Ashes

We have weapons we don't completely understand. When the Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, no one really understood the long-lasting consequences or the full range of destruction. Now, we have EMP bursts and sneaky ways of taking down a civilization that aren't even close to conventional weapons. How can we create and use something we know nothing about? In Ashes, by Ilsa Bick, you will see first hand how much damage we can do to our own species. Alex has an inoperable brain tumor. She gave the treatments one last go with tiny nanotech beads of chemo that are supposed to travel through her bloodstream and cluster around the tumor to be activated later by a laser. When those beads fail, she decides to let the monster in her head have her. She takes her parents' ashes and travels to the expansive park to hike and make some important decisions. What she doesn't expect is run into a very nice gentleman and his orphaned granddaughter and then watch him die. With a pain in her head and body like she was being squeezed from all ends, Alex assumes she is dying. The old man is clearly gone, and now Alex is left with Ellie, the little girl. They have no idea what has happened, but all their electronics are fried. On their way down the mountain, they get a first hand show of just how crazy things have become- they find three teenagers eating a woman at a campsite. Alex and Ellie get away undetected, but it is clear something is wrong. When they are attacked by a pack of dogs and another cannibalistic man, they are saved in the nick of time by Tom, a former soldier hunting the cannibal who used to be his friend. It seems some people survived, but not all are OK. Middle aged people dropped dead, older people and young children were spared, and young adults turned into zombie-like cannibals. They aren't exactly zombies- they can still feel pain, think (although only limited thought processes), are very strong, and die from normal fatal wounds, but they have lost all connection to humanity and eat anything they come across that still pumps warm blood. Tom explains he was in the woods at the time the EMP burst and watched his friend Jim turn. Together they decide to find their way out of the woods to the ranger station. The station is abandoned, and while they stay their for a while, they know things will only get worse for the survivors. They decide to travel north to find a place to live and survive where there won't be many people (or crazy zombie-like teens who want to eat them). On the journey, they encounter what society has devolved into- looters who will do anything to stay alive. They take Ellie and wound Tom, leaving him and Alex to survive with no supplies and an infection gun shot wound. But Alex won't let Tom die and can't give up on Ellie. Will she be able to save them? Or will she lose everything... again. Oh good grief, this book was intense! You will pick it up and won't be able to stop. I started reading, looked up about 140 pages later and realized it was almost midnight (way past my bedtime on a school night!). It was absolutely fantastic and I can't believe how it ended... Darn you Ilsa Bick! Leave me hanging with those last two sentences and just STOP! I know there are tow more books coming, but you want me to wait a whole YEAR for the next one! ARRGGHH! I call foul on that! But in all seriousness, this was an amazing, exciting, fast-paced book you won't be able to put down. The reading level is fairly average, but there is some obvious violence you might not be comfortable giving some younger students. The violence isn't too graphic, but there is cannibalism, so you can make the judgment. The story line will keep anyone hooked, and I was one of its first victims! The characters are complex and deep, which makes you want to know more, but continue to question your feelings for them. My one critique was the strange make-up of age groups and what happened to them from the EMP. It seemed a little too random and not explained in any great depth (they assume brain chemistry had something to do with why certain age groups died, some recovered, and others turned). I hope it is explained better in the next books, because it left me a little skeptical about the premise with this book. Still, skepticism aside, this book was a crazy whirlwind that picked me up and spat me out the other side! Awesome! Simply Awesome!

