Review: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

Seventeen-year-old Alex is hiking through the wilderness when it happens: an earth-shattering electromagnetic pulse that destroys almost everything.

Survivors are divided between those who have developed a superhuman sense and those who have aquired a taste for human flesh. These flesh-hunters stalk the land: hungry, ruthless and increasingly clever...

Alex meets Tom, a younge army veteran, and Ellie, a lost girl. They will fight together and be torn apart, but Alex must face the most difficult question of all:
In such a vastly changed world, who can you trust?

 I will not lie and say that this book had me from the word go. As a matter of fact it took a few chapters for me to really get into it. I haven't read any zombie apocoliptic books so I didn't know what to expect. Trust whatever I was expecting, this book was nothing like what I thought it was going to be.

The main character Alex is awsome and I love her. I immediately liked her. She suffers from a brain tumor and I can tell you the exact moment that I really felt for her. Because my left hand shakes, Alex thought. Because I can't smell anything. Because I've got a headful of teeny, tiny little rocks that aren't working and that means more regular chemo and radiotherapy and I am so sick of losing my hair and puking my guts out for nothing and doing schoolwork in bed, and I'm not going inito some hospice. Because, for once, I'm calling the shots. My heart skipped a beat when I read that and I had deep sympathy towards her. She has this view of the way people react to her news of her having a brain tumour. She believes they look at her in a sort of 'rather her then me'. On to a lighter note, Alex is selfless and kind. At first she is easily aggravated but she gradually 'settles down'. I thought she was a saint the way she didn't get angry at Ellie.

Ellie. Hm well lets just say she's annoying and bratty. However, as the book goes on she gets nicer and slightly less annoying. However there is a part in the book that really annoys me. If you read it you may feel the same way.

TOM! I LOVE TOM! Okay when he is first introduced I was slightly wary of him. I mean after reading some details that happened earlier in the book you really can't blame me. All I shall say about the matter is that involved this line: No, she thought. No, please, God, I'm not seeing this. Let your imagination do the rest. Anyway back to Tom, he is brave. While reading it I felt the same way towards him as Alex did. There were parts in the book that I got really worried for him.

Okay the story. Yikes did it creep me out. One night I stayed up until 4 in the morning reading it. Lets just say it was a bad idea! A really bad idea. This book left me on edge and I didn't like reading it at night. It is so well written that I really got creeped out just by reading it with no one else in the room. The story is so realistic it could happen tomorrow. Thats how I felt the entire way while I was reading it. I spent the entire time thinking this could happen right now, or tomorrow. Thats how strong the writing was. I mean I love it but it creeped me out big time!

Oh the ending! What a way to end a book! Let me say I was in no way expecting the ending. Not in my wildest dreams would I have expected it. I honestly cannot wait for the next book!

Originally this book was a 5 but then came some nearly 28 days later scenes and it went down to a four. Honestly the only reason it isn't a 5 is because of the slightly gorey scenes. This book is not for the faint hearted.