This book was a page turner from beginning to end. Very captivating with amazing character development. A post apocalyptic world where a woman doesn’t know who she can believe, who she can trust. She is thrust into unthinkable situations to save the future. Think a mix of hunger games and maze runner. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

As a fan of dystopian novels I really wanted to like this book. I liked the idea of kids going missing and being brainwashed by an evil corporation. I liked the idea of being drafted in to fight a war. I liked the idea of the haves verse the have-nots and I liked the idea of spies and infiltrators.
But the book was very middle of the road.
Although the main protagonist was going through all of these struggles I never felt that there was a bigger picture going on. There was never any real threat other than the loss of personality which, for some of the characters, didn't seem too bad.
Even when we get to know about Casey's father and his role in things there was never any real emotion to it. I just couldn't connect to her.
I felt more drawn to her friend Jennifer because she had real stakes against her governmental father.
It was an okay story but, to be honest, it was almost immediately forgettable in the confines of the genre.

If I had read this book about 20 years ago, I probably would have given it 5 stars. It's a solid book with likable characters and a plot that is easy to understand. It was entertaining.

The issues I have with the book are this...

1) There's no science or rationale supplied for how people could be brainwashed by a chip implanted in their brains. There is a brief mention of the hippocampus, but no hard science or even speculation about how it all really works. It's really hard to write sci-fi these days without a valid basis in real science. If you are someone who is not overly caring about hard science, and perhaps you are young, you will probably like this story. Or even love it.

2) There is supposedly a war that these recruits are being trained for, but you never see it or are told much about it. The world feels very small because of this. It also means the stakes for the characters don't feel very high.

3) Although the characters were likable and the plot okay, I didn't really FEEL anything for the characters. There were no bits of writing that made me actually feel sympathy for the characters or worried that they might fail. I felt safe throughout the entire reading. I knew that no matter what, everything would work out and I certainly wouldn't be crying about anything.

This is difficult. There were things I liked about this book but there were more things I didn’t like. Leaving a critical review for a book so early on can be damaging, but I did promise to be honest.

I’m going to start with some content warnings (I also censor words because it’s what I do.)

There is A LOT of strong language in this book. It’s not used in impactful or relevant ways 99.9% of the time. It’s usually just dropped in whenever and wherever. It makes the times it is used for emphasis less emphasized because I was already desensitized to everyone swearing pretty much every page.

Here is a breakdown (to the best of my ability, I’m sure I might have missed something here or there):
F-word (122 - first appearance on page 1)
d*uche (1 - first appearance at 2%)
sh*t (58 - first appearance at 2%)
a$$ (14 - first appearance at 6%)
h*ll (12 - first appearance at 6%)
d*mn (7 - first appearance at 15%)
d*ck (2 - first appearance at 16%)
b*stard (1 - first appearance at 22%)
pr*ck (2 - first appearance at 29%)
b*tch (1 - first appearance at 87%)
p*ss (1 - first appearance at 98%)

It’s pretty obvious which word was favored in this book. If you have an issue with that word I’d avoid reading this. Honestly. It came up a lot. It’s a total of 221 ‘swear’ words. Good Reads says this book is only 295 pages. If swearing isn’t your thing you should probably pass on this book for that reason alone.

There is also a semi-detailed scene that involves a medical procedure (involving a needle) so if you’re at all squeamish about that kind of thing you’ll probably want to avoid the 32-33% mark of the story (if I could give page numbers I would).

My biggest overall complaint about the story is the lack of explanation of ANYTHING. Manhattan is apparently under some kind of weird regime and there are blackouts and power outages and kids are being recruited and by the end you still have no real idea why. Very little is ever told about how things ended up the way they did. There are a few lines about a hurricane and flooding but it’s never explained if this is a problem only in NYC or if the entire world is going through stuff like this, or did the USA and New York state just say ‘who cares!’ to Manhattan/NYC. It’s all very odd and the lack of backstory makes it even more difficult to want to understand or sympathize with anyone.

We follow Casey (female, protagonist) the entire time. The first few chapters read like filler as we learn really boring facts about Casey’s life and the people in Casey’s life. Things pick up a bit when she’s kidnapped the first time. And then I think we finally get into the ACTUAL story at this point.

Casey spends some time as a recruit (we still don’t know exactly what they are all recruited for) and then starts to remember what happened and she makes an ill conceived plan to escape. She tries to find some allies but mostly bumbles around and disobeys advice given by people much more knowledgeable about things than her.

There are some scenes where Casey learns random things that come into play later, but we never learn more about WHAT the resistance is fighting for or even HOW they’re fighting for it.

Obviously electricity is a big thing and it’s clear that the downtown crowd is the poor group and are suffering, but there’s no real explanation of what happened or why or what’s going to have to change. The people in the park seem well organized and grateful for the help from the resistance but they don’t really seem to be part of the resistance and live their own lives with their own organization and support system for the most part.