Title: Ashes Author: Ilsa J Bick Rating - 4 out of 5 stars I admit, I found this book intriguing when it was suggested to my by Goodreads because it was an apocalyptic survival thriller. I not only wanted to see how others wove this type of story (since I wrote Eden's Root ), I wanted to indulge in one of my favorite genres, which is apocalyptic stories. For whatever reason, I find this intriguing. (Hence my love of Doomsday Preppers). This title is still fairly new on the shelves so my review will not include any spoilers. Synopsis from Amazon It could happen tomorrow....An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions. Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom, a young soldier, and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP. For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it's now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human. My Review I loved Tom. He is dreamy and awesome...protective, brave, strong, and haunted. He is an excellent partner for Alex, whose losses and challenges in life have also made her tough. The reason that she was in the middle of nowhere when the EMP hit was because she was planning to kill herself rather than allowing her brain tumor to do so. Tom's time in Afghanistan has left him with serious PTSD and he also had come to the area to escape in his own way, by deserting. Both carry these mirrored secrets that drew them to be in the same place and time and connect them. I liked Alex. She is incredibly tough and her battle with cancer is something that absolutely killed me. I knew exactly what she was talking about when she talked about the nausea and chemo weakness. It almost made it difficult to read for me sometimes because her descriptions of the treatments and associated feelings were so real. (Don't worry, she doesn't dwell on this stuff, I just felt it strongly because of my personal experiences.) I also like the way the author used Alex's illness and resulting symptoms to both generate compassion for her, and make a backdrop to her `superpowers`. The first is accomplished when she tells you that the cancer (the Monster) had robbed Alex of her sense of smell, and therefore of many of her deepest memories, including those of her dead parents. I find this to be an incredibly clever bit of awful. Then she accomplishes the second when the EMP returns and intensifies Alex's sense of smell, giving you the emotional triumph of the moment as well as the `ah-ha' that something important had changed. I found Alex's `superpower', the ability to smell not only normal things but people's feelings (pheromones) as well, was a really cool sci-fi/fantasy touch that kept it interesting. It is a variation on something I have in a WIP right now. And I liked the character arc that took place during Alex's time in the world of Rule. She is normally fiesty and a fighter and somehow once inside Rule, she allows herself (for a time) to accept and be passive. That would have been difficult to believe given what you know about her, but with all the trauma, it is well explained. I also liked the other potential love interest, Chris, though not nearly as well as Tom (which is the point I am sure). With Chris it's almost like Alex has to protect him because he is so disturbed. Trilogy aspect - This book is interesting because on the one hand you could see the end as one of those cliffhangers that some find annoying...but it also could actually serve as the ending to the book. It would be a dark end, but it could be an end so its not like one of those Trilogies where the first book has no stand-alone quality to it at all. Not so Into The synopsis for the book (on Amazon at least) does not tell you one of the important things about this story, IMHO, and that is that almost all children are turned into ZOMBIES by the EMP. I think that even though she probably didn't want that in the synopsis because it's a `spoiler' of sorts, I think you have to tell people that a story is a zombie story up front because that is a very specific thing. In this story I had a little trouble with the grossness of zombie stuff, but that is mostly preferential. Then again I liked Enclave a lot (review to come) and I think it's because the zombies were so unlike humans anymore and had been separate from your heros for a while. In Ashes what was pretty disgusting and diabolical was that children you'd seen in a past scene became flesh-eating zombies later and the yuk factor was significantly higher for me as a result. I think that it's because you've related to them first as human children, and just a day later they are picking eyeballs out of sockets and munching them that the author successfully turned my stomach. That may be a recommendation to you if you like spooky or gross. Occasionally the fight sequences got a little long for me. And there are some religious aspects that play an important part in the story in some ways that are not really explained. But it is a trilogy after all. Overall: I enjoyed this (despite the yuk at times) and am definitely looking forward to the next book. I like Alex and am rooting for her, which is why I think this is a good book. If the author can give me a main character that I love come hell or high water, then I am usually along for the entire ride. If you like apocalyptic, science-fiction, zombies, action, suspense...then you will like Ashes. If any of those factors are a definite `no' for you, then you probably would like another book better. BTW, if you do like zombies, my friend's book, Eaters will be coming out soon and I am excited for it. I will post when it comes out.

Ich habe im Moment eine totale Schwäche für Dystopien. Nach den obligatorischen Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Divergent, Arcana Chronickles, etc. war ich freudig überascht eine (in meinem Verständnis) unbekanntere Triologie zu entdecken. Der Klappentext klang bereits sehr interessant und ich habe mich einfach in den Büchern verloren. Alles kommt immer etwas anders als man denkt und es war für mich ein unheimlich nervenaufreibendes Erlebnis. Eine Art Zombiefilm, der endlich auch mal über die Tatsache, dass Zombies herumrennen hinaus blickt. Diese Triologie hat so viele Facetten und Storylines, das man eine Menge von dem Leben nach der Apokalypse mitbekommt. Ich möchte nichts über die Handlung verraten, weil das Buch für mich viel durch die unvorhergesehenen Wendungen gelebt hat :) Wenn ihr Dystopien mögt und auch kein Problem mit Zombies (egal ob nun tot, untot oder noch lebendig - ich möchte hier den Menschenfressenden Aspekt ansprechen) habt und gerade bei Filmen schon immer mal das "Dazwischen" (was passiert eigentlich wenn die Charakter nicht um ihr Leben kämpfen oder davonrennen) erleben wolltet, dann ist diese Triologie genau richtig für euch.

(Source: I purchased a copy of this book on Kindle.) 17-year-old Alex has a monster in her head. A malignant tumour that isn't responding to chemo, radiotherapy, or the new PEBBLES treatment. Deciding that enough is enough, Alex has taken her parents ashes, cut school, and driven to Michigan, intending to do some hiking on the Waucamaw, and to scatter her parents ashes on lake Superior. She's had enough of the treatments, and she's decided to just make the most of the time she has left. An electromagnetic pulse changes everything though. People drop dead, other people become wild and start attacking people and eating them, and nothing electronic will work. Forming a friendship with an 8-year-old girl (Ellie) stranded in the same place, and an ex-army man Tom who rescues them from a cannibal. Together the three must try to survive in the wilderness, and eventually try to find their way back to civilisation. What chance do the three on them stand though, with not only cannibals out there but mercenary's trying to rob them. Wow! This book was just awesome! There was mystery, suspense, horror, and even a touch of romance. At times I was angry, shocked, disgusted, screaming at my kindle, and loving every minute of it! I loved Alex who always tried to make the best of her limited resources, and took time to care for a lost little girl, even when it meant rising her own life. I loved Tom and Ellie and the storyline was just explosive. So many ups and downs, and just when things are looking up, something else awful happens! I'm loving dystopian books this year, and this is definitely one of the best. Ashes is better than `the hunger games', and totally a 5 star book. I can't even begin to explain how much this book gripped me, and how totally suckered in I was! I'm so happy that the sequel `Shadows' is already out so that I can jump straight into it, but I'm already not looking forward to the wait for book 3! I can't wait to find out what will happen to Alex, Ellie, Tom, and all the other characters. This whole book was a total rollercoaster ride, and I just loved the storyline. If you like dystopians you're gonna want to get a copy of this, and fast! 9.5 out of 10.

OMG this book is everything you want in a book romance mystery drama and the triangle of loove kills me cant wait to get the next book

Excellent book, a bit heavy but fun !

It wasn't bad. I loved the start but it got a bit boring when the main character found a safe spot. Actually, it got really boring. There was no threat there so it got old pretty quickly after that.