Customer Reviews

Ashes

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(45)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Alex is camping in the woods, saying goodbye to her parents and facing her own mortality, when ZAP, the world changes. What makes Ashes work for me is not only great writing but the characters are believable. Alex is mature because her circumstances have made her so. Tom is a young soldier so it's believable he knows about guns, EMS, etc. Ellie is an 8 year old who dad has died, who has seen her grandfather die in front of her, and while she's whiny, selfish, and immature, well she's 8. Her behavior is believable, as is her maturing quickly because she has to.

None of the characters are perfect, no "Mary Sues" here, but as a reader I became very quickly invested in each of them, their strengths and their flaws, both well written. Alex's voice as the narrator is pitch perfect in a world gone crazy. The zombies aren't so much zombies as crazed humans, more like the rage-infected types in the movie "28 days later." They have some cunning and thinking abilities that make them even scarier monsters.

As Alex, Tom, and Ellie try to survive and find safety, they soon realize not all the monsters are the zombies. One of the great things about Ashes is nothing is tied in a pretty bow. It's gritty, and shows the ugly side of humanity and what people will do to survive or just how awful some people can become without the rules of society to stop them.

Ashes has a ton of twists and turns that are unexpected, the last third of the book is almost like another story but it works within the frame of the plot. Ashes is the first of a trilogy and it doesn't end neatly. There are a lot of unanswered questions. I can't wait until books 2 and 3. I want to stalk down the author and make her tell me what's next!

Ashes is an intense, engrossing book that keeps the reader guessing, isn't conventional in storyline, and I highly recommend it.

Zombies are hot. They show up in movies, novels, comics, commercials and video games, with humor or horror, sometimes with humor and horror. Most of the recent zombie entertainment has been squarely aimed at a low common denominator. Ilsa Bick's new novel is an exception. This is a skillfully written thriller, a story that will grab your attention without letting go until the final pages.

There are a lot of unfinished story lines at the end of this novel, which left me highly dissatisfied, until I discovered that this is only the first book in a series. I will definitely read the next one: I have to find out what happened to everyone. I am looking forward to it.

This is good writing, but not great writing. Character development is limited to the main character. Some of the events strained my willingness to suspend disbelief. For example, Alex gains a super sense of smell, and the zombies are super smelly, but they often seem to surprise her, to be right behind her when she turns around. That creates suspense, but seems inconsistent. I am willing to read the whole series before I strongly criticize the plot, but it seems a bit rough from here.

One element of the story was conspicuous: the bible quoting Christians turn out to be evil incarnate, while the atheist is basically a good person. Maybe that is just a coincidence, not a position statement by the author. That will probably become clear before the end of the story.

Ashes tells the story of Alex, a young woman of uncommon strength who finds herself in the middle of nowhere on the day an Electromagnetic Pulse sweeps the planet, killing millions, wiping out everything electronic, and turning most young people to zombies. There's a lot going on here and the author does a fantastic job juggling all of these issues while creating a story that is both thought provoking and suspenseful. The reader is left to question right along with Alex, where did the EMP come from? Why were some people spared? Why are only young people changed into flesh eating monsters? Most importantly, why does she now have super sensing abilities, and what impact does this have on her untreatable brain tumor?

Alex narrates this tale with a voice that is strong and authentic. She is a character that readers will become fully invested in as she starts out this story trying desperately to take control of her own death, and soon finds herself with new reasons to live in the face of world wide destruction. Ellie, the young girl she meets on the mountain wins the award for the most obnoxious nine year old ever written, but you love her anyway. Along with Tom, the soldier with a mysterious past, these three strive to make their way in a world turned upside down. All three characters are very well done and kept me glued to the page.

At about two thirds of the way in, the story enters a new phase. New issues arise when Alex encounters the town of Rule and we get a good solid look at what can happen to an already closed society when the end of the world really does come about. What the book loses here in suspense, it makes up for in creepiness as we meet a bunch of new characters and an entirely new set of questions arise.

