Not a Drop to Drink

by Mindy McGinnis

Fans of classic frontier survival stories, as well as readers of dystopian literature, will enjoy this futuristic story where water is worth more than gold. New York Times bestselling author Michael Grant says Not a Drop to Drink is a debut "not to be missed." With evocative, spare language and incredible drama, danger, and romance, Mindy McGinnis depicts one girl's journey in a frontierlike world not so different from our own. Teenage Lynn has been taught to defend her pond against every threat: drought, a snowless winter, coyotes, and most important, 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. But when strangers appear, 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...For more in this gritty world, join Lynn on an epic journey to find home in the companion novel, In a Handful of Dust.

• ISBN10: 0062198513
• ISBN13: 9780062198518
• Publish Date: 25 September 2014 (first published 24 September 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 2 April 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Katherine Tegen Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[cornerfolds]

I purchased a copy of Not a Drop to Drink quite awhile ago, but was never quite ready to read it. Although I love dystopian books, something about this one made me unsure, not willing to commit. I finally decided to read it as part of my Dystopia Reading Challenge, despite my doubts. As I suspected, it was quite a bit different from anything else I've read, but I'm glad I decided to go for it!

Not a Drop to Drink is a story about a girl and her pond and that's basically it. Lynn is the heroine of this book and her sole purpose in life is to defend her home and her water source. That's what she's been trained to do since birth. That's all she's ever known and she is willing to go to brutal lengths to keep what's hers. Lynn doesn't spare a second thought for the man she puts a bullet through for coming too close. She's cold... but I liked her. I found Lynn to be a strong and likable protagonist, if quite a bit naive. My favorite part about Lynn was that she took new information into consideration throughout the book and grew as a character, unlike Mother who was set in her ways.

This is YA dystopian fiction so there's obviously some romance, but I thought it was written pretty well. Since there's no competition, there's no love triangle (yay!!) but there is a teensy bit of insta-love. I do think it makes some sense though, given the situation. The love interest is Eli, a city boy who has found himself out in the wild without a clue. Their romance was sweet and innocent and even painful at times.

The only other humans Lynn has any contact with are Stebbs and Lucy. Stebbs is her long-time neighbor who seems to have a really good set up at his place, so never bothers Lynn about her pond. I loved, LOVED watching her relationship with him grow as she came to trust him more. and Lucy is a little girl who comes to depend completely on Lynn for survival. My only issue with Lucy is that it seemed totally out of character for Lynn to basically adopt her because a stranger told her to. I'm not sure why Lynn couldn't have grown as a character without this happening.

All that is to say I loved (most of) the characters that Mindy McGinnis has developed for this book. They are all strong in their own ways and each is a vital part of the story. As for the world building, the story takes place almost entirely on Lynn's property and at the stream nearby. Because of this there isn't much world building at all, which is actually okay since that is literally the only world Lynn has ever known. What is revealed about the world is pretty disconcerting.

My real problem with Not a Drop to Drink was the pacing. The beginning and the end were full of action! For the entire middle of the book there were brief moments of action followed by long lags basically filled with day-to-day life. This was a short book, but it felt like even more of it could have been cut out. The action that DOES happen is gripping and shocking and pretty incredible! I just wish there was more of it!

Overall, this was a good read even if it wasn't perfect. The characters were amazing and the world, while sparse, was intriguing! I do think there could have been more action and I wish the story had been a little more focused on the confrontations with the people to the South and less on hauling water and chopping wood. I would recommend this readers who like their dystopian fiction a little slower and a bit more practical.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This book was nothing like I expected, for some reason the summary made me think it was more of a paranormal. Man I really need to look at books genres! I really enjoyed this in the end though.

[nannah]

(4.5)

Content warnings:
rape (implied)

So there's this big city called Entargo. Water is so scarce now that population schedules have been created: only one child per couple. Couples who have more are kicked out of the city and are left to survive on their own on the outside, where people will kill for a drop of water.

Sounds like your typical dystopian YA novel, right? Interestingly enough, Not a Drop to Drink really isn't that book; the only reason I know all that is because it was in the backstory of someone Lynn, the main character, met about halfway through her story.

Lynn is a girl who knows next to nothing about the big city and who's made it on the outside with her mother for her entire life. There could be a Katniss Everdeen doing her large-scale rebellion thing inside Entargo, but this story's concentrated on the world of Lynn's little pond and the stream nearby. That's what makes this book really stand out.

This book is beautiful and harsh and heartbreaking. I think it works so well because it's so well contained in its small-scale setting and plot. Characters grow, relationships change, and the reader experiences it all in real time with the characters. It definitely doesn't shy away from being brutal, though, and there are moments I couldn't believe were actually in a young adult novel. Sure, it's a trend or something to be as gory and violent as possible to be "dark" and “edgy,” but for some reason experiencing some of the things in this book felt more real and heartbreaking instead of something for shock value or effect.

Lynn's character growth is one of the most beautiful arcs I've read in a young adult book in a long time. I can't wait to see how she'll grow it in that next books if this is how McGinnis writes her in just the first one.

The only criticism I can think to say is that I wish I had more of a connection to Mother, but she felt more like an idea to me rather than an actual person and character.

In any case, I can't wait to read the second installment.

