Age: 18
Title: Parched
Author: Georgia Clark
Publisher: Holiday House
Pub Date: 03/14/14
Galley: Yes
Top 25: No
Convince us to read the book: This book had a lot of potential. The plot was great, full of interesting twists and compelling themes like social justice and corrupt governments. It unfortunately falls down somewhat in the way the plot is delivered. I could see almost all of the twists coming about thirty pages before they did. The foreshadowing was just heavy handed. I also found the main character a little dull. She was really flippy floppy, which is to say she had strong opinions that seemed to completely reverse on a whim. I loved the ending though. If the entire book could have been like the last two or three chapters, it would have been incredible. I would say it's worth the effort to get to the ending.
Memorable or Forgettable: I really liked the plot. In a world where the planet has been almost literally sucked dry of all it's resources, how can the wealthy elite selfishly take the last remaining water for themselves, and leave millions to die? It was post apocalyptic in a way I had never read before. In most other natural disaster apocalypses, the remaining people are all in the same boat. The idea of an Eden being created for the wealthy is a really cool twist to that. I thought that there were certainly elements that were forgettable or unnecessary, but the idea of trying to bring equality to this world the book takes place in was not only interesting, but also extremely compelling to me.
Cover: I think the cover could use some work. It's beautiful, but you really need to be up close to see that. It also looks dated, somehow, like it belongs to a book much older than this one. I think it's a great reflection of the contents, but it doesn't have great shelf appeal. I honestly picked it up at random, without really looking at the cover at all. If I had to make any suggestions, I'd say that maybe an image just of a desert would be better, or a similar picture to the existing cover but in brighter colors, and maybe done on a computer, rather than in what looks like paint.
Age Range: 12 through 17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal
Additional Comments There were a lot of grammatical and spelling mistakes, which could sometimes make it difficult to figure out. I hope those get corrected before final copies are made.
tags: science fiction / robots / post apocalyptic / ya lit
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