Series: Ashes Trilogy (bk. 3)
Genera: Dystopian Sci-fi
Subjects: survival, zombies, post-apocalyptic,
Michigan
Age/Grade Level: Teen
Length: 671 pgs.
HC/PB: Hardcover
List Price: $18.99
Publisher: Egmont
Summary/ product description: “The Changed are on the
move. The Spared are out of time. The End...is now.
When her parents died, Alex thought things couldn't
get much worse-until the doctors found the monster in her head.
She headed into the wilderness as a good-bye, to leave
everything behind. But then the end of the world happened, and Alex took the
first step down a treacherous road of betrayal and terror and death.
Now, with no hope of rescue-on the brink of starvation
in a winter that just won't quit-she discovers a new and horrifying truth.
The Change isn't over.
The Changed are still evolving.
And...they've had help.
With this final volume of The Ashes Trilogy, Ilsa J.
Bick delivers a riveting, blockbuster finish, returning readers to a brutal,
post-apocalyptic world where no one is safe and hope is in short supply.
A world where, from these ashes, the monsters may
rise.”
My Review: As final books go, Monster was a real
monster of a book. Extremely long. I’ve only read 1 or 2 books longer. It was
painful to lug it around and read while laying down. I usually don’t read books
this weighty. It could have definitely been 200 pages shorter, or even possibly
2 separate books. Shadow, the 2nd book was more than 100 pages less
than this. Monsters dragged on with to many perspectives and side characters.
Even with the character backstories in the back of the book, I still couldn’t
keep track of all the characters. Why couldn’t it just be Alex’s perspective. I
enjoyed her perspective. She’s funny and smart, and I loved how she was in
Ashes. She’s got survival skill. I liked her inner dialogue, even in 3rd
person. I loved the saying that repeated: “Sometimes you just feel like a nut.”
The other thing that I loved about this series was the
setting. I love Michigan. In summer 2012 I camped in the Porcupine Mountains
state park. We hiked and went swimming in Lake Superior. I hunted for copper
and agates on the beach and on trails. It was fun and beautiful and I’d love to
go back there even if the flies are horrible. This book describes the UP
perfectly in some parts. I’ve never been there in winter, but I feel like I was
now.
The one issue I had was all the made up places the
author wrote into the book. Both Oren and Rule are made-up. As are Mirror Point
and the Waucamaw forest. They are based off of real places, like Ontonagon and
the Ottawa national forest. Real places mentioned in the book: Houghton and
Hancock, which I visited, and Isle Royale located near Thunder Bay. There are
timber wolves in the UP, and Bears. I didn’t see any wild ones.
As far as conclusions go, I don’t feel like the story
wrapped up well. There was too much mind jumping/perspective switching. I also
often found myself skimming the book, or only reading dialogue. I was hoping
for more development in the Changed, or the mystery behind why this all
happened. I’m very disappointed in the overall direction this series went. I
loved the 1st book, Ashes. I wanted closure, and only had more
question. And it’s the final book!!!
I recommend this series to fan of Forest of Hands and
Teeth, the Benny Imura series, the TV show Revolution, fans of the Gone series
by Michael Grant. If you like sci-fi horror, or Stephen King, you may like
this.
Cover Art Review: I love how the typography and imagery
is integrated. The green smoke and the girl in the title. The forest in the
background is barely noticeable, but it’s there!
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