Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

I think this book had great potential. It’s a futuristic dystopian novel, set in a time when water is scarce, population laws in cities are harsh and those that live outside the city are left to fend for themselves. It’s realistic, at least in that sense. There are also water witches, woman who can sense where water is and if there are under water streams and lakes. That’s the strain of the book that made me shake my head in annoyance, and made what could have been a great book hardly mediocre.

            Lynn knows no life but the one by her pond. Her mother taught her two things, keep the water safe and don’t trust anyone. Shoot first, don’t ask any question, protect the water because nothing else matters. Lynn has life figured out, its hard and solitary survival is of the upmost importance, and never go anywhere without at least one rifle and a knife.

            There have never been to many people, coyotes usually pose more of a threat than the random starving wanderer, but then Lynn starts to notice things in the distance. Smoke, and a weird eerie light during the twilight and evening hours, and its not the passing smoke of a wanderer. Strangers are in her area, ones who aren’t passing through. They are staying, they are strong, and they are powerful.

            For the first time in her life Lynn knows that she can’t take care of this problem herself, she needs people to help her. Despite the mistrust, Lynn teams up with an old friends of her mother from across the woods, and a young boy and his niece who were left alone after all their family was killing for violating population laws back in the city. Not much, but it’s all that Lynn has, and she would rather go out fighting than give up her pond and become a sexual slave to the strangers.

            Like I said, this book could have been good. Had the water witch thing not entered the story, I know I would have enjoyed it more. It would be a 4/5 star novel if not for the water witch thing, which brings it down to a 2.5 rating. What makes that detail the most annoying, is that the water witch thing isn’t actually a very big deal in this first book of the series, but it will be which is why it gets brought up. Annoying, I wanted a realistic dystopian future novel, not a semi-magical one.

Stonefather by Orson Scott Card REVIEW

Runnel is an outcast in his town. His father beats him, his mother forgets he is there, and his brothers and sisters tease and mock him. He is the ninth born with nothing in store for him, no chance of inheritance or marriage. One day he takes it upon himself to up and leave his village. Once out of his village the world becomes a strange place. Runnel has never had to deal with money, or outright rudeness as things like that were just not part of his culture. When he nears a village he discovers that the only way to get food and drink is to pay with moneys, and the only way to get moneys is to get a job.

Befriending a girl, she tells him that he is now in the city of the water mages, but if he helped her carry her burden back to her masters house she would try and get him a job. Luckily, he is able to gain employment, but to the stone mage. The stone mage is an outsider. Always watched and observed since the water mages are vary of him taking over the city. Runnel works hard and quickly, becoming an intricate part of the household.

Eventually Runnel is approached by the water mages to spy on his master, a job which he agrees to but only on the surface. He only passes on information that cannot be used against his master, playing all sides of the field.

After weeks of employment, Runnel is discovered to have power of stone, and not a learned power but one that he was born with, he is a stonefather. Things quickly become crazy as the water mages attempt to take over the stone mages, but they are ultimately unsuccessful. This novella sets up the Mither Mages series, the first of which is the Lost Gate.

The Ward: A Dystopian Novel (Review)

If the first 23 chapters had been condensed down to four or five, it would have been a whole lot better of a novel. I don't think I really got into it until chapter 24. It spent far too much time giving information that wasn't necessary to the progression of the plot. For instance, the main character Ren is a racer, and while it is important to the story later on, it does not need to be the focus of the first five chapters; it could have been done within the first few pages or a chapter at most. I felt like it also spent far to much time on Ren obsessing over her crush. Yes he is important, and yes her feelings for him lead to some drama later on, but again it could have been taken care of in a page, there was no need to spend that much time on it. Another issue that I had, and other people might not have the same problem, was the way that Ren talked. It felt to forced, using improper grammar and slang to show she was young and somewhat of a rebel. It was just unnecessary.

The book itself wasn’t all bad though, in fact the premise (while a little tired and over done) was decent, and gave a good twist about 2/3 of the way through the book. Set in New York far into the future, water is a precious source, after the water levels rose drastically, and the salt water waves and storms contaminated most of the lakes and reserves, the world has turned into the haves and have nots who can afford water. To make matters in the future worse, a deadly infection has been spreading for years. Causing tumors, coughs and eventually death. There is no cure, and it is easily spreadable.

Ren was an orphan, but unlike most orphans who were never adopted, she managed to escape starvation and prostitution with her ability to drag race. She often won, meaning having enough money to support herself, and her sister who is dying from the infection. One thing about Ren that no one knows, is that she is immune from the illness. During a routine blood test at the orphanage a doctor discovered that her blood was unsusceptible to the virus, which is why she is able to care for her sister while never getting sick.

One day while out racing, Ren receives a message on her com, telling her of a possible clean water source, and if she agrees to check it out her reward will be more than double the winnings of her race. Knowing that money means more pain meds for her sister, Ren checks it out. It turns out to be more than just water however, it turns out to be something similar to the fountain of youth. But Ren’s contact isn’t the only one looking for this water. Ren ends up in the middle of a government conspiracy that goes back to the times before the flood, and a group attempting to protect the water who have been around since the founding of the Americas centuries earlier. What is Ren willing to risk to save her sister and her friends? That is, if the water actually can stop the illness and increase life.

I loved the last half of the book, when Ren is working with different agencies and conspirators, playing whichever side promises to help her sister the most, all the while discovering secrets buried deep under the salt water that covers most of previous New York. I am not sure that I will buy the sequel, not because the book was all bad, but because I actually liked the way it ended.