Ashes by Ilsa Bick (Abe Lincoln Book)

Ashes is on the Abe Lincoln list this year as well as one of our Book Club picks. We are going to be reading Ashes this month in Book Club so I thought I would get a head start on the book for the students. The premise of the book is similar to many popular reads right now. Something strange happens to the planet (not defined in the book) and millions of people drop dead, lots of people become changed ( similar to a zombie) and very few humans are remaining. We follow Alex as she makes her way through this new world making and losing friends along the way.

I thought the book was good but not great. It ends in a way that forces the reader to continue on to the next book. I'm not so sure I will continue with the series so I will never know what happened and why it happened.

Summary
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.