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Mindy McGinnis builds a harsh, barren world in her post-apocalyptic novel Not a Drop to Drink. Lynn and her mother live alone, guarding their pond with their guns. They have nothing but each other—no other family, no friends, and no purpose besides protecting the water so they can live another day. Somewhat unusually for a book of this genre, they appear to have no hope for the future either. They never think that somewhere there are people who are living better, or that one day they, or their grandchildren, will know a world where water is anything but scarce. These characters are not fighting for any far-reaching cause. They live on autopilot, surviving just to survive. That makes them dangerous to trespassers, and incredibly intriguing to readers.

Read the rest of the review here, at Pages Unbound Book Reviews.

[lizarodz]

McGinnis’ Not a Drop to Drink is a raw and intense depiction of the life shortly after a catastrophic event takes place. This is dystopian at its best.

The story starts a few months before Lynn’s mother passes away and it gives the reader a clear idea of what life is like about 16 years after ‘it’ happened. What exactly happened? I’m not sure. It’s really not explained very well, but the gist of it is that water no longer flows through the pipes, there is no electricity, law and government are non-existent, production of essential items has stopped, and it’s an “every man for himself” kind of situation. That is, except if you live in a city, in which case you have to pay for everything and adhere to sever rules. This new life (the only that Lynn has known) is hard and harsh and reminds me of the Wild West of 100 years or more ago. You get the idea, right? The difference though is that the people retained knowledge and that makes this transition easier.

Lynn’s mother is a very hard woman. She opted to stay in her family’s farm house in Ohio, since she had a pond by the house and she was expecting a child. She raised her daughter to be self sufficient, but completely isolated and unprepared to deal with other people, and sorely lacking in the social graces. Thus, Lynn is very straightforward, rude, and even ruthless. She is self-assured and knows what’s right and wrong only in the context of the situation. I think the character of Stebbs, Lynn’s neighbor, acts like a paternal figure for her when she needs it the most. He shows her a quite sort of affection and kindness.

Lucy is a five-year-old girl that Lynn sort of adopts, which is surprising to me because it’s somewhat out of character for her. On the other hand, it serves for Lynn to find purpose; it reminded me to The Life of Pi in that regard. The other important character is Eli, Lucy’s uncle, which is about Lynn’s age and is the love interest. The romance is not a big part of the story and I felt indifferent towards Eli, that is to say that he didn’t blew me away and I think they ended up together because they were both there and there was no one else around (kind of like the way you gravitate to the last cookie in the box, you know what I mean?)

The story progresses slowly, and as stated in the blurb above the writing is evocative and spare. As I was listening to this book, I was not bored at all. You have to understand and feel the sense of complete isolation, where every moment is occupied with chores to do, with protecting the pond and the house, and with making sure that survival is achieved until the next spring. The ending was very unexpected, but realistic and I’m glad that some resemblance of order was the end result. There is certainly enough there for a short story or even another book about this world.

I will definitely read more from McGinnis. Not a Drop to Drink it’s not your typical dystopian, but a simple story of survival in a not too far future. All in all, a great story.

About the cover: The cover was one of the first things that I liked about the book. It portraits the house as I imagined it (without all the out buildings) and Lynn on the roof. It also has the coveted pond front and center. I love the play of the colors, how there is darkness and light that blend together.

[Amber]

In the three years that I have been blogging, and the fifteen years that I have been reading, I have never read a survival story quite like this one. I've told everyone before that I love survival stories, but unfortunately a lot of them tend to be bogged down with romance or unnecessary drama. That's not the case with Not a Drop to Drink. It's about survival, pure and simple. And it's exactly what I needed.

Full review on Books of Amber

[ellieroth]

I've received an ARC of this in exchange of a honest review

Publicado Originalmente: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Libro debut de Mindy McGinnis y ¡qué buena forma de iniciar carrera! Con un título que te hace pensar inmediatamente en el género, Not a Drop to Drink (Ni una Gota para Beber, sería algo así en español) te envuelve desde el principio.

No tenemos la típica distopía donde la heroína se da con la sorpresa que es la llave o un gran medio para salvar al mundo. No tenemos super armas, un mega complot mundial, o alguno "clásico" para saber que el libro es bueno. Me gusta porque el libro es sumamente creíble, cogiendo uno de los temas más importante de la sociedad actual "La pronta falta de agua y sus consecuencias", haciéndote no solo meterte en la historia como si tú fueras Lynn, sino también, parar de leer y pensar en lo qué tú en realidad harías en esa situación.

Lynn y su Madre son personas normales quienes intentan sobrevivir lo mejor que pueden a este nuevo escenario que les toco vivir. Y es por eso que este libro es tan especial, puedes verte claramente en la historia sin siquiera intentarlo.

Definitivamente la Madre de Lynn pasará a ser uno de esos personajes memorables. Su fuerza, su determinación y el gran amor por su hija, a veces demostrado de una manera extraña la hacen un personaje completo. Digno de admirar. Lynn. Es difícil explicar lo rico de su desarrollo en libro sin caer en spoilers. La vemos pasar por muchas etapas en un corta periodo de tiempo, del dolor más agudo a la decisión más difícil. Salir de esa inocencia y desconfianza por aislamiento para convertirse en alguien maduro y más abierto, sin olvidar quién es.

¿Algo "malo"? Que es solo un libro, soy gran fan de las sagas, y la historia que Mindy nos trae aún tiene mucho que contar. Quiero pensar en este libro como una precuela o un spin-off, es algo que no puedo sacarme de la cabeza. El libro es genial, tiene lo justo de todo, muchos personajes memorables los cuales no les menciono para que lean el libro, decisiones que rompen el corazón y una historia muy realista. En resumen: LÉANLO.

Reseña Completa: El Extraño Gato del Cuento