Ashes by Ilsa J Bick

Age Rating: 15+B

THAT ENDING! 

honestly this book had me captivated from page one. It’s pure apocalyptic survival adventure and in 400 and something pages we go from a normal world to a wild one where everyone is out for their own. 

Alex was such a good fmc, I really loved her and everything she did made complete sense. 

It was incredible and I’m so glad I got the whole trilogy! 

 

World – 5/5 – dark and just enough mystery – we didn’t get big info dumps of fact, we got theories and what could have happened and tiny glimpses of what might be happening elsewhere. It really fleshed out this dark gritty world for me and I loved it.

 

Romance – 3/5 – the romance was the weakest part of this book for me, and why I rated it in the end 4.75 (which I might change on a reread, depending on how much it stays with me, and if I reread it within two years which I might well, it was really enjoyably good) but back to the romance. The weakest part, it felt like a perfunctory love triangle which was expected in all books published in 2011 and while I didn’t hate it – which sometimes I really do – I also wasn’t very interested in it. I will say that I prefer Tom’s scenes with her, but the other love interest (no names so no spoilers!) in that last scene was heartwrenching.

 

Plot – 5/5 – incredible. It takes us so far. I turned back to the first page when I was a chapter away from the end and couldn’t believe how far I’d come with Alex. It really felt like a whole journey, and I loved it.

 

Characters – 4.5/5 – I found them interesting, but we didn’t spend a lot of time with anyone except Alex whom I liked, and liked being with so no complaints here but I don’t know enough of the other characters to give them five stars.

 For both the violence and romance ratings you can click on the blue links to give you more of a gauge of what general content is that rating!

Romance Rating: soft – kisses, a few lines of description but all emotions not graphic. 

 

Violence Rating: Level 6 – this is as violent as I read. It’s graphic gore and violence and horrifying abuse to humans and animals. Its quite shocking and abrupt, so do be aware of that. It happens occasionally but when it does its dark. There isnt any sexual abuse on page, but its hinted at off page to a few minor characters, and it’s one of the things of the cult that is suggested at as a result of their misogenistic customs.

 

Content Warnings: GRAPHIC blood, gore and violence, animal abuse (extreme, to dogs, leads to death), cannibalism, death of parents, mentions of mc’s struggles with a brain tumour and her interest in suicide at various times in her life, cults (she ends up in one).