Review Detail

Quite often you come across books that when you read you think, where had this book been all my life? Why the heck did I not read this until now? Let me start by saying I never read any survival based stories until now – I thought they were too raw and horrific for me to stomach (I never even watched Lost). Sure, I have read dystopic fiction but most of them are set in the distant future – like a few centuries after an apocalypse. But never a just-happened post-apocalypse story. So when I took up this book to read, I mentally prepared myself for the horror that usually accompanies such stories and I don’t regret taking this book at all. In fact, by the end of this book I am wide awake (which considering it’s 6am and me having read all night is quite a feat for the book). I just couldn’t put it down!

Ashes begins with Alex camping out and going forward to Lake Superior with a specific purpose in mind. She is a cancer patient who has gone through ever treatment imaginable and been told there is not much light left at the end of the tunnel, besides the proverbial white one. So, when in the midst of camping out and meeting an old man and his grand-daughter, an EMP strikes affecting the entire world, she is exhilarated to regain some of her lost senses – which seem to be sharper than before. Traversing through the trails with the kid and her dog, she meets Tom who saves them from the new danger of this new world – cannibalistic people whose brains got affected by the EMP, essentially Changed. They go out in search of help at the Ranger’s station and learn that the whole world has been made anew and the old rules no longer apply. Survival would be easier if they weren’t headed towards civilization and the three of them carved an existence for themselves. Soon, times comes for them to move and there are new dangers on the way. Without giving out spoilers, I’ll just say that Alex’s journey takes her through some weird community (which is ironically called Rule) where they have reverted back to older ways. In this new times, people like her, the Spared are a commodity and a hope for the future. And while she wants to escape this new life, some bigger things are also going into play. Let me just say – last two lines of the novel? Best cliffhanger ever! (I would hate the author if I didn’t already have the second book with me)

I cannot gush enough of the fact that the book was so well-written that I have chewed my nails to stubs and have been awake an entire night. The writing is so descriptive and realistic, and Alex puts a very nice perspective on things. She is slightly jaded, but a survivor – so she is hopeful. Most of the times, that’s what carries her forward, even though with her condition she could have just given up. Although the events leading up to her entering Rule do dampen her spirit to some extent, I feel at that point of time she was just tired of her life. The plot twists come out of nowhere and at times, you just hold your breath to read whats happening next. The gore and the horror – yep, this one’s not just for everybody. There are a lot of things going for this book though – don’t let the horror part scare you off. I am glad I took my chance with this book.