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Ashes, Ashes

by Jo Treggiari (Goodreads Author)

3.44 of 5 stars 3.44 · rating details · 5,005 ratings · 657 reviews

A thrilling tale of adventure, romance, and one girl's unyielding courage through the darkest of nightmares.

Epidemics, floods, droughts--for sixteen-year-old Lucy, the end of the world came and went, taking 99% of the population with it. As the weather continues to rage out of control, and Sweepers clean the streets of plague victims, Lucy survives alone in the wilds of Ce

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Hardcover, 344 pages

Published June 1st 2011 by Scholastic

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Best YA Dystopian/Utopian/Apocalyptic/Post-Apocalyptic

27th out of 246 books — 510 voters

Chance to Dance for You by Gail Sidonie Sobat

White Pine Nominations 2012

3rd out of 14 books — 36 voters

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Mar 24, 2012 karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: why-yes-i-ya

this book had a lot of potential, but ultimately it just didn't win me over.

hi, have we just met??? if so, let me tell you that i love large-scale survival stories and i love teen dystopian novels. i'm not even hiding in the shadows about it anymore. and there are some good ones and there are some bad ones. this one is grouped in my mind with the susan beth pfeffer last survivors trilogy, which means it is conceptually strong, but is unrealistic in its portrayal of human response. more on that...more this book had a lot of potential, but ultimately it just didn't win me over.

hi, have we just met??? if so, let me tell you that i love large-scale survival stories and i love teen dystopian novels. i'm not even hiding in the shadows about it anymore. and there are some good ones and there are some bad ones. this one is grouped in my mind with the susan beth pfeffer last survivors trilogy, which means it is conceptually strong, but is unrealistic in its portrayal of human response. more on that later.

the first third of this book is great. lucy is sixteen, and alone. her family have all died from the virulent strain of smallpox that wiped out most of the world. she is living alone in central park in a shelter she built herself, struggling with the day-to-day necessities of survival (including tsunami-avoidance), dirty and stinky and wounded and not at all the way the front cover would have you believe. she is more like this troll creature, crouching warily and snatching for food. like nell!!!! my favorite part of this is that she has this survival manual she snatched from the floor of a looted bookstore (maybe my bookstore!!!), from which she is desperately trying to turn a stubborn turtle into food. no one ever has a survival manual in these books, and it is great that this character thought of this as she was looting. points scored, there.

she has one knife, and some sweatshirts. she has some bottles for water. and that's pretty much it. (oh, and her yearbook, which was never really explained properly for me, considering she was a wallflower loner type) but that aside, the early survival stuff is great. but too brief.

because then - people. and one she joins up with people and a boyyyyyy and some love quadrangle and some betrayal and danger and confusing fight scenes and a villain that - whaaaat? i just stopped caring.

survival stuff = great. pack of dogs that will come and getcha??
wonderful.

moony eyes and rival glares??
prioritize, kids!!

mild spoilers where i talk around what happens, but you might want to avoid if you are sensitive to that kinda stuff : (view spoiler)

that was a long spoiler, for those of you who didn't peek. it may or may not be a true spoiler. i don't care. if there is a sequel, i will probably read it - i read all the pfeffers, even though they were kind of weak, but i hope that the next one will just be a little tighter and focus more on the strengths (survival know-how), and less on the weaker elements of cackling eeeevil and sullen youth.(less)

63 likes · like · see review

Aug 17, 2011 Eric rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: wish-i-could-unread, debut-author-2011, young-adult-fiction, sequel-i-think-not, girlfriend-what-is-he-doing, kill-me-now, skepticism-was-on-high-alert, smoking-the-crack-pipe, what-in-the-hell-is-going-on, couldn-t-have-cared-less, adult-contemporary, this-is-how-the-world-ends

At first I was thinking that a good comparison for the book would be a blind date but thinking further it's closer to a relationship that is just about to break up -- horribly. There's no mystery, passion is long gone, and any intimacy is just a sad joke from here on out.

