Review: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

Ashes by Ilisa J. Bick

Published: September 6, 2011 by Egmont USA

Hardcover, 465 pages

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It could happen tomorrow . . . 

An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions. 

Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP. 

For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human. 

Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling novel about a world that could be ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation. --GoodReads

Review

Let me describe to you in a few words that I thought magically sum this book up to a T.

• Zombies/monsters
• (Peck/Rip/Rip Open/Scratch/Score/Cut/Gouge/Sliced) Flesh
• Bloody Bloody Blood with a slice of knife

Let's just say that Ashes wasn't my cup of tea. It was more like, oh, I don't know, the super hard biscuit that you get on the side for no apparent reason. Just because. It's bleh-meh-fweh, but you'll still eat it anyway because everyone says it's really good. You go in to bite, and yyyy-ouch. 

yeeeuck

You know that feeling? Well, that's how I felt when I read this book. Not to mention this:

No, no, go on. I'm tooooootally listening.

Aww. I don't mean to come of as such a meany-jerky face, but seriously...any more of it, and I'd be this:

Not playing possum this time...

Okay, okay. I'll get on with the review. Now, I might not be justified in reviewing this, because, well... I have a confession to make. If you can't stand people reviewing a half-finished book, then get outta here. I didn't have the patience to continue past page 200-ish, so........ you get the picture.

If I ever finish the book and I have something to add, I'll probably write another review. 
So let's call this Ashes, Review, PART 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK. The ACTUAL review shall commence!!!!!!!!!
Plot: Electromagnetic zap around the world... girl named Alex with tumor goes around hiking.... encounters a cheeky little girl Ellie..... tumor goes away after Zap...bunch of stuff.... they meet Tom..... other stuff..... Alex and Ellie realize what happend..... people could have died.... yaddayaddayadda....then this is where I stopped reading. Yup.

Now, I'm completely fine with all these gory/survival/bloody/animals pecking out any part of your body stuff, but this was quite graphic. I mean, I was okay, just some people might not have been. I'm not saying everyone in general, just the weak-stomached. You might want to take note of that when deciding to give it a try. And I quote...

"In another life, they might have been a couple, having a picnic. Except these kids weren't munching sandwiches. There was also a woman, a grandmotherly sort who lay flat on the ground, head thrown back, mouth unhinged...Judging from the dried rills of blood on her right cheek, that eye was gone. So was her throat...the knobby tube of her windpipe slopping out like a fleshy tapeworm. The blood--and there had ben a lot of it--had dried to rust in a wide bib over the woman's chest" (Bick 73).

"Like, ohmygod! What should I do??? BLOOD"

My sediments, exactly, random lady

It goes on for about another 3-4 pages describing this nasty gory scene of these 2 teens, normal people, just like you and me, who decide to join the Cannibalistic Movement of America. They were turning this poor (dead) woman's insides into outsides. It was disgusting, blood, yet I couldn't tear my eyes away from the book's very detailed, explicit descriptions of this gory nastiness. Props to Bick for creating (alarmingly) realistic scenes that come alive into your mind. It's like they become permanently etched/tattooed into your brain...it makes me wonder how she even came up with that stuff! So, I give Bick 5/5 when it comes to settings/scene descriptions. I could easily visualize what was going on where, when, and how.

What really was my favorite part about this book would probably be how Bick portrays all of Alex's emotions and thoughts. She isn't stupid, and she's quite logical about survival situations. I learned quite a lot from reading just a few chapters. Character development (which can be interpreted any way you want (*wink* *wink* you'll get this if you knew it was a ZOMBIE book)) was a big thumbs up for me in this book. Alex and especially Ellie definitely change and mature over the course of a few weeks. If you ever want to learn about how fragile the human mind/emotions are, read the book! It's full of Alex talking about how she feels in *blankety-blank* situations.

