Ashfall Trilogy, Book 1
Juvenile Fiction
Tanglewood Press
2012-10-01
466
After the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano destroys his city and its surroundings, Alex must journey from Cedar Falls, Iowa, to Illinois to find his parents and sister, trying to survive in a new society.
Review:
I absolutely love this book, and the only reason for four stars instead of five is that I felt the beginning dragged a bit. Once the action got going I literally could not put it down. No joke, I carried it into the grocery store with me.
Mr. Mullin’s novel is most certainly not for the faint of heart. It pulls no punches in the gore and general lack of morality that would surely accompany a catastrophic event the size of the Yellowstone super volcano. It’s all there in stark reality: death, greed, abandonment, hopelessness. People can lose their minds in those types of situations.
The characters are excellently written, and Alex has an amazing and believable character arc that flows as though Mr. Mullin actually observed someone being forced to grow up too quickly in a time of crisis. He’s still a child, but we get to see him slowly turn the corner toward becoming a man.
Now on to possibly my favorite female protagonist in the history of young adult (maybe even adult) literature: Darla. She is both entertaining and tough as nails. I have no doubt that she would not only take out Katniss at the beginning of the Hunger Games, but also every other tribute. This girl has everything. If for no other reason, read this book to meet her. Excellent character.
Very few things please me more than an author who is not afraid to write teenagers as they actually are, as opposed to the more sanitized versions preferred by adults. This author is one of the best at that. Sure, they may die, but Alex is still a boy. What boy his age doesn’t think about sex? I have seen some call it unrealistic, but the instinct of humans is actually to become more sexually active when they feel their species is being threatened. This is the same throughout the animal kingdom. So we have a teenager, hormones, and a primal instinct to protect the species. If sex didn’t come up the novel would be ignoring the obvious. Bravo!
Highly recommended read, and to be honest, I now have a strong urge to stock up on condoms and Chapstick. The disaster and fallout are written so vividly that suddenly doomsday preppers don’t look so strange after all. When a road melted in Yellowstone, I was quite ready to leave the country. That’s a good book.
Content Warning:
Strong Language, Violence, Gore, Animal Death, Strong Sexual Situations