At no point did I care enough about anyone in this to to accept the things that goes on throughout the book. Eventually not only did I stop trying I just about shut down. I had less than an hour left and I kept thinking how did...more

15 likes · like · see review

Aug 24, 2011 Marg K. rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1-star-rating

Like with most hot summer flings, my borderline obsessive, punch-drunk infatuation with YA dystopian fiction has finally blown its spark plug and officially fizzled out. Looking back on it all, there were definitely some good times (namely the awesomely gory zombie killing and the adrenaline-pumped running for your mother-lovin' life), but there were also A LOT of bad times.

Therefore, I was really hoping that my last farewell rendezvous would turn out to be a fun one and that YA dystopian fictio...more Like with most hot summer flings, my borderline obsessive, punch-drunk infatuation with YA dystopian fiction has finally blown its spark plug and officially fizzled out. Looking back on it all, there were definitely some good times (namely the awesomely gory zombie killing and the adrenaline-pumped running for your mother-lovin' life), but there were also A LOT of bad times.

Therefore, I was really hoping that my last farewell rendezvous would turn out to be a fun one and that YA dystopian fiction and I could part ways (at least for a while) on a happy note. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, our tumultuous relationship ended in even more disappointment...and a bit of mild, bilingual cussing.

Bloody hell, I hate to say it ('cos I'm kinda starting to sound like a broken record), but I just didn't enjoy this book. Allow me to elaborate.

Ashes Ashes, definitely started off on the right foot with me. Immediately, the reader is introduced to Lucy, a klutzy average teenage girl trying her best to survive on her own in the wilderness after the world as we know it has been brought to ruin by a series of wide-sweeping environmental disasters and a deadly, highly contagious plague.

Being a tutorial and how to guide junkie myself, I was actually able to get behind the idea that Lucy was capable of learning valuable skills & techniques from a survival guide she picked up along her travels. In my mind, I imagined the guide to be written by the very resourceful & ballsy Bear Grylls. In fact, I got excited because I was hoping that Lucy's story would take the Man vs Wild route and focus on her post-apocalyptic adventures facing off against a seriously pissed off Mother Nature. And so, the first handful of chapters kept me quite interested and had me looking forward to seeing Lucy tackle various challenges thrown her way.

Sadly, my excitement wore off rather quickly, and the moment Lucy joined up with a camp of other survivors, the story pretty much went downhill and eventually crashed & burned for me.

In all honesty, the camp might as well have been named West Beverly High because the majority of what happened there involved silly teenage melodrama & angst a la 90210. There was a whole lot of I-hate-him-but-I-like-him nonsense, cheesy flirting, repressed feelings, childish rivalry, icy glares, and non-communication leading to unnecessary misunderstandings.

Seriously, there was a whole big chunk of the book in which nothing of real significance or plot development happened; it felt like pointless filler. The interactions between the characters weren't even meaningful and neither was much of the dialogue. It all felt very superficial. And I never felt as though I really got to know any of the characters. They all seemed like flat paper cutouts of common cliches. There was the insecure plain Jane heroine, the quiet broody love interest, the goofy flirt, the beautiful mean girl, the wise matriarchal granny, and the mad scientist/evil villain. And that's all they were; they had no depth or complexity to them. Consequently, I couldn't bring myself to be interested in or care about any of them.

Finally, there was also quite a bit of stuff that didn't make logical sense or completely add up in my mind. In particular, the explanations behind the plague, its spread, and immunity didn't jive well with what I've personally studied & learned about viral diseases. And I didn't understand why the camp just waited around (out in the open) to get picked off one by one, and why the Sweepers had such laughably incompetent security.

So, yeah, I truly wanted to like Ashes Ashes, and I saw potential in the story, but there wasn't enough substance to the characters and the plot was too simplistic, linear, and predictable for me to get engrossed in the adventure and enjoy the book. (less)

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Jun 26, 2011 Stacey (prettybooks) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-after-university, dystopian-or-post-apocalyptic, read-in-my-twenties, young-adult-fiction