This book is gruesome, dark, and violent. It also manages to introduce some interesting sociological questions and even provide the reader with a very touching love story. I can't stress the word questions enough, because Ashes asks more questions than it answers. I usually find that very irritating because now I have to wait so long for the next book. In this case, I found this book to be so well written and intriguing that I am less frustrated about the lack of answers than I am excited about where this story is going. It reminds me of classic apocalyptic fiction from Stephen King, or Robert McCammon's Swan Song. Older teen readers and adults who like their fiction a bit on the gruesome side will find much to enjoy here. Be warned though, once you start it will be hard to put down. Recommended.

It all starts with a cataclysmic electromagnetic impulse. Dead birds fall from the sky. Deer run off a cliff, maddened for unknown reasons. And people drop dead instantaneously and inexplicably--or they are miraculously, irrevocably changed, some for the better, and some for the worse.

The first half of this book is a phenomenal. 17-year-old Alex is transformed by the big event in ways that she can't understand. She is saddled with an angry 8-year-old and an attractive ex-Army guy who's hiding secrets, and they all must find safety and shelter from the other survivors who are no longer...human. The prologue is well-written and compelling, and I was drawn to the bleak, lonely mood and stark setting right from the very beginning. I liked the strong but fragile Alex, and I was thoroughly engrossed by the incredible suspense and visceral, shudder-inducing scenes that will be forever seared into my memory.

But literally halfway through the book, something really odd happens. During a tense standoff with a band of vicious kidnappers, one of the three people in Alex's group is shot. This cliffhanger ends one chapter and when the next one begins, the story takes up three days later. WHAT? Talk about leaving your readers high and dry! From that point on, things stop making any kind of sense at all. The story changes tone completely, there is a whole new cast of characters, the story is poorly plotted, the writing became disjointed, and every single element I liked about the first half of the book was completely abandoned. Alex herself suddenly seems like she's just stumbling from one random encounter to the next, and by the time it all ended with a somewhat interesting but predictable cliffhanger, I was ready to abandon them all to whatever horrible munchy fate might befall them.

It is such a shock to go from loving a book and then to being completely annoyed with it, so I had no idea what to do about rating this one. The first half of this book is literally a 5 star read for me (and I don't give 5 stars that often), but the second half is maybe a 1.5. It's as if the second portion was written by a completely different person! What a disappointment.

I really wish that these problems had been fixed in the outlining stage, but certainly they should have been sorted out by the time the manuscript made it through several drafts and edits and rewrites. I really regret the wasted potential of the amazing first 240 pages, as well as fantastic premise. I don't know if I'll ever recover from the abrupt downhill hurtle that this book plunged down; 5 days after I finished this novel, I was still mad at it.

The premise of this book is good: an EMP takes out most of the US (maybe the world?), and those that aren't dead either go primal or have to fight to stay alive. Alex has gone on a last trip in the woods to take care of some family business before the "monster" in her head gets her. She's out camping in the woods by herself when people start dying or turning in crazy cannibal people. Through a series of harrowing encounters, she meets two companions who end up going with her to find a place away from the crazy people, and they stay together for about the first half of the book. Alex is on her own at the start of the second half of the book, when she finds a town full of people who weren't affected the EMP that wrecked havoc at the beginning. She starts to learn that the town isn't all that it seems, and the book leaves off with Alex in a very dangerous situation.

I really liked the action in this book. Bick was not afraid to include the gory details, and this made the story seem much more real. There were several times I gripped my Kindle so hard my fingers turned white, which I think is very telling of how involved I got in the story. I felt like I could relate to Alex, even though I've never been in even a remotely similar situation with her medical condition or the things she has to deal with. She's strong, and even though she can't do everything, she doesn't just stand by and let others do things for her (like characters in other books I've read). Alex also grows in her relationships with her two companions, and I found myself rooting for them all.

