YA Review: Ashes by Ilsa J Bick

Ashes is the first book in the Ashes trilogy by Ilsa J Bick and a YA from Egmont.

Blurb:

 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.

My thoughts:

Alex is a young woman lost.  Her parents died when she was very little - leaving her to be raised by her grandmother.  If that weren’t tragic enough, not long after their death, Alex found out that she has a medical condition.  A very serious medical condition.

Needing time to regroup and come to terms with the decisions she has recently made, Alex heads to the woods she once hiked with her parents.  The peace she finds is soon broken by an unexplained event that results in the death of an elderly gentleman Alex met on her hike.

With his death, Alex is left to care for his young granddaughter.

The two head out in search of help from the ranger station only to be confronted by a man acting completely insane and intent on causing the girls harm.  At the last minute they are rescued by a young man named Tom who is a soldier on leave from Afghanistan.

The trio form an quick alliance and together head out into the unknown - hoping to find safety in what is fast becoming an unsafe world.

I loved Ashes! 

Post-apocalyptic is one of my all time favorite genre’s and Ashes is a prime example of why.

I give Ashes 5 out of 5 stars.

Product Details
Reading level: Ages 14 and up
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: EgmontUSA (September 6, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1606841750
ISBN-13: 978-1606841754