I had wanted to read Ashes, Ashes for such a long time – it received high ratings when reviews started to emerge so I put at the top of my mental “young adult dystopia ‘must read’ list”. However, now that I’ve read it, I’m not entirely sure it is a dystopian novel. I think people can get confused and think that if it’s a futuristic novel (especially if it’s an apocalyptic novel) then it’s automatically dystopian. While I’m not completely certain (and therefore it shall remain on my YA dystopia l ...more I had wanted to read Ashes, Ashes for such a long time – it received high ratings when reviews started to emerge so I put at the top of my mental “young adult dystopia ‘must read’ list”. However, now that I’ve read it, I’m not entirely sure it is a dystopian novel. I think people can get confused and think that if it’s a futuristic novel (especially if it’s an apocalyptic novel) then it’s automatically dystopian. While I’m not completely certain (and therefore it shall remain on my YA dystopia list), I personally wouldn’t put it in the dystopian genre. It’s much more like Life as We Knew It. It focuses on life in a post-apocalyptic (or apocalyptic - 99% of the world’s population has been killed off by a terrible plague but there’s no indication that the apocalypse is over and therefore they may not be living in a post-apocalyptic world…). Genres can be tricky things.

Pedantic discussion of genres aside, I really loved Ashes, Ashes. It may not have the dramatic action sequences that similar books have but I think it works really well in this case. There’s a lack of dialogue in the first few chapters, which it has been criticised for, but I cannot see why that is. We watch as sixteen-year-old Lucy attempts to survive alone in the wild. I personally find this sort of storyline fascinating and I think it shows that a story doesn’t necessarily need to constantly have conversations to be exciting and engaging.

Nonetheless, Lucy eventually does make contact with other humans and this is where it begins to get complicated for her. Ashes, Ashes is an inspiring survival story and raises the question of whether it’s better to band together or go it alone. It makes you think “What would I do in this situation?”. I pretty much adored all the characters – Aidan (the love-interest – yes it features romance but it isn’t the main focus of the book, which is important to note), Del (what’s up with her?), Henry (hilarious), as well as Leo, Sammy and Grammalie Rose (extremely admirable characters). I wanted to find out more about them all. It had the same sense of wonder and fear of what was going to happen as in Life as We Knew It but had the added thriller-type intrigue of what exactly do the Sweepers want with members of the camp and why have they taken particular interest in Lucy?

While the ending isn’t perfect, I thought it was satisfactory and it didn’t ruin my overall enjoyment of the novel – I still loved it. It gets points from me for being a standalone novel (so rare these days within YA fiction) although it doesn’t quite work as well as it could have. Without giving too much away, the climatic ending needed much more detail, which would have most likely made it more exciting, horrifying and perhaps would have pushed it into the dystopian genre. And that’s what we want, right?

Overall, even though I wouldn’t describe this as a dystopian novel, I thoroughly enjoyed Ashes, Ashes and I’d say that it’s still well worth reading. It most likely would still interest fans of young adult dystopia.

Dystopian or Not Dystopian? Not Dystopian(less)

5 likes · like · see review

Jan 23, 2012 Yarethzia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: wished-i-owned

Upcoming Review:

But for now....

Ever wondered how it would be to live in a world where the only weather alternated between droughts and storms, oh wait... add in a disease that's killed most of the world population and a few tsunamis and massive earthquakes, yup that's good enough.

This world Jo Treggiari has built is amazing! So much detail, action, and eyy everyone needs some love once in a while right?
The character is strong, independent and smart. The guy is swoon-worthy .. I guess, not as m...more

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 29, 2011 Ash rated it 3 of 5 stars

This really had a lot of promise, but (…oh, there is always a but) it just didn’t do it for me. The author could’ve done so much more, but didn’t take advantage of what she’d already set up. It was interesting, but not really exciting.

Quick Overview: 16 year-old Lucy is surviving on her own in the wilds of Central Park, while floods and droughts still plague New York City. The ravage of natural disasters and the epidemic that killed millions of the population leaves Lucy as the last survivor of...more This really had a lot of promise, but (…oh, there is always a but) it just didn’t do it for me. The author could’ve done so much more, but didn’t take advantage of what she’d already set up. It was interesting, but not really exciting.

