Ashes, Ashes

I was really excited to read this book. Not only is it a dystopian (which I am loving right now), but it's centered around a small pox epidemic that wipes out 99% of the Earth. So, I was completely intrigued and dove right in.

While reading the first chapter, I found that I could not put the book down. The story of Lucy and how she has survived for the past year is incredible. Her bravery, loss and determination was admirable. However, after chapter 1, things slowed down quite a bit and I honestly found the story a tad bit lagging. It was still intriguing and unique, but nothing compared to that first POW of the first chapter.

I almost felt like the story was missing something. There are so many characters and maybe it's because the author didn't have enough time to really go in depth with all of them, or even just a select few, but I wanted more (which is a good thing).

I would've liked to have more depth to the story, but overall it's a good thriller and a pretty quick read!

Sixteen-year-old Lucy is one of the few survivors of a number of deadly smallpox epidemics that have wiped out middle-aged people from the ages of 30-60. To top that the killer floods and droughts have destroyed the world as we know it. Lucy lives alone and is barely surviving. Then a pack of dogs tracks her down and she runs into a mysterious boy, Aidan who helps her escape. He tells her of a band of others and asks her to join them. At first she refuses until a tsunami destroys her home.

Lucy decides to check out where Aidan lives. What she finds is a group of children and elderly people who welcome her in. The dreaded Sweepers, people who sweep down and take survivors, come into their camp and take some people. Lucy knows she needs to confront the ones behind the Sweepers in order to save those they've taken. Seems Lucy is very special and the Sweepers will continue to terrorize the camp until they get what they want. Will Lucy be able to outsmart them without being taken herself?

This is a very intriguing tale of a scary, frightening future. Not only are there epidemics that continue to mutate and kill just about everyone but there are the dreaded Sweepers who come afterwards, searching for plague survivors. Problem is no one hears back from those who are taken.

Lucy is a likeable heroine. She is a survivor who has seen her whole world end. Before this happened she sounded like a loner in her high school, a girl that stood outside of the rest of her peers. But what's amazing in this story is how she draws from a hidden strength and uses her wits to live on her own. What did kind of bug me at the beginning of the story is the reference to how she might have survived because she didn't get her vaccinations. But later the author shows that this wasn't the case at all but rather she was the rare anomaly.

The other characters were equally interesting. Sammy, Aidan's brother, is disfigured from surviving the epidemic. Others like him are called S'an. They wear hooded cloaks and Venetian type masks to cover their faces. I really liked how the author showed how the fear of 'catching' the dreaded plague still causes the tiny group of survivors to hold the S'an at arms length.

Del, the other girl who claims Aidan is hers, is one tough cookie. She has her own secret too.

One of my favorite characters had to be Grammalie Rose. She's 80 years old and helps the tiny group with folk medicine and down to Earth ways that pulls the group together.


Mostly though I liked the images of how New York and the surrounding areas fall into collapse after all the horrors of the epidemics and global warning. The cover alone is frightening. Even though this future seems bleak there's still an underlining note of hope.

I did have some questions after reading this story. It's alluded that Del has suffered much. What exactly? Does it have to do with the epidemic? Also I was curious exactly how much past history did Aidan and Del have. Were there other Sweepers in different areas?

Overall, this is an engaging tale of a girl who's inner strength helps her not only be a survivor but help others too.