I didn't like this book a whole lot, i felt it lacked detail. It was almost like reading a conversation, which can get VERY boring. However, I think the book would have been a lot better had it been given more detail and was a few hundred pages long rather than only about 200. This way, events could be stretched out and make the readers feel more for the character and grow more interested. Nevertheless, i liked the idea of the story. ( )

So it's ten years into the future and the world is running out of oil, sounds like a pretty good plot with plenty of potential. Unfortunately in young adult fashion we have the love triangle of fashionable rich girl, misunderstood boy and 'strange' outcast girl whose faced adversity which overshadows a lot of what takes place throughout the story.

I wasn't too big a fan of the miraculous discover of an abandoned bunker-like-house that has everything the characters need: power, water, heat, food. With the amazing and totally unrealistic perpetual motion machine in the basement which once started by battery power, runs forever more providing power.

Asides for these gripes, and that it seemingly was a very short book at 196 pages, it was alright, I can see where the author was coming from trying to spread awareness of where the planet and society is heading in a format that would be absorbed by the younger generation. Yet, I can't help but feel it was just average. I think Reiss's Black Monday was a far more enthralling tale of a world running out of oil and the repercussions that brings to society. ( )

I really liked this book, the only thing I would say is that maybe it could have been a bit longer...gotten into the recovery a bit more before ending. That being said, the characters were very well developed for a book so short. I enjoyed seeing the growth in each of the teenagers as they faced what must be done to survive in a world gone crazy. It was also very scary as it doesn't seem too far off the possibilities of what could happen to us all in the near future. It definitely made me think of the random things I take for granted every single day and made me appreciate certain things a whole lot more. ( )

Empty is set in the not-too-distant future, in an era when America's dependence on oil has been stretched to its limit. As oil runs out, the price of oil skyrockets, hit more that $10 per gallon. While hybrid cars have become the norm, even that technology can not save society as we know it. The author makes the predicament personal by sharing the stories of three main protagonists from different walks of life, each with their own challenges and coping mechanisms. The character, Niki, Gwen, and Tom, have their own backgrounds that help them and hinder them in their journey to make sense of the changing landscape. I can see curricular connections for this book to science, where students may study climate change. As well, geography, where natural resources are studied, could be a place to use this book.

Made me really think about all I take for granted and how much waste we have in our lives. ( )