This is the second and final book in the Not A Drop to Drink series. I read the first book not so long ago and wanted to go on with this duology because I rather enjoyed the first one. This one takes place a few years after the end of book 1.

 

I think Not A Drop To Drink could have been a standalone but I was glad for this addition to the series. I liked to get to know Lucy a little bit more and see what Lynn became as an adult. 

Lucy and Lynn are going on a long journey and this is going to make them understand so many things about each other, but most importantly about themselves.

 

They met a few other people and it was nice to see what was happening on other parts of their world (I would have liked a bit more of that actually).

 

However, I was expecting a bit more than that. I feel like Lucy was too ordinary, her character was even a bit dull in my opinion. Something was definitely missing there.

 

Lynn is also not as good as I remembered her to be, she is annoying. What was really weird for me is that she kept being referred to as “the older woman” and so I always pictured her as an old lady (she is 27).

 

The ending was not okay with me. I don’t know if there was something I should have understood and I did not, but I definitely hated how it ended. I think it was stupid.

 

Anyway, this book was not bad, I recommend it if you really liked Not A Drop To Drink but I also think you do not need to read this one if you are happy with how book one ended. It was not bad, but it was not necessary.

(3.5)

Well, this world is just as cruel as I remember from Not a Drop to Drink.

Apparently this book takes place about ten years after the first one, and it follows Lucy instead of Lynn. Their camp by the creek is disturbed by an outbreak of polio, and because Lucy is suspected of being a carrier, she's exiled. Naturally, Lynn goes with her, and they both set their sights on California, where things are supposed to be more like it was before the Shortage.

In a Handful of Dust is definitely survival fiction more than anything else. The fact that at its core is two strong women is something I love to see.

But the lack of happiness and heartwarming moments in this book made it hard to read, and not in a good way. Hardship after hardship after hardship. Characters didn't seem to grow or change, they just bore each event with the same: "But you're Lucy, and I'm Lynn." It didn't seem to have the same power and effect as the first book did.

When Lucy and Lynn reached Las Vegas near the end, it just reminded me of a later season of The Walking Dead. Instead of keeping the story well-contained, it branched out to show a more broad view of its dystopian world, and ended up sacrificing a little bit of its originality. People are not to be trusted, everyone has ulterior motives, things are too good to be true, strong men are the ones in control, etc. etc. etc.

And the ending! I didn't like the ending at all. It was something that was foreshadowed throughout the entire book as something that was supposed to be a difficult decision for Lucy, but it ended up feeling like "eh, whatever, do what you wanna do." I know it's such a childish thing to think, but I wish I hadn't read this companion novel and just stuck with the ending of Not a Drop to Drink. It had a completeness that this one lacked. Lynn is still my hero, and she was left without an ending, which broke my heart.

Release Date: September 23, 2014
Source: Edelweiss
Published by: Katherine Tegen

In a Handful of Dust - Mindy McGinnis | Goodreads

The only thing bigger than the world is fear.

Lucy’s life by the pond has always been full. She has water and friends, laughter and the love of her adoptive mother, Lynn, who has made sure that Lucy’s childhood was very different from her own. Yet it seems Lucy’s future is settled already—a house, a man, children, and a water source—and anything beyond their life by the pond is beyond reach.

When disease burns through their community, the once life-saving water of the pond might be the source of what’s killing them now. Rumors of desalinization plants in California have lingered in Lynn’s mind, and the prospect of a “normal” life for Lucy sets the two of them on an epic journey west to face new dangers: hunger, mountains, deserts, betrayal, and the perils of a world so vast that Lucy fears she could be lost forever, only to disappear in a handful of dust.

In this companion to Not a Drop to Drink, Mindy McGinnis thrillingly combines the heart-swelling hope of a journey, the challenges of establishing your own place in the world, and the gripping physical danger of nature in a futuristic frontier.

Ha, ok, so you're going to notice a bunch of books pubbed around July-August-September that'll get reviews now. I'm catching up, so bear with me :).

In a Handful of Dust is the companion sequel to Not a Drop to Drink. Uniting the books is the world: a futuristic dystopia in which people fight over the scarce supply of water. The world reminds me a lot of a YA The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I was a huge fan of Not a Drop to Drink because of its harshness and the prose, the evocative setting and eerie realism: what if deadly diseases and high medicinal costs make water that scarce? A good part of the world already experiences the reality of unclean, unavailable water. The frightening world is made more real through McGinnis's prose.

In a Handful of Dust takes everything that was awesome about Not a Drop to Drink and amplifies those elements. Though Lucy is a gentler protagonist than Lynn was, Lynn is still quite present in In a Handful of Dust. I saw a few reviews of Not a Drop to Drink which indicated that the reviewers were not pleased with child Lucy/didn't understand Lynn's bond with her; but here that issue is solved - Lucy is no longer a child - and personally, I rather like Lucy and Lynn's mother/daughter/sister/best friend relationship, and how Lucy softens Lynn's edges. The relationship gets further explored in this novel, which makes In a Handful of Dust a brilliant companion to its predecessor.

In IaHoD, there's more action: Lynn fought to defend to her pond thoroughly in Not a Drop to Drink, but that's not half the danger they encounter while road tripping across the United States. There's more of that same frightening world: It's really wonderful to read more about the harsh landscapes and medical concerns (Mindy McGinnis has a.) done a lot of research; b.) made me wonder what's going on in her mind, ha). When I said that it reminded me of a YA The Road, that's because there is some seriously twisted stuff in this book. Creepy desperation made palpable through the water shortage. While The Road is all about the symbolism of the father/son relationship, In a Handful of Dust is about the reality that a post-apocalyptic family would indeed face during such a journey. The stakes of what it means to survive and what you have to do survive are very much increased in this companion novel. With the stakes raised, the character growth feels natural and very much well developed. Plus, Lucy is gentler than Lynn. Some of her inner conflict is different from some of Lynn's concerns in Not a Drop to Drink. These novels still feel rather unconventional in the YA dystopia crowd for their focus on day-to-day survival, and include their own humor to lighten some of the darker edges.

