I'd never heard of this little book when I came across EMPTY, so I had no idea what to expect. I mean, the cover is pretty awesome, and it's a pretty short book, so those alone meant it was at least worth a shot. If I hated it, I'm only out a couple of hours, right? 
 Basically, EMPTY is the story of a dystopian world in the not-so-far future in which the world is almost completely out of gasoline. This being said, everyone is extremely short on food, electricity, plastics, and transportation as gasoline is going for upwards of 80 bucks a gallon -- that is, *if* you're lucky enough to find any. 
 Since we're not-s-far in the future yet, the world hasn't quite adapted to other forms of fuel, leading to a scene of world chaos and desperation as everyone fights for the last gallon of gas or the last canned good left in the store. To make matters worse, global warming has somehow allowed two hurricanes to merge into a SUPER hurricane that ravages the country and leaves everyone completely flooded -- and still without food, electricity, plastics, and transportation. 
 In EMPTY we meet three different teens -- the outcast (and her brother, who may or may not be illegally obtaining and selling fuel), the football player, and the cheerleader. Through a weird series of mangled romances and extremely convenient scenarios, the teens set out to save the world by explorating alternate sources of fuel. 
 The story is quick, fairly fun, and decently enjoyable, I think, which is why I gave it three stars. But, this may be a bit generous. The characters felt a little flat, the weird romantic angles just felt dumb a times, and everything went from as insanely HORRIBLE as it could get (monster hurricanes destroy everything just when everyone has literally nothing left) to extremely convenient (wow, it's lucky one of the girls came across what she did and found the resources to save the world, right?) 
 I think EMPTY may serve slightly educational purposes to younger readers -- if one wants to paint them the picture of a bleak future and somehow scare them away from the overconsumption of nonrenewable resources -- and it may even intrigue younger teen or pre-teen readers who identify with the outcast heroine as she seeks out the attention of a football player and -- oh yeah -- tries to save the world. So, I definitely think there's an audience somewhere for this kind of book. 
 It was cute enough, fun enough, and interesting enough to occupy the time during my fiance's haircut appointment today, so that's worth something. It's not a mind-blowing dystopian here -- but who picks up a middle grade novel expecting War and Peace? 
 Nobody, I'm sure.