Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

WARNING! WARNING! THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. THERE IS VIOLENCE, BLOOD, AND A MAKE YOU WANT TO DIE HANGER AT THE END! READ FOR PLEASURE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

All About It:

It could happen tomorrow . . . An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP. For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human. Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling novel about a world that could be ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.

What I Thought:

I received this book as an internet galley and let me just say…Oh my Wow. Ilsa J. Bick blew this story out of the water, taking my head and heart right along with it. It didn’t take long for me to realize what a terrible time I was going to have letting my Kindle leave my hands. It was almost impossible to stop reading, shower and go to work. Alex is a strong female protagonist that I felt for and loved from the start. Within the first chapter you feel her as if you yourself are her. You feel the pain she does, you feel the heat and passion she does. You even feel the annoyance and fear deep enough down to rattle your bones. Other character's such as Ellie and Tom make your heart ache. I rarely find a book that leaves me both breathless and terrified to the point of not being able to achieve sleep. Ashes takes the gold for this. If I could fall asleep at all the nightmares would come. I even found myself thinking about the possibility of it all throughout each waking day. Bick’s Ashes has it all. Including zombie like creatures and so many other things that could just make you scream. Not much more can be said without spoiling. With this book, trust me, you want to be surprised. You will want the thrill around each and every corner. Finishing up, all I can say is Ms. Ilsa J. Bick if I don’t get another dose of Alex soon along with some answers I may just set off an EMP myself out of frustration!

Five out of Five Faries.

(Note: if I could give it more I WOULD!)

Divergent by Veronica Roth

All About It:

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

What I Thought:

Dystopian worlds are the new Vampires. They are everywhere lately. You have Matched by Ally Condie; Delirium by Lauren Oliver; Across the Universe by Beth Revis and the list can go on and on. All of them are different in some way, shape or form. Just like each vampire race in all the series to follow Twilight have their own special characteristics.
Today I finished Divergent by Veronica Roth. Let me just say it left me STUNNED! It was absolutely different than I would have expected and SO much better. Instead of all the world being talked about as the same, we have one city, a city known to us today as Chicago, but a very different place in Roth’s future world. We never get told what goes on outside of the city that the main character, Tris, lives in. The farthest her community has ever traveled is to the orchard outside the fenced in city. There are five factions that the community is broken up into inside these fences. There are the Abnegation, Candor, Erudite, Amity, and Dauntless. Each values a different characteristic. The Abnegation value selflessness, the Erudite knowledge, Amity peace and the dauntless value courage and fearlessness, while the Candor value truth. At the age of 16 each member of the community gets to choose which faction they want to belong to. They then go through the initiations. Tris, was born into Abnegation but never really felt she was cut out for it. When the choosing ceremony came, she shocked her parents, two Abnegation leaders, and decided on the Dauntless. The entirety of the story follows Tris through the grueling initiation process in which there will only be 10 who survive and do not get cut. If cut the initiates become factionless. This is the worst fate imaginable to the characters of this world. There are three stage that must be completed, each worse than the one before. Throughout the training Tris makes friends, enemies, and finds love in the unexpected initiate trainer, Four. Divergent has it all, love, betrayal, pain, and confusion. I could NOT put this book down. It even earned me unkindly swears from my roommate at two in the morning when I couldn’t tear myself away and had the lights turned on to see. Veronica ended Tris’s story in a way I NEVER saw coming. It literally blew my mind. Saying anything about it would ruin the surprise though. So you will just have to see for yourself when the book is released on May 3rd, 2011. I cannot wait for more of Tris’s story. Ms. Roth PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE write more and SOON!







Four and a Half Fairies

The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

All About It:

My name is Meghan Chase.I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who's sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into the core of conflict so powerful, I'm not sure anyone can survive it.This time, there will be no turning back.

What I Thought:

Ms. Kagawa gets better and better with each book she writes. The Iron King, the first in the series, was not on my favorites list. Then came The Iron Daughter. I could not put it down. The only times it left my sight were dinner time, shower time, and the ever dwindling amount of sleep I allowed myself. When it finally came to The Iron Queen, it was a struggle to do even the simplest of tasks such as those I had allowed myself previously. The adventure and the characters, the overall story line would NOT allow me to leave the world Kagawa had created!
The most recent installment in Julie Kagawa’s fey series is, simply put, wow! The Iron Queen is the third book that follows Meghan on her journey with fairies. After her and her love Ash were exiled from the NeverNever by the Royalty of the two courts, seelie and unseelie, they find themselves hoping for something resembling normal. Meghan wants to go back home, join her family and pick up where she left off in school. Even without her best friend Puck who stayed behind after Meghan chose Ash. Meghan soon learns though that no matter what it is she may want, she can never go back to her old life. Being home puts her family in danger. Being anywhere puts her in danger. She is wanted by the False King of the Iron realm. Just her luck. She kills the real king, inherits his power and look, now everyone wants a piece of her. Ash is there out of his love for her. The False King wants her power. Queen Mab and King Oberon want her to destroy the False Iron King because they are quickly losing the war to keep the NeverNever alive. The Iron Kingdom is beginning to swallow it whole. This book follows Meghan and her allies on the battle behind enemy lines to rid the realm of the False King. There are twists and turns that while some are expected, the others leave you gasping for air. When the story ends, you want to cry. It is sort of a happy ending but not everything is the way it is supposed to be. Anything more I could say most certainly would ruin the ending. So as much as it pains me, my lips are sealed. You’ll just have to devour the book yourself to find out what has me in tears.

Five Fairies

PS: I cannot WAIT for the next continuation of this series!