Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick Review

What would life be like if an EMP hit us and billions  died, leaving only the really young and the old survived. Add to that the fact that anyone between the ages of 12-65 might not totally die, but become a zombie-like cannibal . Seems a bit unbelievable, but unique, no?  Well, this is the premise for the book Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick.

Ashes follows Alex, a seventeen year old who has terminal cancer and is hiking out in the woods. Ashes  is a book that gets off to a fast paced start, and by page 30, the "Zap" has happened, leaving Alex with super-smell, and 8-year Ellie's grandfather dead.  Even though Alex doesn't like Ellie, she can't leave her out in the woods by herself, so the unlikely duo sets off towards the ranger station.

Along the way, the pair comes across two teenagers who are feasting on a woman, and the duo runs away.(Who would blame them?)  This leaves both Alex and the reader wondering what caused the teenagers to act this way.  If this isn't enough, the get attacked by wild dogs and an twenty-year old war veteran who's name is Tom has to save them.

Although I liked the pacing and characters in the first half of the book, I didn't understand how a seventeen year old, who had been in the hospital a lot,  knew everything there was to know about surviving the wilderness. Also, she was able to name everything about the types of guns, and give a description about them, which I don't think many seventeen year olds would know about.

This is a very minor gripe compared to the one I had to the second half of this book. The action slows down, almost to the point of non-exstience,  when Alex gets to the town of Rule. Its seems like a pretty crazy town, ruled by a Council of Five and filled by a bunch of people who tried to linch her when she stepped into town. At first, she thinks about escape, but she never attempts it. Instead, she works as a doctor's assistant and falls right in, even though she needs an escort wherever she goes.  The ending was a cliffhanger, making it kind of love or hate. Giving no clue on what will happen to Alex, the ending wanted me wanting more and waiting for the next book in the series.


So,  lets recap.  The first half of this book had was great, but the second half was kinda...Huh. Overall, I think this book is worth your time and I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

My Rating:

Rip Tide Review

Rip Tide by Kat Falls Title Page

Rip Tide by Kat Falls is a sequel to Dark Life. If you haven't read Dark life I'll fill you in really quick. The ice caps have melted and alot of land has been flooded, causing people to live in "stack-cities".  So, some people have the bright idea to move out sea, living on big floating rigs called townships. The people who live on townships are "surfs", while "settlers"  are people who live on the ocean floor and farm crops.  Ty, the protagonist and narrator, is a settler by birth and has lived on the ocean floor his whole life, and so, like all other children who live under the sea for long enough, has a "Dark Gift", which is basically a superpower.  Ty's is biosonic, which means he can talk to sea creatures, and see in the pitch dark, kinda like aquaman.

Basically in the last book, Ty meets a person who lives in a stack-city named Gemma. She's trying to find her brother so she can go live with him, as she no longer wants  to live in an orphanage. Long story short, she crashes, Ty finds her, and they go back to Ty's home were they meet the Seablite gang. The Seablite gang ends up deflating, yes deflating, a house. Ty and Gemma decide to do a little work and find out were the gang is. They go to fight the gang, but find out the that Gemma's brother, Shade, is actually the leader of the gang.  They let the outlaws go, and everyone should be happy.

Well in Rip Tide we find out that it okay  until  Ty and Gemma find an anchored township with a bunch of dead surfs. They call the Seaguard, which is like the police, to investigate and find out that 3 townships have gone missing in the last 3 months. The next day, when Ty's parents go to trade with the surfs they kidnapped. Ty and Gemma try to stop them but fail as the surf's sub is state of the art, which to Ty is strange because the surfs are dirt poor. Maybe it isn't the surf's who kidnapped his parents?  They tell the Seaguard, but to Ty it seems as if they aren't doing enough. What do they do? Well, Gemma's brother Shade is boxing on Rip Tide, an old oil rig turned town, were it turns into an action packed race for survival.

Kat Falls writes an action-packed book. From chapter one, Ty is risking his life as he goes out of the sub and comes face to face with a giant squid. The action doesn't stop from they, as they are chased, attacked, and in one case put in a cage with a crocodile.  One thing I love to see more of in this book is world building. It seems like a very interesting world, but Ty never stops and really explains something looks, or how it works. Also, The romance of this book seemed a little forced. One second they were friends and the they were explaining how they loved each other and kissing.

In the end, Rip Tide was a short, action-packed book that will have you. I mean in what other book can you find people who live under the sea,  kids with superpowers, and a fight with a crocodile?



My Rating: