Customer Reviews

Fire In The Ashes

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

IN the 30s, when pulp adventure was king, there was a magazine called Operator 5 about America's greatest secret agent. Excellent stories, but especially noteworthy is the "Purple Invasion" set of stories where Op 5 had to contend with foreign invaders who had seized control of America. The "Ashes" series rings with echoes of those great pulp stories. After WW3, America is in grips of a brutal, yet American run, dictatorship. Ben Raines is the head of the Rebels trying to overthrow the ruling govt. and return America to democracy. The first 3/4 of the book show Raines in his struggle with the ruling party. The last quarter is a grim account of the world being swept by the Black Plague. All in all, it's an exciting and worthwhile adventure with one proviso. Normally I don't mind a little sex and violence in my action fiction. Heck, violence is an integral part of any men's adventure fiction. What is disturbing about this book is the sex and there is plenty of it. However, almost all of the sex portrayed in this book is brutal rape. When the secret police are trying to get information from anyone in this book, they are, for the most part, raped, sodomized or forced to watch loved ones undergo the same treatment. A couple of incidents would have been fine to show characterization of the men in power, but Johnstone goes way overboard. It was a bit disturbing

This book is number 2 in the Ashes series and it a great sequal to number 1. It keeps you there right in the thick of things and it shall leave marks on your neck from the stranglehold it put on you. You might think I exagerate and who knows I might be doing just that but for you to find out you have to buy it and read it. So go ahead I dare you.

Overall the book is quite good. The reason for the three stars is that 15%, or more, of the book is composed of excepts from the first novel "Out of the Ashes". If you didn't read the first book you'll be pleased to find a lot of it in this book.

I really enjoyed this book. Johnstone writes some pretty raw stuff. Reading about what America could become is alarming! Reading this really helped me appreciate the freedoms that I have. It also helps me appreciate the economic favor we've had in this country for so many years. Someday America could very well become a totalitarian state. Just think if certain circumstances were to happen. I've also read the previous book in the series. This is what I get so far. It shows the good guys losing but then being resilient in the face of defeat/disappointment. Personally, I recommend one should definitely take up martial arts of some sort and purchase a gun and learn how to use it after reading this! Sure in today's society the likelyhood of you ever having to use a gun or your hands and feet to defend yourself even once in this life is pretty low right now. Probably slim to none for most folks. But in Johnstone's Post-apocolyptic America the likelyhood of you having to defend yourself (with your hands or a gun) is very high. This was definitely a good read. I look forward to reading the next.

If you like adventure/action with a freedom slant, you'll probably enjoy this book. It was gripping, and it does definitely suck you in. Is it Moby Dick? Heck no, but it's worth a read if it's laying around, you only have a few minutes at a time, you get the picture!

Fire in the Ashes, is an excellent follow-up to William Johnstone's Out of the Ashes, where we continue to follow Ben Raines and the Rebels through the fall of the US government and Ben Raines becomes the political leader of the USA. The book is well written however I found the reliance on flashbacks to the plot of Out of the Ashes being repeated throughout the book verbatim lended itself to me skipping through the flashback sections. While not desiring to be President of the US, Ben Raines attempts to once again rebuild his Rebels and what remains of the Tri-States incorporating the same political and moral ideologies he presented within his initial body of work. While the book could be read by itself, I would highly recommend following the series in order to avoid confusion and understand the plot and background in more detail.

William W. Johnstone's second Ashes novel strongly continues the saga began in Out of the Ashes. This time around, the Rebels, defeated but not crushed by the fall of the Tri-States, are secretly rebuilding their forces under the watchful eyes of a socialist dictatorship.

Hundreds of federal police forces are carrying out brutal raids against innocent people, and a mercenary army is helping to keep the peace. Meanwhile, a third enemy is lurking in the shadows.

The story and action are strong and believable. I also see the strong need for an armed population, and the elements and warnings against socialism are as strong today as they were when this book was written.

Fire in the Ashes is the perfect continuation of the "Ashes" series. Bill takes the reader onward from where "Out of the Ashes" left off, and provides a lot of flashback so that even the reader who starts with this one can understand the storyline. The flashback sequences are terrifically done and masterfully crafted. Ben Raines dogged determination to pull America up from destruction is enough to have everyone raising the banner of freedom.

I've read the first three books of this series and am giving up on the last one.
Constant repetition-whole sections word for word from earlier books in the series as supposed "flash backs" (lazy writing) and lots of sadomasochistic, graphic sex scenes. I ended up not really caring what happened to the major characters. I recommend you don't waste your money on this trash.

My wife bought this book because I want something to read. She did not realize is was a series. The book is based in 1999 and it was written in 1983.The story is about the future from a 1983 point a view. As we all know its 2009 and the future did not turn out about way Mr.Johnstone wrote about,so you should take it with a grain of salt.
The main characters keep youre intrested. The book is very conservitist,like the early eighties. Over all its not bad read for not reading the first book.