Quick Overview: 16 year-old Lucy is surviving on her own in the wilds of Central Park, while floods and droughts still plague New York City. The ravage of natural disasters and the epidemic that killed millions of the population leaves Lucy as the last survivor of her family. The S’ans (infected survivors of the plague) still roam the city. Lucy hasn’t been in contact with another person in months until a boy named Aidan rescues her from a pack of ravage dogs hunting her. He tells her that he lives with a group of other survivors. After her shelter is destroyed she looks for Aidan and the settlement and suprisingly finds herself at home among them. But the people of the settlement are being taken by the Sweepers and no one knows what they’re doing to them. It’s up to Lucy and Aidan to save their friends, but it’s exactly what the Sweepers want.

This had a lot going for it, but everything was just…okay. I mean, how excited can you really be when you’ve been practically told the entire story in the blurb? Honestly, everything in the blurb is exactly what you get in the book. The last 30 pages is the only thing you don’t know is going to happen. Not to mention I guessed all the “twists” waaaaay before. I couldn’t really grasp or feel the disaster that the book describes and I noticed that I didn’t really feel a whole lot towards Lucy. The romance is a little lack luster. There’s some stuff that isn’t really explained, like Aidan’s background or anyone else’s really besides Lucy’s. The villain (and some of the other characters) are weird. The things they do don’t make ANY sense with their character.

I liked some things, like the fact that Lucy used a survival guide instead of being some natural Amazonian warrior. The idea of the S’ans was also interesting, but again that isn’t really talked about. The reason why the Sweepers are taking people should’ve been brought more to the forefront of the book. It was the best thing it had going for it. The book lacks a message (or at least a distinct one). At the very end there seems to be a bit of a slap-on effort to give the book a point, but it’s just stuck in there without any real air time. Also, I kept waiting for something to happen. For being a dystopia book it’s surprising how much doesn’t happen. I think I had certain expectations for this book because of the other dystopia books that I’ve read. This book would be good for younger readers or someone who’s just starting out in the dystopia genre, but you won’t find much nitty-gritty action with a resonating message in this.
(less)

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Apr 26, 2011 The BookWhisperer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, series

Ashes, Ashes is a terrifyingly realistic view at the world� s end. BookWhisperer is not known for books such as this one; after several struggles this is usually a book that I would have avoided. Much to my surprise Ashes, Ashes will be the first of this type of book on my favorites list. Lucy is the strong and courageous sixteen year old that will follow throughout this novel. Being the soul survivor of her entire family she has set out to living in the wild alone. It is remarkable to follow th...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Danna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ashes, Ashes gave me more than I was expecting. Full of action, adventure, and a touch of romance, this magnificent story is sure to gain reader’s interests.
The world of Ashes, Ashes seemed so realistic and I loved all the details and explanations that led me to feel for all the characters. Lucy is officially one of my favorite heroines in YA literature. Her survival in all of the suffering, pain, and destruction in this book amazed me. Aiden was another great character and I liked how much of a...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 02, 2011 Rory rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopian-fun-fests, kids

Um, when your hero chick is supposed to be crazy grubby, with necessarily shorn hair and tatters for a wardrobe...don't portray her on the cover wearing spotless skinny jeans, long lush locks, and a bright white tea (seemingly with a push-up bra to boot). Just...don't. I skimmed from chapters four on and found this to be what the over-descriptive book jacket promised: insipid, MOR, boy-saves-girl-who-acts-tough-until-the-kissing-starts.

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Jun 28, 2011 Karissa rated it 2 of 5 stars

I bought an ARC of this book at The Strand bookstore when I was in NYC for the Book Expo this year. I had been trying to decide if I wanted to read this book or not. I love post-apocalyptic survival stories so I decided to pick it up. It was okay, not nearly as good as some of the other options out there, but an okay story.

Lucy has been surviving on her own for nearly a year in Central Park in NYC. After small-pox epidemic annihilated the population, the climate changed alternating droughts and...more I bought an ARC of this book at The Strand bookstore when I was in NYC for the Book Expo this year. I had been trying to decide if I wanted to read this book or not. I love post-apocalyptic survival stories so I decided to pick it up. It was okay, not nearly as good as some of the other options out there, but an okay story.