However, I felt like there was no real story arc to this book. Rather, it felt like a lead-in to the second book more than a story within an overall story. That's fine, it just never feels like anything is resolved, and I'm not usually a fan of that type of book. Alex makes friends only for them to essentially disappear with no explanation halfway through the book. Then she makes new friends only to have other things happen with no resolution. I felt like that's what the book was about: things happen and never get resolved. I'm sure there's an overall plan for these situations in future books, but there could have at least been ONE resolution in this one.

Overall, I thought Ashes was a good read. I'll be reading the second book when it comes out. I've read better, less frustrating one's, though.

I haven't read a lot of zombie novels, but the blurb on this one pulled me in. It didn't stop with the blurb. The book sucked me in with great characters. Alex, the protagonist, is off on a final hike. She's a young woman and dying of a brain tumor. She happens across a young girl, Ellie, and her grandfather on a mountainside in the middle of nowhere. That's when 'the zap' hit. It's assumed it was some kind of elctro-magnetic pulse, but it had unusual side effects. Most everyone between eighteen and eighty or so was either killed. Many of the young were also turned into mindless zombie-like creatures. It's a rocky start for Alex and Ellie, but it was also very realistic. The two of them, and Ellie's dog, eventually meet up with Tom, a soldier on leave.

I hate reviews that just synopsize the story, so I'll boil it down to These three spend most of the first half of the book trying to stay alive. After that, Alex ends up in a town called Rule which is also very realistically portrayed. In a post-apocalyptic world, a lot of the more genteel parts of our society would have to be done away with. There are good people and bad in Rule, and just like in real life, it's not always easy to tell which are which.

Ilsa J Bick is a psychiatrist, among other things, and it definitely shows in this novel. The gritty reality of all of her characters is amazing. I was tempted to give this book fewer stars just because it was so well done and dark that it affected me in a very uncomfortable way. It only took an instant to realize that it was actually the best reason ever to give her five stars enthusiastically.

I had high hopes for this book. Zombies, a girl with a brain tumor making a last pilgrimage to the campsite that she spent time at with her longdead parents and a handsome military dude love interest, what's not to like?

Well, as it turns out, the main character, plus a lot of improbable stuff that happens pretty much from page one. .

Here, in order of my peeves is what I found hard to swallow about this book;

1. Alex - the main character has skills McGyver would be jealous of. She tromps through the forest like Grizzy Adams, she is just as surly and unwelcoming of strangers too. I'm not sure if some of her inside asides are meant to be funny or just sarcastic, but she's kinda angry, angry at everyone and everything, somehow, the people around her don't seem to notice this and tend to want to talk to her and share their ENTIRE life Story with her.

2. Ellie - the angry, rebellious snot nosed kid. Talk about a turnaround, one minute she's accusing Alex of everything but the assassination of JFK the next, she's her best friend and is clingy and helpful.

3. Mad skills - I know I already mentioned this, but I just have to talk about it again, because I'm super annoying that way. Alex's dad died when she was fourteen, camp trips were a summer thing, sooooo, how is it she's such a super camper now? Especially since she has a tumor and has lost a lot of memories? It flies in the face of reason.

4. Lover boy - Insta attraction. Alex, pretty much right after meeting Tom, spends a lot of time wondering about kissing him, that's fine, but its in a very intense yet offhand (does that make sense?) as if the author isn't sure how to write in a seventeen year old's yearning for a boy even in the midst of terrible events. So, anyways it comes off as jarring and strange.

5. The Pulse - Alex and Tom infodump all over the place and come up with a version of events that doesn't sound credible. Not to mention the terribly awkward dialogue as they explain to the reader what happened and what they are going to do about the smarter than fictional zombies, Ellie and surviving in the middle of the woods.

6. Time - there are big leaps forward. Alex and Tom are sitting by the fire discussing the new world, next, it's days later and they are walking a steep trail.

7. When Alex meets up with other people, the story slides all over at lightening speed, finally find it's footing when she finds out that desperate people are capable of anything.

