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A solid 4 star read! I very much enjoyed this book. A fantastic exploration of human nature, environmentalism, and survival. A word of advice �� don’t read this book without a beverage near you. I promise, you will become VERY thirsty.

CW: violence, murder/death, sexual harassment (quid pro quo), mention of “peeping toms��

Dry is an extremely jarring novel as it a story that is so much closer to our reality than almost any novel I’ve ever read. The entire time I was reading, I was faced with the actuality that something like this could happen at ANY moment. It forces you to place yourself in the shoes of the protagonists and wonder not only what you would do to survive, but also how far you would actually go. Much of the content of this story is extremely unsettling because it is so. authentic. It reveals the darkest parts of our true humanity that none of us want to confront until it’s too late. There is so much nuance to how the characters think and react to this situation that it’s impossible for me to fully cover in a short review. For this reason, I believe this is a truly spectacular novel about the depths of humanity and the desperation of survival.

I’m slightly conflicted on the main cast of characters, but I overall enjoyed them. Though some have their eccentricities (such as coming from a family that happens to be intense survivalists), I feel they all remained authentic teens throughout the course of the story. Often times, especially in fantasy/sci-fi/dystopian young adult novels, the teens will frequently act MUCH older than their specified ages. Despite that the protagonists are forced well out of their comfort zones and put in extremely trying situations, they still maintain their personalities and their youth which I greatly enjoyed. Each character is very unique, their voices are unmistakable distinct, and they all provide value to the story.

The one element I felt was missing from the story was a greater acknowledgment of the global water crisis. I want to be extra careful discussing this point because I do not believe the authors are ignorant on this topic whatsoever �� I had the opportunity to listen to both authors speak about Dry and it is extremely obvious they did extensive research for this novel as well as truly care about accessibility to clean water for all. I personally just felt this novel was a bit too American-centric. I would have been a bit more satisfied to see more of an in-text acknowledgement that lack of water is no unique situation and nearly 800 million people live without it every day. Also at the Dry even, the authors discussed that they wanted to shy away from making a very political statement within the pages of the novel, hence why the dedication is the “call to action�� of the story, so I see what they were going for. I just personally think the global crisis had a place in this novel that wasn’t fulfilled.

Overall, I really am pleased I read Dry. It is definitely not my favorite Neal Shusterman book I’ve ever read as a huge fan of his books, but it maintains all of what I love from him. His descriptive writing style, fantastic world building (though the story takes place in a 100% real world setting, the set-up of the “Tap-Out�� and course of it’s severity was extremely well done) and the thought-provoking nature of his storylines makes for another wonderful novel I would absolutely recommend.

I received a free copy of this book from Simon & Schuster at Book Expo 2018, but I finished the story through my own purchased copy of this book. I had no obligation to review this book and all opinions are my own.