Lucy has been surviving on her own for nearly a year in Central Park in NYC. After small-pox epidemic annihilated the population, the climate changed alternating droughts and horrible flooding. When dogs and floods drive her out of her makeshift home she ends up with a group of survivors living commune style. The mysterious Sweepers have started picking off members of the commune one by one an Lucy is frustrated with the groups acceptance of the situation. Lucy is intrigued by a boy named Aidan and is urging him to rally the group to fight, but there are things about herself Lucy doesn't know that complicates the issue.

This book starts out very slow. Around page 80 or so I almost stopped reading it, I didn't like Lucy as a character and Treggiari's writing style was just a bit too mechanical for me. She does an excellent job describing the gritty side of survival; blisters and uncleanliness, gutting animals etc but somehow it just wasn't that interesting..the writing style was a bit to disconnected or something. Once Lucy meets up with the large survivor camp things pick up and get a bit more interesting.

The "romance" between Lucy and Aidan is pretty thin, which is odd since the book touts itself as a romantic read. There are lingering glances and a kiss or two, not much meaningful conversion. The romance is definitely pushed to the back of the story, the story focuses more on survival and figuring out the mystery behind the Sweepers and their purpose.

The plot was a little schizophrenic. In the beginning is was a book about survival, the mid portion focuses more on commune living, and the end is suddenly about genetic engineering and the science of vaccinations. I think somewhere in here there could have been a really great story, but it got confused because Treggiari couldn't figure out what to focus on. I was a bit thrown with the whole evil scientist thing at the end of the book. I mean come on, that was so predictable and so cliche, I expected something more profound or deeper to happen. I was also a bit disappointed that we don't get any insight into the rest of the world. The book is very focused on just Lucy's little world.

The characters were okay. Lucy, Aiden, and Del are fairly engaging, if not really likable. As readers we never get enough insight into them to really make us care a whole lot about what happens to them. The book ends well enough and resolves the major plot point while leaving the characters overall survival problems unsolved.

Overall this was an okay book. It starts out slow but the second half is engaging enough if a bit cliche and unfocused. The characters are okay, the plot is a bit unfocused, and the book didn't have as big of an impact on me as I hoped for. The problem is there are so many great post-apocalyptic young adult books out there. I would personally recommend skipping this book and checking out the following books: Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, Blood Red Road by Moira Young, The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell, Feed by Mira Grant (more of an adult read), Divergent by Veronica Roth (more of a dystopia), and Wither by Lauren DeStefano (more of a dystopia). After you read all of those if you crave more post-apocalyptic survival YA reads then maybe check this out.(less)

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Jan 13, 2013 Vivian rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopias-and-apocalyptics, depressing-reads

This review can also be found on my blog, Vivaciously, Vivian

"Ashes, Ashes" quite clearly draws from a 2012, 'end of the world', apocalyptic theme. The diction has a pattern that can be compared to the state of the occurring natural catastrophes that is constant throughout the book. That is to say, the first one-fifth of the whole book was clearly a time of painful waiting, and then one is hit with a medium-strengthed wave of plot advancement.

From then, "Ashes, Ashes" proceeds much more effecti...more

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Mar 08, 2012 Megan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Ok... well...

What I liked - Lucy... Sammy... everything in-between the extreme descriptions.

Don't get me wrong, I like an author with a clear point of view but I also don't need a road map with every hedge, pebble and sidewalk explained to me in order to get to my destination.

Also there didn't really seem to be a whole lot to the book. The same kind of stuff keeps happening with no real surprises. I kept thinking, alright this time it's going to be different. But the story never took a differen...more

3 likes · like · see review

Aug 16, 2011 Yvo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Inhalt

Tödliche Epidemien, Tsunamis und Klimakatastrophen – die sechzehnjährige Lucy hat das Ende der Welt kommen und gehen gesehen. Als eine der wenigen Überlebenden eines alles vernichtenden Virus versucht sie sich in den zum Dschungel gewordenen Ruinen von New York durchzuschlagen.

Doch Lucys Welt ist voller Bedrohungen: gefährliche Diebe und skrupellose Plünderer streifen umher. Als eine Horde wilder Hunde sie jagt, gelangt sie ans Ende ihrer Kräfte. Doch wie aus dem Nichts taucht Aidan auf –...more

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May 29, 2011 Adam Silvera added it

Shelves: 52-youngster-books-for-2011

I need to pass this book along to someone else.