I guess this book has to be read as one girls journey into a changed world. She learns compassion and she learns to read people's motives. There's a bit about her newly acquired skill (which I wont reveal) but for the most part, this is a very one sided trip.

Let me begin by pointing out that I have read only amazing reviews of Ashes. Pretty much every blogger I follow raved about its complete awesomeness. Unfortunately, I did not find myself so much in love with it. The story was interesting and, by the end, I was definitely interested in what was going to happen. I even plan on reading the sequel to Ashes, because I cannot just let the story end where it did. Warning: the ending is seriously abrupt. Can you say cliffhanger?

Although I feel really sad for Alex and was exceedingly happy to see her healed, I never really liked her or connected with her. This is really weird, because she definitely knows how to take care of herself and kick ass when she has to, meaning that she's just the kind of heroine I generally love. In some ways, she reminds me of Trella from Inside Out and Outside In, bruised and not trusting. Alex's coldness, though, stems from the fact that she could die at any moment. Why get close to someone when you're only going to leave them or be left by them because they can't stand to watch you die? While I totally get that and would probably be the exact same way, it still makes her hard to get close to even as a reader, for me at least.

Her romances, too, were rather tough for me to accept, what with her being so closed off. There was no guy that I shipped her with and no relationship that seemed like it would pan out in the end. In fact, they seemed borne of stress, fear and proximity. One romance even struck me as little short of Stockholm Syndrome.

Since I don't want to spoil anything, I'm going to be kind of vague about what happened to create the crazy post-apocalyptic world in Ashes. Let's just say that it was pretty stellar. The fact that the event, the "zap" affected people's brains in different ways definitely intrigues me as well. However, I had trouble dealing with teens turning into people eaters. It seemed to lessen the credibility and seriousness of the novel.

What creeped me out in a more believable way was the way that normal people reacted to this calamity, which killed off everyone in middle age and turned most youths into cannibals, leaving only the elderly, young children and a few teens like Alex to keep the world going. These aspects were close to being Witheresque, what with their only being a few women of reproductive age. Plus, with limited resources come unlimited conflicts with other folks only trying to survive just like you are. Mostly, I just feel like the cannibalistic adolescents were unnecessary.

Even though I didn't love this, I do want to know more. Maybe Bick can convince me in book two.

Anyone who liked "The Hunger Games" has to read this book. Read on Kindle but buying a hard copy for teenage daughter. After "Hunger Games", "Matched", and "Divergent", I was looking for another book we could read together and heard about this one. Great story. Fairly gory. Perfectly creepy. Very difficult to wait for the sequel!

Ashes tells the terrifying story of Alex, a teen girl with an incurable brain tumor. She gives up on her treatments, and goes on a camping survival trip. While camping, she meets up with a grandpa and his eight-year-old granddaughter, Ellie. Suddenly, a crazy electrical pulse shock zapping thing happens and the world has changed.

After the pulse, many people are dead, others survive with a change (Alex gains a super sense of smell), and others become flesh-eating zombies. The really scary thing about the zombies, is that they are able to learn and change their behaviors. I really like this about the zombies because they are dynamic.

Alex and Ellie hook up with Tom, who has his own psychological wounds to deal with. I grew attached to this trio and I liked the way they played off of each other. Alex is resilient, Ellie can be moody but it makes sense given her age, and Tom holds the group together.

Then, a spoilery thing happens at the end of one chapter and it felt like I was reading an entirely different book in the next chapter. Huh? Some characters are gone, others are still around, there is a cult introduced, and I was pretty confused. Maybe this whole shift will be explained in a future book in the series, maybe not. I really did love the first half of the book. The second half, not so much.

Ashes is very graphic and violent. If you like your flesh-eating zombies with lots of blood and gore, then you will love Ashes. The way Ilsa J. Bick writes these scenes made them gruesome, but in a way that I wasn't scared off from continuing to read.

RATING

3 So-So

COVER COMMENTS

Terrifying comes to life on this cover. PERFECT!