Ashfall (Ashfall, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Oct 22, 2011 Regina rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-publisher-netgalley-edelweiss, ya, favorites, first-in-series, post-apocalyptic, natural-disasters

End of the world story? I am THERE regardless if the book is about zombies, nuclear fall out, or mass pandemic. But, if the end of the world story happens to be about a natural disaster – say like a massive volcano eruption – then I am in heaven. For me, this book is the best of everything in one of my favorite genres. It is a young adult book with a male main character, set in a location I know intimately well because I grew up there, and involving a super volcano eruption and its aftermath. So End of the world story? I am THERE regardless if the book is about zombies, nuclear fall out, or mass pandemic. But, if the end of the world story happens to be about a natural disaster – say like a massive volcano eruption – then I am in heaven. For me, this book is the best of everything in one of my favorite genres. It is a young adult book with a male main character, set in a location I know intimately well because I grew up there, and involving a super volcano eruption and its aftermath. Some survival stories detail the day in and day out of how to survive and some focus on how ugly the world has gotten due to the devolution of human nature – Ashfall incorporates both.

The story begins as many young adult books do, the hero of the story is alone because his parents are gone for the weekend and well, the world ends. The hero is forced to try and survive on his own and he begins a quest to locate his parents. I loved that this story is a rural setting. So many end of the world and survival stories take place in urban settings. The placement of this story in a rural location was not only unique and refreshing but it allowed for the feeling and atmosphere to grow that the characters were alone, stranded and nobody was coming to help them.

The hero is not perfect and he is not able to do everything well; in fact he is pretty much a normal teenage kid. The setting is rural eastern Iowa and north western Illinois and the super volcano erupts in Colorado, spewing ash and emitting horribly loud booming noises 900 miles away to where this story takes place. The entire Midwest appears to be effected by gray skies, extremely cold weather, demolished infrastructure, lack of government and authority and a complete lack of incoming food shipments. The people there are forced to survive. What happens next is the hero’s attempt to make his way through a wasteland, his interactions with people he meets (very bad and some very good) – he has nothing to aid in his survival, except for his basic level of knowledge, his hope that his parents are alive and ….. (drumroll) …. his expertise practical knowledge of tae kwon do. A second character is introduced at some point through the story and she is absolutely amazing, she is truly a heroine. For me, she made the story.

One of the interesting aspects of the book is how the author incorporated issues of corporate greed and deference of government power and authority to private corporations. A third of the way through the story, the characters arrive at a refugee camp, I am not going to post any spoilers, the camp is not run by the United States government, but instead by a private corporation that has been given power and authority to act as a government and is paid with federal money; thus, the outsourcing of federal and military duties to private corporations. And the clear motive of the company receiving the outsourced job was not to help or support society, but instead to profit. This storyline is very subtle, but it is written in a way that draws out emotion and shock. The theme could have been easily over done, but instead it was treaded over lightly enough to provide readers with a visceral reaction and wonder what would happen right now as the result of a natural disaster? Would the scenario Mike Mullin sets up be the one to happen?

So why 4 stars if I loved this book and I have marked it as a favorite? Well, I found the beginning difficult to access as a reader; I was not invested until the crisis began. But once the event happened, this book quickly became one that I could not put down.

The story ends without concluding the characters’ tale, but it does end with hope and it ends without a cliffhanger. I will definitely be reading the next in the series. And note to Mike Mullin if you happen to be reading this, since I am from the area in which you set your book I am more than happy to consult with you. Additionally, one thing you might want to consider is the geographic area for the setting of Ashfall has several nuclear power plants (several!) – how are these plants affected by the eruption of the super volcano?
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Jun 12, 2011 AH rated it it was amazing

Shelves: first-in-series, favorites, young-adult, post-apocalyptic, arc-netgalley, zzread-oct-2011

Wow. I may need to sign up for some Taekwondo classes. That was awesome.

There was a time when I used to watch all those Discovery Channel science shows. Shark Week, Storm Chasers, I watched them all. My all-time favorites were the volcano shows. Then I learned about the Yellowstone Super Volcano. The sheer size of this volcano boggles the mind and should it decide to blow, life on earth (especially North America) would undergo some drastic changes.

Ashfall begins on an ordinary Friday afternoon i ...more

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May 08, 2012 Cee rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, romance, dystopian, apocalyptic

Dystopians seem to be the new vampires. I loved the new trend - but after a while they started to blur together. I think Ashfall which has been published last year is a breath of fresh air in the young-adult genre.

Alex is home alone when the biggest natural disaster of the century happens. He doesn't know it yet, but the Yellowstone supervulcano has erupted, shrouding the sky in darkness and covering the ground with ash. Will Alex be able to find his family? Or will he become one of the many vi Dystopians seem to be the new vampires. I loved the new trend - but after a while they started to blur together. I think Ashfall which has been published last year is a breath of fresh air in the young-adult genre.

Alex is home alone when the biggest natural disaster of the century happens. He doesn't know it yet, but the Yellowstone supervulcano has erupted, shrouding the sky in darkness and covering the ground with ash. Will Alex be able to find his family? Or will he become one of the many victims of the disaster?

Ashfall is a very realistic post-apocalyptic book with dystopian elements. It's one of those books that is so painfully real that it makes you uncomfortable. This could actually happen - there are some notes in the back about the facts that made up this book.

I loved how well-researched this book is. I watched Discovery Channel instead of Disney films when growing up, and a lot of details I encountered in the book made me think "ohh, good job incorporating that into the story!".

Young-adult books are very much dominated by girl point-of-view books. I was happy to see that Mr Mullin not only presented a likeable boy, but also one of the strongest girl love interests I've encountered so far. Darla is a wonderful character. She's literally stronger than Alex which I thought was brilliant, and she's a mechanic that can fix about everything. I'm impressed and a little sad at the same time that a male author writes a better female character than so many female writers.

I've read some complaints that Alex only thought about sex and that he just wanted to do Darla. I completely disagree. He truly cares for her, and sex is secondary to that. I found the relationship between Alex and Darla realistic. Which sixteen and eighteen year olds don't think about sex? In most YA girl point-of-view books sex takes a very background role. They don't think much about it, if at all. I'm not sure why. Is it (still) a taboo subject for girls? Are writers afraid they might come across as sluts? All I know is that the sex part was beautifully handled in Ashfall, and it's safe to read for a slightly younger audience, as the scene fades out before any naked stuff happens.

The dystopian elements is where it went a little bit down-hill for me. In fact, it's probably just a cultural difference between me, a girl from the Netherlands, and the intended audience over there in the States. I'm really not afraid that the government will restrict my movements and that the army kind of takes over the country. I'm not afraid that every person you meet has a gun, because to be honest nobody has a gun here. You would have to import it illegally, and I'm sure that's not going to happen if a volcano goes boom. I'm sure it might be scary for people from the USA, but it's one of those things that doesn't work so well for the people overseas.

I would recommend this book in a second for your son/brother or any other male in your family. About halfway into the book I started poking my boyfriend "Read this! You'll love it!". Girls that like their books dark and realistic, feel free to give it a try too. ...more

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