I feel like I need someone else to read this to tell me, "Hey, Adam, this book's not THAT bad. What's your deal?" I feel pretty confident though that anyone who's read a popular, action-filled dystopian novel, ("The Hunger Games", "The Maze Runner", "Divergent", to name a couple) you'll totally pull "Ashes, Ashes" off your shelf to make room for another.

I really wanted to like this as the concept is interesting, especially to a born-and-raised New...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Amanda rated it 1 of 5 stars

Crappy book.. very disappointed! the main plotline - Lucy being searched for by the Sweepers for "something" that was WAY too obvious from the very beginning, and the whole book just seemed so stupid. nothing happened, would never recommend this book to anyone. even the love story was horrible. I predicted the entire book immediately and it played out exactly as I had guessed with zero twists and no surprises. I will never read a book of Jo Treggiari's EVER AGAIN.

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Nov 29, 2011 Michelle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, teen, dystopia

Dystopian stories are really big right now, so I have read a lot of them recently. For me this was one didn't stack up very well. A plague wipes out most of the world's population and natural disasters destroy the landscape. Lucy is a teenager who has survived on her own for over a year. But when a tsunami wrecks her camp, she joins a small community struggling to survive. Then some of her friends are kidnapped, and she works to free them. [return][return]There was a lot that didn't work in this...more

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Apr 19, 2013 Ihateliberals rated it 2 of 5 stars

Let me start by saying this: It's not that bad. You will survive. The book has potential but has many flaws.

Flaw 1: The main character is a COMPLETE cunt. shes always falling and cutting herself accidentaly. How did she survive two years while also being pretty stupid?

Flaw 2: WAAAAAAAY too many survivors. If 99% of the worlds population was dead, there would not be a tenth of the survivors in this book. Even though 99% of humanity is gone, it's still pretty easy to find survivors.

Flaw 3: The pla...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Eliza rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's a good book. I liked the detail and the beginning especially was very hooking and made me want to read more. But, I felt like after she went to the camp, the intensity decreased and got lost somewhere. I really liked the message about the S'ans and how everyone else was believing the propaganda spread by the evil people that the S'ans were contagious and stuff.

The ending was a little too rushed for me and didn't really strike me as different. She get's caught. She get's kept in a cell. Som...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Janani Subramanian rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thought that this was a pretty good book. I love the 'end of the world', or any "sci-fi" books. This one was interesting, at some parts the main character seemed strong, woot, love characters like that, and at other parts she would seem weak, and I was like, wut? I ended up not knowing whether to like the main character or not...it was complicated. I thought the storyline and everything was awesome, action suspense, etc, etc. I could go on about how awesome it was. THANK GOD IT WAS NOT A SERIE...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Erica rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: i-like-me-some-ya, i-love-dystopia, reading-challenge-team-a, 2013-reading-challenge

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 15, 2013 Ariel G. rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book tells the story of sixteen - year - old Lucy, who lives on her own in the wilderness of a world ravaged by a plague of hemorrhagic smallpox. When she is rescued from a pack of hunting dogs by the mysterious Aidan, she finds out that everything she believes about the end of the world is a lie. After escaping a tsunami which destroys her home, she is forced to find shelter at Aidan's settlement, Hell Gate. There, Lucy learns that mysterious 'Sweepers' from Roosevelt Island have been pic...more

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Dec 26, 2012 Deedles rated it 2 of 5 stars

Jo Treggiari seems like a pretty cool woman from the little blurb about her on the back flap thing and this is a YA dystopian novel with a female protagonist, so this story should be fun right?

