Review: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

Ashes

Author: Ilsa J. Bick
Series: Ashes Trilogy, Book One
Publisher: Egmont USA
Genre: YA Horror
Format: Hardcover, 465 pages
Release Date: September 6, 2011
Source: Mid-Columbia Libraries  
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Synopsis from Goodreads:

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.

Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling post-apocalyptic novel about a world that could become ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.

My Review:

Finally finished! This book took me over a week to get through which is pretty much unheard of for me. I talked about it in my Book Slump post the other day. But I successfully finished the book and for that I am proud! On to the review…

It’s hard for me to say objectively how I felt about this book. I mean I can say exactly how I felt, but I fear that this book just simply wasn’t for me. So here’s how it’s going to work: I am going to start with my personal opinions and then write a brief paragraph on why I think this would work for other people.

First of all, I really need to start reading between the lines when I read the synopsis on some of these books. Zombies. Why? I don’t like zombies. I’ve talked about it in several other posts. But once again, I got tricked and this ended up being a zombie book. I have read other zombie books and been able to deal with them, even like them, such as Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon. But this one was just so freaking gory. I almost threw up multiple times reading. Literally. I was gagging. Too much for me. But like I said, other people may be okay with this. In one particular scene, the violence was against a dog and I sat there reading, horrified. I can’t deal with harm coming to animals and I know a lot of people who can’t so consider yourself warned.

So basically an EMP goes out presumably everywhere and wipes out all the electronics in the world and kills all the middle-aged people. The older people are spared somehow and the kids turn into zombies. Well, most of the kids. There is a small group who were spared somehow. And then there is another group that gained special abilities. The whole concept just didn’t make much sense to me. I found it very hard to believe and just sat there the whole time going seriously? This is what we’re going with here? No.

The main character, Alex, is likeable enough. She is in the woods saying goodbye to her parents (who died years ago) when the EMP hits. She takes on a little girl, Ellie, whose grandfather dropped dead. Point for Alex. Then a few days later they meet Tom, a former soldier, who saves their lives. They form a sort of ragtag family.

I felt like Alex didn’t grow much throughout the book which is a huge letdown for me. One of my favorite things about reading is connecting with the characters and watching them grow and change. I felt like Alex was pretty stagnant. She is a very private person and I thought she would open up to Tom, but she never does. She continues to keep to herself and refuses to form meaningful relationships with anybody.

Tom was my favorite character in the book. He was kind, caring, and sensible. He knew how to survive and he helped Ellie and Alex do just that. Then, just as a relationship is starting to bloom between him and Alex, he disappears. Poof! Gone. And we never find out where he went. After he disappeared I didn’t pick the book back up for like three whole days. I didn’t see the point. The only character I felt sort of connected to had just been eliminated. But I eventually forced myself to pick it back up to find out what happened to him. Which I didn’t. Fail.

So after Tom disappears, Alex moves into this crazy town called Rule that seems to be more like a prison then a refuge for her. After she moves here she gets even worse as a character. She literally starts to forget about Tom and Ellie. She is comfortable. She has food to eat, clothes to wear, and a warm bed to sleep on. She even starts to move on in the romance department with this guy, Chris. She becomes complacent and weak and I began to seriously dislike her.

Then the book ended on a pretty good cliffhanger, but honestly, I just don’t think I care enough about the characters to pick up the second one. Maybe one day in the future I will, but right now I am moving on.

As promised, here’s why I think this book may work for others: If you like zombies, you’ll probably like this book. If you don’t mind blood and gore, you’ll probably like this book. If you like crazy towns with strange rules, then you’ll probably like this book.

But if you like books with strong characters and explanations for why things are happening, then you probably won’t like this book. I think the biggest disappointment for me was the utter confusion I was constantly, and still am, in. The EMP blast was never explained. Why kids turned into zombies was never explained. Why some people had special abilities was never explained. It was sort of explained here and there, but not well enough to satisfy me. I know it will likely get explained in the future books, but I hate when a first book leaves me hanging so high and dry. I need some kind of explanation to convince me to read the next book. I wouldn’t recommend this one. It wasn’t all bad, but there was more bad than good in my opinion. I’m ready to move on to something different. Happy reading all!