Shadows by Ilsa J Bick

 

Published: September 2012

Publisher: Egmont USA

Pages: 528

Copy: From Publisher

Summary: Goodreads

The Apocalypse does not end. The Changed will grow in numbers. The Spared may not survive.

Even before the EMPs brought down the world, Alex was on the run from the demons of her past and the monster living in her head. After the world was gone, she believed Rule could be a sanctuary for her and those she’d come to love.
But she was wrong.

Now Alex is in the fight of her life against the adults, who would use her, the survivors, who don’t trust her, and the Changed, who would eat her alive.

Welcome to Shadows, the second book in the haunting apocalyptic Ashes Trilogy: where no one is safe and humans may be the worst of the monsters.

Review

When I was approached by Egmont to review the final book in this trilogy, Monsters, I realised that I hadn't read Shadows.  Not sure why, I guess it just passed me by.  Luckily, Egmont very helpfully gave me access to a copy so that I could catch up.

I had forgotten just exactly how much is going on in this trilogy.  There are so many different pov's that it is very easy to get lost and to lose track of what is happening to whom.  There's Tom, who's  looking for Alex, whose looking for Chris, who's looking for Alex, who may be dead, but maybe not.  And then there are Melly and Weller who are helping Tom look for Alex, but not really, because they have their own agenda and they don't really care who gets hurt in the process as long as it upsets the bigwigs in Rule. Then Chris, with Lena and Nathan are getting sidetracked, and it looks as if something is wrong with Lena, which could complicate things even more. Oh, and I forgot Peter, who I think is looking for both Alex and Chris, but I could be wrong there. Then of course there are the Chuckies, or changed, who are really the bad guys, but sometimes I think the regular humans are just as bad, if not worse - except for the eating human flesh bit.

Does it sound confusing?  Well it is and it isn't.  If I managed to sit down and read for more than 10 minutes at a time, it seems easier to keep track of what's going on.  The thing is, despite all the weaving in and out of different story lines, Ms. Bick mhas managed to create and keep a level of tension that is hard to fault.  The story is gritty and violent and complex and very engrossing - enough that the jumping around is forgivable - and talk about a cliffhanger ending!  If you haven't read this trilogy yet, my recommendation would be to read them quickly, one after the other, so that the characters and actions remain fresh in your mind.  I have Monsters set up to go and I'm looking forward to find out exactly what happens.