Eh, not really. This book didn't succeed in convincing me of much of anything and I found I was counting down how many pages were left every time I finished a chapter. I didn't like any of the characters enough to care about them and I didn't really know what they wanted (other than to survive from day to...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Lonna Cunningham rated it 2 of 5 stars

I realize the target audience for the book would be someone less than half my age, but ...
... the 'romance' was, well, sooooo high school, which makes minimal sense in a post apocalyptic world where teens are functioning as adults
... I had to work reeeeaaally hard to suspend disbelief in many places: bleeding a girl to death to get samples for research? Powerful people with vehicles and tasers snatching just two or four subjects at a time, when with minimal additional effort they could take twen...more

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Sep 16, 2012 Tanner.m rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ashes, Ashes
fiction
344 pages
Ashes, Ashes is a book about the world ending and what happens next. Lucy Holloway was an out cast and not very popular with few friends before the first wave of the plague. This plauge killed millions of people and the sexcond wave wiped out most survivors. After her mother, father,
and brother died she left. she found a survival book and used it to help here make a fort in the forest and it helped her find and prepare food. But one day when she was looking for food...more
Ashes, Ashes
fiction
344 pages
Ashes, Ashes is a book about the world ending and what happens next. Lucy Holloway was an out cast and not very popular with few friends before the first wave of the plague. This plauge killed millions of people and the sexcond wave wiped out most survivors. After her mother, father,
and brother died she left. she found a survival book and used it to help here make a fort in the forest and it helped her find and prepare food. But one day when she was looking for food a pack of angry wolfs chased her and thats when she met adian who helper getaway be climbing a tree. He told her about a great camp with plenty of food and people just past Hells Gate. Instead though see went back to the fort, but the next day a flood crashed throught the forest and lucy barrly escaped as it destroyed her fort. After that she was forced to make the journy to the camp. Once she got there the camp was attacked by sweepers who took some people and injerd others and some fought back and attacked the sweepers. One man named Leo took a nail studded board and attacked the sweepers, he injued 2 but then got tased and fell to the ground. .The next day she found adian with a girl named Del and she soon realized Del didn't like here. After that Grammalie Rose(The unaffical camp leader)put her to work and told her if she doesn't work like everybody else she gets no food. Soon lucy meet sammy who was a boy who had survived the plague, but his body was still deformed from the affects. But soon the sweeperscame agian they took Leo and Del. Then three days later Leo came back, but he had the plague and on that day he died. The Del came back and she made adian and lucy come with here to go back to the evil hospital the took her to and to help more people escape. But soon they get to the hospital and theyy learn its a fake they get flanked with Sweepers and Del attacks lucy and gives her to the hospital so she can save the kids that are trapped there. Then lucy met Dr.Lessing who was an evil doctor and she only wanted lucy for her blood. Lucy sonn was nocked out because Dr.Lessing gave her sleeping pills. Lucy woke up with her blood being drained but she pulled out the tube in her arm and tryed to open her door but it was lok=cked from the outside. But then Sammy came bursting through and got Lucy then they moved next door where adian was being held they got him out to and planned there escape. But when trying to escape they got attcked. They where blindsided by 8 sweepers and Dr.Lessing. But then Del came from behind Dr.lessing and forced her to let them leave but the docter fought back. Then thjey all dashed for an escape and as they where escaping there barrly missed get mauled by dogs. After all of this Del left to go north with sammy and Lucy and Adian ended up dating.

I liked this book because it had a lot of action and twists. I also like this book because it had many charicters with different personalitys and traits like Del, Leo, Sammy, and Grammaline Rose.
This book also hade many suspenceful parts like when the sweepers attacked and when Lucy Adian Sammy and Del made there escape.My favorite part is when lucy and them make there escape because it is very suspenceful and action packed.

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Aug 02, 2012 Danielle rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was so excited to read this book! I had been waiting for a long time for it to come out in paperback, but I couldn't wait any longer and got it in hardcover. I finished reading it in one day... but not because it was the best book I ever read, but because the story line was so simple and there were no real turns of events. Actually, a lot of the story was predictable (especially why Lucy's so special. I guessed it from reading the back of the book!). There was no mystery to this novel and no s...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Carrie rated it 3 of 5 stars