Also, it's really hard not to like Alex (in the first 200 pages; again, I haven't completely finished the book). Ellie was plain annoying, but I have to admit: I think she grew on me a little bit! She's kinda...nice? Tom is definitely a handy-man. Wouldn't mind a guy like that around (as my servant (you know, to fix the sink and stuff)).

Hmmm. Well, my main issue of this book was that it just didn't interest me once it hit a certain spot. I think it was aroundpage 170, or so, when I just became disinterested. That's a problem for me. If I like a book, I shouldn't have to "wait! It gets good when you reach page (BLANKETY BLANK)." If it's a truly amazing book that I will enjoy, I don't think I should have to suffer through tons and tons of boredom to get there. Call me impatient, but that's how I truly felt about this book. 

I've looked through a few different reviews, and some people agreed with me on the fact that it just loses the "AMAZING" factor about halfway through. What happened? Whatever did happen obviously did not help Bick's cause. Overall, I thought it was okay. I loved the visual descriptions and the goryness of the book, but  something just didn't click for me. I was getting bored constantly, and I wasn't able to pay attention, or let alone care enough to try to remember what was going on. I would recommend this book for die-hard zombie apocolyptic horror gory fans, and survival junkie readers. I know I'm being really picky here, so, please keep that in mind. I know a lot of people who really enjoyed this book, and hopefully, you can be one of those people, too!

Happy Reading and see you next week!

Order Ashes at: Amazon/ B&N/ TBD

Review: Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbits Chronicles #1)

By Gena Showalter

Release Date: September 25, 2012

Publisher: Harlequin TEEN

Hardcover, 404 pages

She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

3.5 Stars

Review

Despite the name derivation and the title of the series, Alice in Zombieland is totally irrelevant to Alice in Wonderland. Yeah, I'm kind of shocked as well. I mean, you title the book Alice in Zombieland and expect no one to think differently. Although it is a little disappointing that there are no rabbits nor any Red Queens in this book, Alice in Zombieland was a thrilling paranormal of zombie slaying.

The book begins with Alice prior to her knowledge of zombies. We see Alice and her sister finding their father's zombie antics ridiculous. But Alice's opinion of her father soon changes when she and her family get into a car accident and she sees that the zombies that were once fables are now real and out there to kill her. Now she must learn to fight these creatures to save herself and avenge her family as she meets more people with the same mission as her.

I am not the greatest fan of Gena Showalter. She has a total gift with the adult urban paranormals she writes, but YA just doesn't seem to be her specialty. Her other YA series, Intertwined, was a difficult read due to its shaky plot and ridiculous plot twists. Although Alice in Zombieland was a definite improvement over Intertwined, I still found the plot and pacing faulty.

Most paranormal books have a ridiculously slow beginning that gradually builds up to an epic fight and this book is no exception. We are forced to face Alice who is still mourning her family, but manages to find a whole lot of time to think about how hot Cole is. Meanwhile, Alice and Cole are getting visions whenever they look at each other, which is a question that is never answered, FYI. Just saying, that is only the one of many questions that are asked but are never solved. Let's just say that we have no Sherlock Holmes here to explain away.

Even with all of the plot problems that existed in Alice in Zombieland, I found it incredibly fun to read. Alice has a unique narration that keeps the reader hooked throughout the book. Her flaws are quite numerous and some points she is quite dim, but there was always another character that would support her, usually Cole. It was unusual to read about a protagonist who isn't either entirely dependent on others or is completely independent of others, so I liked the change in which Alice made so many careless mistakes and looked dumb, nevertheless there was someone there to keep her from falling completely off the cliff and able to steer back on track.

This book will totally blow your mind away and make you totally gaga for the next book in the series. Its flaws are really significant, but Gena Showalter makes up for it with her writing, electrically charging conclusion and a strong set of main characters. Sure, there were those flat characters that seemed out of place, but otherwise there were a minor issue. Overall, Alice in Zombieland is a great start to the White Rabbit Chronicles, whose name seems totally out of place with the zombie bashings and lack of rabbits.

Purchase this book: Amazon/ Barnes&Nobles/ The Book Depository