was just glossed over. With such an important character like that I should be bawling my eyes out, but I wasn't. And then with Lynn's father that was just where I expected the story to go. Maybe I'm just getting too good at predicting stories. Hmm...

Overall I give this novel a 7/10. It was great until the last 30 pages or so. There sould have been some elaboration or something. But I do recommend you read this novel becasue McGinnis is an amazing writer! The sequel "In A Handful of Dust" is set to come out in September of this year.

-Shawnee Smith