Early Review - Ashen Winter (Ashfall, Book 2) by Mike Mullen (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Post-apocalyptic
Size: 594 pages
Publisher: Tanglewood Press
Release Date: October 16, 2012
ISBN: 978-1933718750
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Ashfall series
Source: eGalley through NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

I got an eGalley of this book to review through NetGalley(dot)com. This is the second book in a planned trilogy. It was an excellent continuation of the series, but also starts bringing in more typical post-apocalyptic themes...think cannibalism.

It is six months after the horrible volcanic events that sent the world into a nuclear winter. During this time Darla and Alex have been make a life of sorts for themselves on Alex’s uncle’s farm. Darla and Alex leave the relative comfort of Alex's uncle's farm in an effort to find his parents.

The book is fast-paced, full of action, and hard to put down. It’s a lot about survival and, as with the previous book, mostly about humanity and surviving in bleak surroundings.

In this book a long winter has set in because of volcanic ash blocking out the sun. As temperatures plummet so do Alex’s hope of finding his parents. Then raiders come to their farm and one of them is carrying Alex’s dad’s rifle. Alex and Darla decide to track down the man to get info on Alex’s parents.

A couple great new characters are added to the story. One is a girl Darla’s age who has had to do things to survive that no girl should ever have to do. The other is her brother, an autistic genius, who is both a great help and a great challenge to deal with.

The book is well written and progresses at a breakneck pace. You are constantly put through emotional turmoil as the characters encounter one life-threatening situation after another. The characters in this book suffer, immensely, and every gory detail is there. So if you don’t like gore you might want to look elsewhere. There were a number of times when the characters were injured in ways that made me a bit queasy.

Alex and Darla are great characters, but there are times in this book when I want to smack Alex. He has a serious problem with charging into situations and it doesn’t improve in this book. He gets everyone almost killed a number of times and many of the horrible situations they end up in are because of his hot-headedness.

I do love that there is some humor in here. Also Alex and Darla truly seem to love and respect each other, their relationship adds some light to a very dark story.

Mostly the story is engaging and interesting but there was one thing that had me groaning in exasperation. Guess what that was? Yep, cannibals. I mean I guess it wouldn't be a good post-apocalyptic novel unless people were eating each other. But seriously, go we have to go there again? I swear everywhere I look people are eating each other in a post-apocalyptic earth. Seriously it’s an uncreative and overdone idea in these types of books. Some characters build greenhouses...but others well I guess it is just easier to eat each other sometimes....

Other than the above this is a very well done book. It is well written and incredibly engaging. There is action and gore, but also situations where the good aspects of humanity really shine. Some great new characters add a lot more to the story as well.

Overall a great read and a wonderful continuation of this story. Some great new characters and a very engaging plot. The surroundings are dark and depressing, but this is lightened with a solid and loving relationship between Darla and Alex and occasional humor. The story is not for the weak-stomached and the addition of cannibalism adds to the yucky factor. This is a well written and solid YA post-apocalyptic read that should appeal to both male and female readers. I definitely recommend this series to those who enjoy post-apocalyptic novels.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge

Review - Ashfall by Mike Mullen (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic/Survival
Size: 476 pages
Publisher: Tanglewood Press
Release Date: September 27th, 2011
ISBN: 978-1933718552
Stand Alone or Series: 1st in the Ashfall series
Source: eGalley through NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley(dot)com. I love reading survival, post-apocalyptic type books and was eager to read about a world in which the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts (I was just in Yellowstone a couple weeks ago, so it was strangely fitting). This was a good book; not exceptional but a decent read. A sequel called, Ashen Winter, is planned for release in October 2012.

Sixteen year old Alex is spending a weekend at home alone when his house is hit by something and set on fire. Little does he know that the supervolcano in Yellowstone has erupted. As ash clogs the air, temperatures drop, and civilization collapses Alex decides to travel to the east in an effort to reach his parents. Along the way he struggles with ash filled air, lack of food, and desperate humans doing what they much to survive.

You can't help but compare this book to Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Granted that book is about an asteroid hitting the moon, but the results are similar. In that book many volcanoes erupt causing the characters to face many of the issues (if in a bit smaller scale) that Alex faces in this book. While I enjoyed reading this book, I couldn't help but feel that I've read about a lot of these issues (air quality, blocking out sunlight, long winters, lawless humanity) before.

This book has a lot of themes that other post-apocalyptic books do. Alex not only struggles against nature but against other humans trying to survive in a lawless society. You also see similar themes of refuge camps being horrible places to live and the military taking advantage of humans who don't have the firepower they do. Basically when faced with mass destruction, humanity shows both its best and worst face.

Alex is an interesting character; he knows karate so that gave him a good skill set for surviving the lawlessness he faced during his travels. He is also very resourceful as he shows by realizing that skis would travel well over ash (although anyone familiar with snow would probably draw the same conclusions).

Things get a lot more interesting when he meets up with Darla. Darla is incredibly strong, resourceful, and really an amazing girl. Her and Alex make a great team and watching them fall in love between attacks, horrible storms, and refuge camps is especially touching.

The book is paced well and the question that really drives the story forward is will Alex make it to his parents. The way the story ends is well done but definitely set up for a sequel. The book is well-written, easy to read, and engaging. The author includes an excellent afterward talking about Yellowstone and some of the other volcano eruptions the story is based on.

Overall while I enjoyed this book I didn't think it was incredibly original. Alex faces many of the same problems that the characters in Life As We Knew It face. The same issues of lawlessness, starvation, air quality, refuge camps, and abandonment by the government are dealt with. This book is a bit more violent than Life as We Knew was. The thing that sets this book apart from other post-apocalyptic books is the relationship that develops between Alex and Darla. Both of these characters are amazingly resourceful and watching them fall in love through all the hardships they face was a beautiful thing. The book is well-written and I would recommend to those who enjoy post-apocalyptic YA reads. I would also recommend Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick, Blood Red Road by Moira Young, and The Reapers Are the Angels: A Novel by Alden Bell.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 100+ Reading Challenge
- The Debut Author Challenge
- E-book Reading Challenge