Book Review: In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis
In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: September 23, 2014
My rating: 3,5 of 5 stars
This review assumes that you have read the first book Not a Drop to Drink and has spoilers for that book but not for In a Handful of Dust.
Publisher’s Description:
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, and anything beyond their life by the pond is beyond reach.
When disease burns through the 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 prospect of a “normal” life for Lucy sets the two of them on a daunting journey west to face new dangers: hunger, mountains, deserts, betrayal, and the perils of a world so vast that Lucy feels as small as a speck of dust.
In A Handful of Dust is described as a companion to Not a Drop to Drink. I can see why it’s called that instead of a sequel. It takes place ten years after Not a Drop to Drink and easily stands alone. I tweeted Mindy to ask her if a third book is planned, since I’m pretty sure there is a law that all dystopian YA novels have to be part of a trilogy, but she said there are no plans as of yet. She has a new book coming out in October called A Madness so Discreet that sounds really good but nothing like her first two books.
Anyway, back to In a Handful of Dust. Lucy is a teenager now and has grown into the complete opposite of Lynn. She is social and trusting and naive because she has grown up sheltered and protected from the outside world by Lynn. Lynn hasn’t changed much in the past ten years. She’s learned to trust a small group of people but still assumes the worst of most anyone. This causes a fair amount of conflict on their journey, although they love each other a lot.
Along their way, they run into several interesting people and have some nail-biter problems. However, the pacing between these incidents was too slow. Also, the descriptions of what was going on in their down time became repetitive. It was mostly about how thirsty and tired they were.
The novel is told from Lucy’s point of view. She is more positive and at the same time, more unsure of herself and her choices than Lynn ever was so the general atmosphere is different than Not A Drop to Drink but not in a bad way. The last part of the book takes a deeply dark turn. I would have liked the author to have spent more time developing this section rather than on the journey to get there.
Overall, I think fans of Not a Drop to Drink will like this book and enjoy spending more time with Lynn and Lucy.
Click for my review of Not a Drop to Drink.
(I received this book courtesy of the Amazon Vine program.)
