Not a drop to drink – I was so surprised!

Title: Not a drop to drink.

Author: Mindy McGinnis.

Format: Audiobook.

Publisher: Katharine Tegen Books.

Page count: 309 (8h 59min)

Release day: September 24^th 2013.

Genre: YA, dystopia, post apocalyptic.

Rating: 3.5 stars.

What is it about? (Summary 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….

My thoughts:

I’ve always been intrigued by Mindy McGinnis’ books, but for some reason I’ve never read one. So I thought it was finally time to read something! And I think this was a great start, since this is one of her older books (or even her debut?), and it can only get better over time right?!

My main reason for choosing this book was that it has been compared with Dry by Neal Shusterman, which I really liked. I get the comparison, but it is not really the same. In Dry there is no water at all, in this one it is limited. But still I get the comparison.  

In my opinion you could really notice that this book has been written some years ago. Just in the way the main character acts, and in the plot. It is kinda the same idea of most of the books released that year. That being said, I could really appreciate it reading it at this moment. It has been a while since I read a dystopian (I think) and I really did enjoy this one.

The main character was quite typical this strong independent girl. I did not dislike her but I also did not love her. I think my favourite character of the book was Steps!

As I mentioned before, the course of the plot is quite predictable, since there are lots of books out there with a similar idea. BUT I really had to give McGinnis credit for some of the dark turns this book took. I definitely did not see some of those coming. And those turns were definitely things that would not have happened in any of the other books released at that time.

The epilogue was really confusing, there were all these names I never heard of before, and it felt like it took place some years later, but I don’t think that was mentioned. But I think it has to do with the sequel/companion novel.

So conclusion, I was pleasantly surprised by this book, especially because it was darker then I had expected. But there were also some predictable things in this book, since we’ve seen this type of story before.

I’m really happy I listened to this on audio, I think it really added to my enjoyment. The narrator was really good, and I’m definitely planning on listening to more of her audiobooks! Also it just listened really fast, I kept wanting to continue!

I will definitely pick up the sequel, In a handful of dust, sometime soon! And I will also check out some of her other works!

Have you read this book? What did you think?