Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Dry

Dry is about as cute and heartwarming as it is tough.

In alternating perspectives, our cast grows and shrinks.
The characters are well written. The book shows many of the different arguments/reasoning/stories without drowning out plot A or disrupting the collective pace of the story. The characters feel like real people, with real connections. While there is a crush and romantic connection, it never once cuts into the action. It only presents itself as a motive: a catalyst for an even and consistent amount of the story. The ending is realistic while still having a satisfying conclusion.

The Shusterman authors worked to gether to create a compelling dystopian story much in the same way George Orwell worked time and time to do. They wrote the book with a message. However, instead of creating an atmosphere of hopelessness, the Shustermans help to build a future, to show the fall out of if and when disaster passes. They don't water down (ha) the message, the importance, or the level of disaster, but they leave the reader with an enjoyable story. It's believable, even if extreme in nature.

Content Warnings

zoejjj's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

This is the most infuriating end to a book I’ve read in recent history. I almost quit at the end of the climax because I was SO MAD. Anyway. I would not actually recommend this book. The preachiness of climate change and virtue signaling and everything that goes along with that made it very, very hard to get into the book at the beginning. The plot itself was a 3.5, if it had ended the way I thought it should, probably would’ve been a 4 even with the preachiness! Now it’s a 2

There are things good about this book. I liked that the kids had to face decisions that made them “monsters” and how they dealt with that. I like the way stories interconnected. I like that the drought brought out the actual core of people making the good even better, pushing them to make the right choice.

every single thing that could possibly go wrong went wrong. Which was fine. Shooting Brady, the bug out being ransacked, that’s all fine and good. It made sense. I don’t mind everything going wrong because I was tenseeee. I get mad when Alyssa was literally about to SHOOT HER BROTHER and magically!! A miracle happens and the plane drops water on them. No!! This whole book was about how no one was safe, everyone suffered and 9 in 10 people wouldn’t get water. Commit to the incredibly dark and real this book has been and make her shoot him. You want to preach about serious climate change is? Then why did Every. Single. Person. Live. Kelton could’ve died at least. Jackie living is a joke. Everyone’s parents living? Basil living? I don’t think so. The twist that Henry was actually 13?! Hated it. 13yr/o’s are so dumb, they’re not going to be able to manipulate people like that. Kelton and Alyssa admitting that they mean something to each other and that in “30 yrs they’ll dance with each other” is the most annoying thing ever. I wouldn’t’ve minded the conversation if it ended with “can I have a kiss to hold me over?” or “can I kiss you before then” because the author just admitted he’s scared to commit to to killing of his mc’s bc this is a kids book, but he’s not going to let his mc’s be kids and have a SINGLE KISS?! The more I think about it the more I dislike this book.

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oliverreeds's review

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

fucker can rot in hell. yall know who im talking abt. WARNING. this shit is a tough fucking read. its really fucked. like be prepped.

Content Warnings

kaidoz's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I was surprised when I enjoyed this book. A story about a teenage girl two years younger than me becoming the leader of a group of misfits and falling for the misunderstood boy next door? No thanks. But thats not what this book is at all. This book is a gripping tale about loyalty, bravery, and trust. The main character isn’t perfect, and the others definitely aren’t either. The plot is maddeningly realistic and the characters act like human beings that make mistakes, some WAY more than others. The line between good and evil is blurred, but you still know who to root for for the most part. The character development was lovely and the writing itself was great. I’m honestly not sure if I have anything bad to say about it, but I gave it 4.75 because I don’t think its the perfect book. I’m not sure I’ll ever find a perfect book, but this one definitely comes close.
Edit: I’ve realized a few things I’ve missed. There were a few points in the book where characters mentioned how bad communism was which I thought was so strange. It seemed forced and like a political statement when no one even asked for it. Also, the reason I stated that the cast of characters being diverse was complicated is because their personalities are diverse, but they really aren’t. The main girl and her brother are of unidentified origin for like half of the book, and they end up being like, a quarter Jamaican and the rest European. Another female character is also very light-skinned but I honestly couldn’t tell you what she is because it was so forgettable. I think Greek? Roman? The rest were completely white. Also I believe there was a singular mention of one of the male characters not liking men, but other than that gay people didn’t exist. No POC or LGBT people in California? This truly is a fiction novel. Anyways, I still thought the story was great, so I’m not changing my review or anything.

Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Trafficking

I will be giving more detail on some of the warnings while withholding as many spoilers as I can. I’ll label them. Car accident (very minor spoilers):

The vehicles being driven ram into many objects including trees and boulders, which are minor. At one point a vehicle is being suspended by a fence and falls, driving down a steep incline where it safely reaches the bottom. At another point, a driver is describing how they cannot stop the vehicle from falling into a deep slope and hitting many obstacles. The characters get out safely and the vehicle is totaled with the airbags out and tires askew. Later, the characters hear it blow up.

Illnesses (moderate spoilers):

People in a city drink water from an old water distributor (forgive me, I can’t remember the actual word) and it gives them dysentery. The entire neighborhood is sick and stuck in their homes. Two characters’ sicknesses are described with detail- stench of death, lifeless eyes, looks like a corpse- that kind of stuff. A character who contracted dysentery dies “off-screen,” aka it is briefly mentioned after the fact. The main characters deal with horrible dehydration, and it is briefly mentioned when people die from this.

Do the main characters (Main kids who have POVs) die?:

No, none of the main characters die. They almost do.

Do the major side characters (their parents, relatives) die?

One of the characters’ brother dies by gunshot. The significant other of a non-immediate relative also dies. The significant other is mentioned briefly while the brother is moderately described.

How about the death in general? Not who dies, but how bad is it?

Not great. Three characters die from gunshot wounds, at least two were to the head. They are described moderately. Another character refuses to leave the area and is left to burn in a forest fire, but no screams are heard. Many named characters are briefly mentioned to have died of dehydration, and one of dysentery. It’s a state-wide disaster that 200,000 people end up dying from. There are many near-death descriptions near the end.

Fire (moderate spoiler):

There are many forest fires since California is completely dried up. The characters have to surpass one to get to their goal. One character walks through the fire. Another side character is left to die because she refuses to leave the area. Characters struggle with smoke inhalation and one has maybe second or third degree burns.

Sexual and pedophilia related tags (minor spoiler):

Minor characters are willing to do anything to get water during the crisis. Men are taking advantage of this and promising water to young girls if they go into their van, and later promise more if they can get another girl to do the same. This is in a brief POV called a “snapshot.” The girl whose POV is being shown is later mentioned to be a shell of a person. No sexual acts are described. Also, the main character gets into a scuffle with an older man. He insinuates that if she lets him rape her, then she can have some of his water. He attempts fo harass her.

Suicide mentions (moderate spoiler):

During a fire, a main character intends to shoot another main character and then themself to avoid burning alive. The other character tells them to do it, and they hold the gun to the other’s head.

Toxicity/Manipulation/Gaslighting (moderate spoiler):

One of the main girl characters is rude and somewhat bullies other characters. They constantly fight for control but eventually things settle down. Another main male character is a manipulator. He lies constantly, takes credit for things he didn’t do, tries to take over the group, and deceives another character in order to rise to the top. He also takes advantage of struggling people to make money and has little to no empathy for them.

Most minor tags are “what if” scenarios. The speaker is wondering things like, “What if my parents died?” “What if my dog died?” “Was he going to rape me?” etc. when events happen in the story. If they’re not what-if scenarios, they’re very briefly mentioned.

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