A Review By Zoe

17 year old orphan Alex Adair is battling with the “monster” in her brain. She is a cancer patient and after having had enough of invasive treatments she decides go hiking in the wilderness of Michigan before saying no to further treatment. Whilst there she meets an elderly man and his sulky nine-year old Granddaughter Ellie.  Suddenly, mid- conversation, an unbearable “zap” of energy hits them, causing the Grandfather to die. Alone and afraid, Alex and Ellie walk the dozens of miles to the nearest ranger’s station. Along the way they discover that all of their electrical equipment no longer works. Then they meet others affected by the “zap”, a few are unhurt, some are dead and others have been changed in terrifying ways.

 

The premise of this book, as with much dystopian teenage fiction, sounds quite daft, and in fact “Ashes” did become quite daft towards the end when it seemed to lurch into a story that, in my opinion, belonged in another book entirely. The first half was brilliant, however. I read it late at night and at one point was afraid to turn the page, which rarely happens to me. The second half of the book threw in a whole host of new situations and questions without addressing any from the previous chapters. It is also a very gory book with some strong language at times, so I wouldn’t recommend it for younger teenagers. I will read the next novel, because of course this is the first in a trilogy, as I would like to know what this life-changing “zap” actually was!