Friday Reads: Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin!!

I'm gonna be starting this week's Friday Reads with the sequel for one of this week's Mark This Book Monday entries. It's always great when a sequel builds up over the previous book but also manages to stand on its own. No middle book syndrome for this one, sometimes I felt like I needed to take a breather with everything that was happening but I also had to keep on reading to see what happened next!

This one is also part of two of my challenges, the 2014 Series Challenge and the Dystopian Reading Challenge 2014!

Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ashen Winter is exactly what a middle book in a trilogy should be, full of a plot that will stand on its own, that moves the general plot of the series along and that will make you want to keep on turning the pages!

As always, you ought to expect some spoilers for book one, Ashfall, in this review, but I will do my very best to keep it as spoiler free for the main plot points of the book.

Ashen Winter starts where Ashfall leaves us, with Darla and Alex finding some sort of a safe haven, that proves to be not as safe as everyone would have wished. But Alex still feels like he needs to find his parents, so he and Darla decide to trust what little information they have and mount an expedition of two to try and locate and bring back Alex's parents.

This is another book where Darla and Alex are travelling, and though they are more prepared and know more about surviving in the new world, with the volcanic winter and the hardships of it, it's still as dangerous or even more than it was before, since all the survivors are making their choices on how they're gonna ensure they continue to survive.

While Ashfall was more about living through the catastrophe and the consequences of it while trying to get your head around the new reality that you had found yourself in, Ashen Winter is more about surviving and trying to adapt to that new reality, and how it will change you as a person, or not.

One of the biggest strenghts of this book is not only how it shows us the harsh conditions people have to deal with, but also how people would react to those conditions, and how that extremeness can bring out the worst and best on people. I really like how it doesn't forget the criminals and how prisons might be affected, so not only regular people can change and be monsters, but also, you have to contend with the regular monsters out and finding themselves in a lawless place.

Alex and Darla are pushed to their limits even more than in Ashfall, and I love how strong their relationship is. How they're there for each other, being strong when needed and never giving up on one another. I really liked how they kept having to remind the adults that even if they're just teens, things are not what they used to be, and they have to be taken more seriously after all that they've been through.

This book is full of tension and I kept on thinking... what else can happen now! Damn it! Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong! The climax and ending was quite heartbreaking and when you hope that they'll find some measure of safety and quiet to try and deal with all the physical and emotional scars, they find themselves thrown into another battle about to begin! It is not exactly a cliffhanger per se, but I'm quite happy to have the final book here to be read now anyways!

All in all a fantastic sequel that kept me tense and scared for the character turning page after page! 4 to 4.5 stars.





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Mini Reviews: Life Before Legend and Darla's Story!

Today I'm here with a pair of mini reviews for two novellas that are part of two series. Both novellas are also part of my Dystopian Reading Challenge 2014.

Life Before Legend by Marie Lu

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Life Before Legend are two short stories about Day and June, when they were both 12 years-old. These stories provide a bit of background story on both of them, even if the insight that they offer is not as game changing as other novellas I've read for other series.

We see June's first day in college as a 12 year old, and we see more of her insecurities, because she wonders if she'll fit in at college any better than she did in her previous schools. This is a June that is as brilliant as the one we know but that is still trying to fit in, even when she fears it'll be more of the same. We see more of her relationship with Metias which I really like, and we see her assert herself and resign to be a loner once again.

Day's story also provides a different kind of insight. He's already on the run and already fighting the Republic in his own way, but he isn't the famous Day yet. This is the story of his first kiss, but also the story of one of his first big hits on Republic officials. We see how Day wants to make things right and why he thinks the Republic is wrong and not just by what happened to his family.

We learn more about June and Day and how they became who they are in Legend, but it's not a must-read novella to help us understand them better. A 3 star read.



Darla's Story by Mike Mullin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had started Ashfall when I read this novella, but I had read only a pair of chapters when I saw that this one was sort of a prequel, and I decided that I had to read it first. And I'm very glad I did, cause it helped me understand Darla so much better when we meet her in Ashfall!

Darla lost her dad a while back and since then, she's had to juggle school and work in the family farm to keep going, since her mom retreated inside religion.

They're both at the farm when the eruption happens, and they deal with all the horrible effects as best as they can. Once the initial shock is past Darla's very practical side and her mechanical abilities prove a blessing for them both and they start thinking of long term planning. Then one day a visitor arrives at the farm and despite Darla's misgivings, her mother wants to help. I was so very much with Darla in this one, cause the old lady was either delusional, in denial or gone cuckoo, and all the kindness that Darla's mum was showing her wasn't doing her any good. And the lady proves Darla right by running away with their stuff.

It's no surprise that by the time that Alex ends up in the farm's door, Darla feels very hostile against new people landing there in need of help.

A very relevant novella to the character development, that show us where Darla is coming from and how she became the Darla we meet in Ashfall. 4 stars for this one.



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Mark This Book Monday: Ashfall by Mike Mullin!!

I'm starting this week's Mark This Book Monday with the first book of a trilogy that was quite a fantastic read. Very much disturbing in the way it made me think of how human nature can go from worst to best and how sometimes extreme situations make us less human.

I have this one as part of two of my challenges! It's a series that I had been thinking of reading for a long time, so it's part of my 2014 Series Challenge, and since it's a dystopian & postapocalyptic book, it's also part of my Dystopian Reading Challenge 2014!

Ashfall by Mike Mullin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ashfall has been in my TBR list forever and this time during my vacation time, I decided it was about time I started it!

It starts with the eruption of the Yellowstone super volcano, we experience it from afar through Alex's experience. Even if he didn't live that close to the actual volcano he could feel a lot of after effects. Insane noise from the explosions, ash rain thicker than snow, darkness for days on end... And Alex starts trying to adapt and survive without his family, but once things seem to have got a lil more stable, he decides to leave to look for his family.

Everything has been changed by the one event, nothing works as it used to. There's no telephone, no electricity, the roads are useless... So Alex decides to sky to his uncle's house where his family were travelling to when the eruption happened.

Ever since the start of the book we see the different ways people are reacting to such a extreme change. Some are kind and focus on survival and banding together to help each others. But others just go berserk and try to grab as much as they can, not matter who they hurt.

Alex is a very normal teenager at the start but as the action progresses he shows that he's made of tougher and kinder stuff than he even imagined. He then meets Darla and her mum that help him when he really needed it, and in turn he then helps Darla when she needs it most.

Alex and Darla make a fantastic team, both with different sets of skills and with different approaches to situations and they work so well together! Their relationship develops over time, getting to know each other, working together so them developing feelings for each other was a natural progression and it never takes over the story but strenghten them as a team.

This was a fantastic read that got me turning pages faster and faster, wondering how they were going to get through what was coming next and then the next thing, and even when you think they're getting a break... something else happens! And the thing is... this is so plausible! We don't know when but that volcano can erupt and it will be as life changing and scary as we can read in the book, and it might just be nightmare inducing!

A great dystopian & postapocalyptic book and the most promising start for a trilogy! Very much deserved 4 to 4.5 stars!



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