Ashfall (Ashfall, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Jul 15, 2012 Amy rated it really liked it

This was a really good apocalyptic book. I have really been into those lately having just read the "Life as we know it" series. This book was a fictional account of what would happen if the supervolcano under Yellowstone (which has been dormant for years) were to erupt and what would happen to society (especially the West coast and mid-west) would experience. In this book 16 year old Alex is home alone and his parents and sister are out of town when it erupts. His home in Iowa is destroyed (yes, ...more

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Jul 29, 2012 Nadine in NY Jones rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, dystopian-and-post-apocalyptic

from the NPR poll of best young adult fiction

I started reading this on Oct 29, as the "Frankenstorm" battered NY/NJ and winds outside my NY home were picking up (even though the storm isn't predicted to reach my area for another two days). I have to say, reading about a massive natural disaster while actually anticipating a massive natural disaster can be a bit ... disorienting. I didn't even mean to start reading Ashfall. I sat down on my bed, intending to just flip through all the books I'd pi from the NPR poll of best young adult fiction

I started reading this on Oct 29, as the "Frankenstorm" battered NY/NJ and winds outside my NY home were picking up (even though the storm isn't predicted to reach my area for another two days). I have to say, reading about a massive natural disaster while actually anticipating a massive natural disaster can be a bit ... disorienting. I didn't even mean to start reading Ashfall. I sat down on my bed, intending to just flip through all the books I'd picked up from the library, with the intent of either reading one I'd had for a while, or reading the one chosen by my friend for our "book club" ... either way, not Ashfall. I read a few pages. I thought to myself: hmm, this is from the point of view of a 15 year old boy, and the writing is so pedestrian it actually seems to have been written by a 15 year old boy. No way I like this book.. I read a few more pages. Finally I got comfortable under some blankets and figured I'd read a few chapters. Two hours later, I was halfway through the book, and though I'd been reading by the light of my lamp, I was still startled to get up and realize we had electricity, and running water, and heat, and food in the fridge, and school and work to go to tomorrow .... I had been COMPLETELY immersed in this book.

Sure, there's a few things that bug me about Ashfall. The writing could be better. The characters could be more likeable (and yet, perhaps their faults are part of why this feels so real - these are not super heroes, just regular people - you DO grow to like them). I still don't understand why a volcano hundreds of miles away would instantly knock out cell phone service AND landlines AND running water and electricity, just like that - yes, eventually the ash would drag down the power lines, but why would cell phone service be instantly disabled?? And where is everyone? This disaster leads to a slow death, not sudden death - seems like there should have been more people around, at least in the beginning.

I found myself reflecting on similarities to World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War - obviously World War Z had zombies and Ashfall has volcanic ash, but ... beyond that, there are many similarities. Both books take our existing civilization, add a large disaster, and then analyze what might happen to society, how might the government react, and what is the effect on the world (granted, WWZ is a much more international book). Ashfall doesn't really come out looking so great in comparison - WWZ felt like Max Brooks did a lot more research and analysis. In Ashfall the research was in "what happens when a volcano erupts" more than "what happens to societies when disaster strikes" I found the Harry Seldon-like qualities of WWZ to be much more interesting. That said, Ashfall is still worth a read, to be sure.

I won't say anything more about it - I read a few reviews when I was halfway through, and they spoiled it a bit for me - it's best to read this while knowing NOTHING about it. I had a hard time rating this one. It's not as good as most books that I rate 4 stars (the writing really could be better - it's not BAD, but ... it's not wonderful), but it's better than 3 stars ... ...more

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Apr 20, 2014 Deedee marked it as to-read

Shelves: title-has-1-word, 0t-dystopia, young-adult, young-adult-fantasy-and-sf, year-2011, series-1st, volcanoes, srcs-spring-members-choices, speculative-fiction-20-or-more, published-in-10october

Lexile 750L
IL: UG - BL: 5.0 - AR Pts: 15.0

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May 06, 2011 mstan rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: for-young-adults-or-children, kindle, american, dystopia, src-fall-2012

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May 18, 2011 Ashley marked it as to-read

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May 20, 2011 Kimberly marked it as to-read

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Dec 19, 2011 Jessica rated it really liked it

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Sep 22, 2012 Gaijinmama marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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Oct 14, 2012 Jayme Pendergraft rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2012, src-fall-2012

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Oct 24, 2012 Lindsay rated it really liked it

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Feb 26, 2013 Kirsty marked it as to-read

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Mar 11, 2013 Claire Fun marked it as to-read

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, science-fiction

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Jun 10, 2013 Madeleine rated it liked it

Shelves: kids-ya, speculative-fiction, hey-it-was-free, series

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Aug 16, 2013 Bookchick rated it liked it · review of another edition

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Jun 10, 2014 Amanda R marked it as to-read

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Oct 08, 2015 Kat marked it as to-read

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Jul 19, 2016 Jana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: x2016-reading-challenge

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May 01, 2017 Jennifer marked it as to-read

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Mar 14, 2020 Christi marked it as to-read

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Jan 30, 2021 Kirsten Barber marked it as to-read-soon

Shelves: genre-adventure, genre-fiction, level-young-adult, genre-science-fiction, genre-dystopian, setting-usa, setting-illinois, setting-iowa, to-preread

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Jan 16, 2022 Harvey marked it as to-read

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Oct 01, 2025 Dawn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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