Casey’s dad and his disappearance is a big part of the story. But we never really get an idea of how he’s helping. Stealing generators and whatever is great but it’s not changing anything. Everyone still lives in poverty and it seems like no one really cares to fix it. But everyone Casey meets know her dad and somehow knows her. For wanting to keep his family safe he sure was an idiot to tell EVERYONE about his daughter. The number one rule of any organized group is TRUST NO ONE. You have to be careful what you say, how you say it and what information gets out. The idea that no one from the ICP has infiltrated the park people, or even have plants in the blackout zone is absurd. And if they don’t care then why the need for a resistance? It seems like only the NYPD actually did anything in the downtown area. Again, a lack of explanation is what destroys my suspension of belief.

This confusion continues on and on for the majority of the book. Another badly formulated plan is set forth and everything gets fumbled but Casey lucks out and saves the day. I guess. I’m still not sure what they were saving because it sounds like absolutely nothing has changed at the end of the book. It’s even implied that no one really gets in trouble. Aside from some things being shut down, nothing has changed (I’m being vague to avoid spoilers here). And even Casey hasn’t really grown as a character. No one has.

Also, I feel the blurb a bit misleading. Jennifer (Casey’s school friend) doesn’t get pulled out of her private school life until nearly the end of the book. The blurb makes sounds like they’re working together right from the start to figure out what’s going on. That’s not even remotely true.

And the entire final battle scene had me rolling my eyes the most. A bunch of conveniently placed characters and a convenient plot hole or two and everything is fine. I never one had any sort of fear or worry that Casey wouldn’t make it out alive. Because she’s been able to dumb luck herself out of every other situation so far. Why not this one too?

Casey was placed at the leader of the resistance and she didn’t deserve it. She never once did anything that proved she was a leader. She put people at risk over and over and over again and had everyone else dig her out of her own problems. She disregarded advice and justified it by implying she needed to learn more. And those things she learned hardly ever mattered. (Again, vague, to keep from having a bunch of spoiler tags)

I don’t want to be fully negative here, even if it sounds that way. I can see the potential. I even liked a lot of the stuff going on. The park group (or whoever they were) were interesting and underutilized. More pages could have been dedicated to them and Casey understanding more about leadership by volunteering with them. The resistance group itself had a lot going for it but they needed to be clear about their cause. I didn’t even mind Jennifer or some of the other people from her school at least felt like real people. They hardly ever had any page time. But the story felt so jumbled to me that I never really felt like I knew what anyone was fighting for.

There were multiple times (usually when Casey would cause problems) that I wondered why she wasn’t killed. She’s been kidnapped (I assume) to get information about the resistance. They got that. So why keep her alive? She’s not a public figure. She’s not well known beyond a few friends and family members. Her death wouldn’t have really made much of a ripple. She’s not exactly Katniss (who was a beloved public figure and created to be the face of a movement). Casey more or less stumbled into being the face for only a handful of people and never did anything about it except cause more trouble for everyone.

I took a lot of notes about the book, but most of them would be better utilized as beta reader feedback and it’s too late for that at this stage. So, I will say, if you’re looking for a dystopian that’s relatively fast paced (after the first 20% or so) and has a more or less wrapped up plot, then give this a read. If you’re looking for a lot of world building or a strong face of a revolution, probably look for something else.

I wanted to like this one so bad. Yet, it definitely felt a bit too juvenile for the topic. I am usually a big fan of dystopian/post-apocalyptic style books but this one just wasn't my favorite. Unfortunately this was a DNF for me.

I have a weakness for futuristic, dystopian fiction. I have read a good deal of it, and much of it is so repetitive or I get the books all mixed up.

This one was a stand-out. The premise was a bit different for one thing. Also, I loved the whole cast of characters and I could picture being friends with several of them. It was a fast moving read and I was immersed into the story. The world building was excellent and I had no trouble picturing it all in my head.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the ARC. This did not impact my review.

Rating: 5/5 stars.

“Drained” is a young adult science fiction novel by author Marc Daniel Acriche. The author sets the bar really high for themselves with this incredible debut dystopic thriller. I was hooked right from the start and could not put the book down until I was finished. The plot is action-packed and very fast-paced. The main character is very likeable, and her day-to-day problems are relatable, especially for teenage girls.

The author masterfully creates a dystopic landscape based in a futuristic New York City. My only gripe was that there was not much back story as to what exactly had happened that lead to the world being the way it is in the novel, just some hints. I really hope that the author continues with a follow-up book, that further fleshes out the history of the ICP, the main villainous organization. I want to know more about their corruption, and see the characters continue to battle for what is right. There is some swearing and mature content, and actually was quite scary at times, so is definitely aimed at a middle to late young adult audience and up.

I loved this book and I highly recommend it to teenage and adult audiences, especially fans of fast-paced dystopic fiction. I cannot wait for more books from this author!

*I received a complimentary copy of this book on NetGalley and have provided an honest review.*