Stats:
#1 in Ashes Trilogy
480 Pages [Kindle]
Published 6 September 2011
ASIN: B004J4X9TC
Find on Goodreads
Synopsis:
Alex has run away and is hiking through the wilderness with her dead parents’ ashes, about to say goodbye to the life she no longer wants to live. But then the world suddenly changes. An electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky zapping every electronic device and killing the vast majority of adults. For those spared, it’s a question of who can be trusted and who has changed... Everyone still alive has turned - some for the better (those who acquired a superhuman sense) while others for the worse (those who acquired a taste for human flesh).
Desperate to find out what happened and to avoid the zombies that are on the hunt, Alex meets up with Tom - an Army veteran who escaped one war only to find something worse at home - and Ellie, a young girl whose grandfather was killed by the electromagnetic pulse. This improvised family will have to use every ounce of courage they have just to find food, shelter, while fighting off the “Changed” and those desperate to stay alive. A tense and involving adventure with shocks and sudden plot twists that will keep teen and adult readers gripped.
My Thoughts:
I hadn't really heard much hype about Ashes, but I had it on my TBR list for a while and then got approved for the second book in the series on NetGalley - so I decided it was about time I read it.
I really enjoyed the whole book. It kept my attention the whole time - which is getting harder and harder for me for most books nowadays.
The premise is that Alex, an orphan teen with a brain tumor, finds herself in a zombie-like apocalypse situation after a EMP was released while she was in the middle of a hiking/camping trip. She finds two companions along the way to finding out what happened and finding other people who may know what happened: Ellie, an 8 year old girl, who was with her grandfather and had ran into Alex before the EMP occurred, and Tom, a 20-something year old soldier on leave, who saves them from a couple of "The Changed". From what they can tell, the younger people are the ones changing, many people just died when the EMP was released, and they are unsure why some are "Spared" like Alex and Tom.
The Changed, or Chuckies as they are later called, are like zombies, but not in the traditional undead, mindless, hangry way. These zombies are smart. They form packs, communicate with each other, use weapons, etc. They are also inhumanely strong and fast. There is no virus - which is an interesting take. People change based on brain chemistry or hormones - from the characters' best educated guess.
I highly recommend this one for all zombie lovers out there. Throw in a little cult-like storyline, a militia forming, plus all kinds of other crazy events - and you have this amazing book.
Previous Review:
Peach Cobbler Murder by Joanne Fluke [here]
[Counts toward my TBR Pile challenge: here]
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