In “Ashes, Ashes,” New York (and seemingly the rest of the country) has fallen victim to devastating weather – tornadoes, floods, droughts, tsunamis, etc. – and the plague (well, not the black plague, but smallpox). There are very few people left in NYC, mostly children and the elderly. A great deal of the city is now under water and what is left has mostly been bombed and burned after the second wave of the plague. Life is NOT as we now know it. Lucy Halloway is the sole survivor from her famil...more In “Ashes, Ashes,” New York (and seemingly the rest of the country) has fallen victim to devastating weather – tornadoes, floods, droughts, tsunamis, etc. – and the plague (well, not the black plague, but smallpox). There are very few people left in NYC, mostly children and the elderly. A great deal of the city is now under water and what is left has mostly been bombed and burned after the second wave of the plague. Life is NOT as we now know it. Lucy Halloway is the sole survivor from her family. She has been living on her own for over a year, relying on survival skills she learned in a book to keep her alive. One night, while being pursued by dogs, she meets Aiden. Aiden lives about two miles from Lucy in a camp of survivors. After a tsunami destroys her camp, Lucy finds herself drawn to Aiden’s camp at Hell’s Gate. However, immediately upon her arrival, Lucy witnesses an “attack” by a group of Sweepers – people who show up in white vans wearing Hazmat suits and masks, allegedly sent by the hospital. They take away several children and elderly people while the other members of the camp look on in horror, unable to do anything to help. A second attack occurs shortly afterwards, and two of the leaders of the camp, Leo and Del, are taken. However, (view spoiler)

I can’t really put my finger on what it is about this book that I didn’t like. Lucy was a nice, believable character. Aiden was emotional but tough, sweet but “dangerous.” The setting of the book is plausible enough: we are experiencing extreme weather phenomena; scientists are warning about global warming; terrorists are known to have stockpiles of the smallpox virus that have been weaponized… the fictional world Lucy lives in could become reality. I guess it was the plot that just didn’t thrill me. The plot kind of plodded along, with little happening, and when things did happen, they just weren’t that exciting. Some events didn’t seem probable; some events seemed too predictable… I don’t know, I just didn’t “buy” the conflicts and resolutions.

If you liked “The Hunger Games” and/or “Divergent,” give “Ashes, Ashes” a try. It’s certainly a three-star book, and it’s hard not to admire Lucy.(less)

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Jul 16, 2012 Johanna Freivalds rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book's title and the story reminds me so much of the ancient plague song "Ring around the Rosie". I'm uncertain whether this was a deliberate literary device by the author, or just coincidental but in any case, that's the connection I made and kept coming back to while reading. After purchasing this book for my school library, I was curious enough to want to read it entirely rather than just settling on the brief reviews I'd read before making my purchasing decision. Overall, I found this t...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Corinne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Ever since the world fell apart, Lucy has had to make it on her own. All her own. As one of the terrifyingly few who survived a pandemic plague, Lucy's been able to make do, so far. As climate changes wreak havoc on the tiny sheltered life she's created, there is suddenly a new threat that leads her to make contact with an actual human being. And this interaction leads her down a path that turns her solitary world upside down and reminds her of what it is to be a part of a community - and the ri...more

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May 21, 2012 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars

Good start, but veered off course. I was interested in the girl trying to survive on her own. But plot went downhill when she met up with the others. The bad guys just didn't make sense.

As an aside, how could she find her area of the park after a tsunami? I've tried to find a spot I was very familiar with by my home after a creek burst out of its banks one winter. The big trees were all chewed up and up rooted. The many pounds of force from flood water and ice just battered everything. I'm pret...more

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Apr 13, 2012 Heather Pearson rated it 1 of 5 stars

Global warming has wrecked havoc on New York City. Streets and highways have been turned to rivers and Central Park now has an ocean view. Four years later, a virulent plague strikes and wipes out much of the world's population, leaving a remnant of less than one percent living.
Lucy is the sole survivor of her family; everyone she knows has died. Now she makes her home in the wilds of Central Park. For a while she lived in a city shelter, but the Sweepers kept abducting people for some unknown...more

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About Jo Treggiari

I was born in London, England but grew up in Canada, Roccasinibalda, Italy and California.Somehow I found myself on the beautiful south shore of Nova Scotia, where I now live.
I used to work in the music industry and eventually owned my own indie record label. The first CD we ever put out was by a gangsta rap group. We also did alt rock and punk.
I have trained as a boxer. I could have been a conten...more

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“Aidan was nowhere to be seen. She pictured him glowering in the shadows somewhere, breaking sticks or punching walls, or something equally useless.” — 14 people liked it

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