However, the issue I had with Not a Drop to Drink - the pacing - still remains present here. The pacing is perfect for the type of story being told (road trip/post-apocalyptic/bloody/action/dystopia) but again, it was still slow for me personally to read in between the segments of action, where the story was more focused on the smaller elements of the road trip. Also, there's less romance in In a Handful of Dust, which is unfortunate (for me), because I love romance and I particularly liked what Mindy McGinnis had done in Not a Drop to Drink on the romance front.

This book takes place ten years after the events in Not a Drop to Drink. Lynn is no longer a teenager. She is now in the "mother" role of raising her own teen. Remember Lucy, the little girl she took in? Yep that is the girl we get to hear this story from. This book has a different feel to it. In many ways I liked this book better than the first book.

To start with, Lucy is quite different from Lynn. While Lynn was untrusting and cynical from her upbringing, Lucy is full of life, enjoys being social and is much more trusting. In this book that is both a blessing and a curse for these women. After Lynn dealt with the vagabonds that looted from everyone, suddenly she has a whole community around her. I have no idea how this came about exactly as as it sounded like neighbors were not exactly close. But apparently everyone has come out of their shells and now rely on each other. I wish we had a bit more of a 'how' this came about but alas I am stuck to basic conclusion forming.

When Lucy and Lynn are "forced" to leave their home they decide to try to trek to California. From Ohio! Talk about a long journey on foot! The reason is that Lucy and her boyfriend Carter are suspected of being carriers of polio that is killing of the community! While Carter is the likely suspect, his mother is pointing her finger toward Lucy as well. Plus Lynn is on the outs with another woman. So Lynn and Lucy set out for what they home is a better life. Leaving Stebbs, Vera and their home behind. This saddened be as I loved Stebbs' character and was so happy at first he was in this book.

This book is very character driven. While we get many veiwpoints of different lands and terrains, and we meet other characters both good and bad, the focus really is on these two ladies. Both strong in their own rights but very different and a fierce loyalty to each other.

I love Lynn for giving up everything for Lucy throughout much of this book. Although is seems she ended up more like her mother than I would have liked. Even after all the events that have happened in the pat ten years. She is still an amazing shot and doesn't trust anyone or anything. It complements Lucy who wants to see the best in things and people.

While this book is written in third person, it is still focused on Lucy. How she sees things, what she feels and experiences. The result is that there are several poignant scenes but nothing over the top which was nice. Ultimately, between the two books, it gives a wonderful diverse feel of the same world seen through different aspects.

Things I did not like- The first one being how Carter is handled. While Lucy reflects on him through their first part of the adventure, once they pass the city it is like he never existed until toward the end of the book. Which makes her reaction to what happens all the more vexing. While I cannot explain any better without spoiling things, the overall thing annoyed me. The desert scene was also frustrating. While much of the book takes on a slower pace, here I felt rushed and then like I missed part of the book.

Overall I did enjoy this book. The world building and depth were better than the first book. Yet I will warn you now, that the ending is true to form to the first book. Neither good nor bad yet strangely fitting to the world they live in. Despair and hope fill this novel in unique ways that captured me for the entire read. While is was slower paced than I had expected, I enjoyed it. Very true to form of the prior book and well done!

A five star book that only gets four stars, but more about that later.

Braunbeck tries to do Harlan Ellison and almost gets there, but not quite. I totally disagree with his film criticism so that section of the book was somewhat tedious for me, but I respect his opinion, he's a better writer than I'll ever be. His take on horror fiction pretty much aligns with mine, although I would disagree with some of his literary criticism. He sneaks a couple of short stories in which is nice.

It is also a grim insight to Braunbeck's psyche, and he lays it out there raw for you. You will squirm at the all too true pedophile gang rape "reminiscence." He still bares not only the emotional scars but the physical ones as well, in excruciating detail. And there's a lot more than this. If you want a glimpse of a mind that is on the edge and captures that in fiction, here you are. I think it was Thomas Ligotti who said you had to be insane to write good horror fiction. Gary has spent some time in the Bin, literally.

Here's why it drops a star. This is a print on demand book (first edition?) that has a hard cover slapped on it. No problem so far. However, it is the worst example of reliance on digital methods of proofreading and typesetting, without a human proofreader, I have ever seen, and I've seen some pretty bad e-books. Let me list the type of errors I mean: misspelled words, missing words, reversed words in sentences ("us to" instead of "to us"), words with numbers instead of letters in them, paragraphs that begin and end in the middle of sentences, missing punctuation, stray punctuation marks, incorrect words (them for there). I would estimate that there are at least two errors per page: 520 errors. It reads like an uncorrected handwritten manuscript. It's a disgrace to the modern printed book.

I could forgive some self-published remedial hack, come to think of it no I couldn't, but Braunbeck is a respected multi-published literary horror writer. That he could let his name be associated with this is simply incredible, and that Betancourt & Company would let a book like this be sold with their name on it is a disgrace, seriously.

I turn randomly, no lie, to page 64 and we have at least four errors:

1.  (physically, morally,- psychologically.
2. ...and it is a testament to Harris's ability as an actor that he manages to convey all this not in stops and starts but an a hard, prismlike (sic) beam,...
3. ...inescapable tragedy that manages to be not only affecting but highly paragraph break; new line; indent symbolic without heavy-handedness.

Four errors on one page! If you can't see them, well I feel sorry for you.

If I submitted this in college it wouldn't get three stars, it would get a Fail.