Sunday, November 23, 2014

In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis

Series: Not a Drop to Drink (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: survival, adventure, travel, action, post-apocalyptic

Setting: Traveling from Ohio to California. Many states. Set 10 years after the previous book occurred.

POV/Tense: 3rd person POV, past tense: Lucy, at age 16

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 371 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegen

Summary/ product description: “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”






My Review:  An amazing companion novel/sequel, In a Handful of Dust might even be better than the first book Not a Drop to Drink. This is a survival adventure though a post-apocalyptic world in which water is hard to find. Even though it’s technically a companion novel, I’d suggest reading Not a Drop to drink to hear Lynn’s survival story.

I didn’t mind the 3rd person or dislike any of the characters. It’s purely gripping dystopian survival. The plot is mainly the physical journey and Lucy’s own personal journey of becoming a woman. The first book was set solely in Ohio, but this book takes us from there all the way to California. I love books with travel and adventure. Especially when they travel to real places. Lynn and Lucy start in Ohio, then go through Indiana, Illinois (where I live), across the Mississippi into Iowa…and so on.

She has Lynn for support. Lynn, who’s now 26 or 27, still has her rifle and has great aim with it. Lynn is tough, and Lucy’s more emotional and hopeful. Lynn talks like a country person and Lucy talks more like she grew up in a town, which she did. Lynn seems more like a cowgirl. In the first book she didn’t do much traveling, but she does have survival expertise.

There’s no romance in this book. Lucy and Carter liked each other, but he’s only in the beginning of the book. This book focuses on a different kind of relationship. A Mother/Daughter or Mentor/Apprentice kind of relationship, but it’s more like Guardian/Adopter Daughter.

If you have not read these books and like YA dystopian, then you should read them. If you enjoyed: Ashfall, Rot & Ruin, Matched, Under The Never Sky, In The After, or any other YA books with survival and adventure, then give this series a chance.


Cover Art Review: Love the colors, which are the same as the 1st book’s cover. A very epic landscape with the characters traveling. And a big title.

Infographic from Epic Reads:







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