Aquifer - Jonathan Friesen

Only He Can Bring What They Need to Survive.
In the year 2250, water is scarce, and those who control it control everything. Sixteen-year-old Luca has struggled with this truth, and what it means, his entire life. As the son of the Deliverer, he will one day have to descend to the underground Aquifer each year and negotiate with the reportedly ratlike miners who harvest the world's fresh water. But he has learned the true control rests with the Council aboveground, a group that has people following without hesitation, and which has forbidden all emotion and art in the name of keeping the peace. And this Council has broken his father's spirit, while also forcing Luca to hide every feeling that rules his heart.

But when Luca's father goes missing, everything shifts. Luca is forced underground, and discovers secrets, lies, and mysteries that cause him to reevaluate who he is and the world he serves. Together with his friends and a very alluring girl, Luca seeks to free his people and the Rats from the Council's control. But Luca's mission is not without struggle and loss, as his desire to uncover the truth could have greater consequences than he ever imagined.

This book was a bit of a surprise since I had completely forgot that I had put in a request for and ARC. Even now I don't quite remember doing it.... I guess I'm slipping in my old age, or something... O_o
Aquifer turned out to be a very interesting, and a little different sort of book for me. The genre is dystopia, but written by a Christian author.
In the beginning of the book I felt as if the writing was a little dark, but about half way through I realized it was for a reason that ended up moving the plot along. Sometimes I felt that too little was explained at the beginning and that the characters reactions weren't genuine. I also wasn't a huge fan of the romance between Luca and a girl from below, Talya. It was too quick and I really didn't how she Talya kept running away from her father and ignoring him when he told her to leave Luca alone. Yeah, that kind of irritated me...
Though I liked Luca's character he was interesting and he had good intentions, though I think my favorite character was his father, Massa. I liked his character's depth and the burden he carried, it was well thought out.
While I really enjoyed the story line, though at times a little confusing, I found the characters lacking. Most of them had good structure but sometimes it was hard to say whose side they were actually on. Their bones were good I just wish they had been fleshed out a little more. While a few characters stick out in my mind that had potential to be great, but they died....
Luca was the most rounded character in the book, because he was the main character, but otherwise the majority of characters were missing personality.
Characters are a huge deal to me and I was disappointed in the lack of good ones, but I wouldn't completely shoot this book down. It had a great deal of redeeming qualities.
I liked the complexity of the plot as well as the different "terms" that seem to come with a dystopian book, unlike other dystopians that I've read the "terms" in this book were fairly simple, but different enough to know it's not the same world we live in today. I like the different way of introducing God into the story. it wasn't typical; it showed Christians as hunted and people to be feared, it was a little different but I liked how it turned out int the end. It ended with a small cliffhanger so I'm holding out that the next book will answer some questions and produce some great characters! Don't completely write this book off! Try it for yourself!
Title - Aquifer
Author - Jonathan Friesen
Series/Trilogy Title - ???
Book in Series/Trilogy - #1
Pages - 303
Type of Book - Christian Dystopia
Website - http://www.jonathanfriesen.com/index.html