Monsters by Ilsa J Bick Review and Giveaway

 

 

Published: /September 10th, 2013

Publisher: Egmont USA

Pages: 688

Copy: Publisher

Summary: Goodreads

 

The Changed are on the move. The Spared are out of time. The End...is now.

When her parents died, Alex thought things couldn't get much worse-until the doctors found the monster in her head.

She headed into the wilderness as a good-bye, to leave everything behind. But then the end of the world happened, and Alex took the first step down a treacherous road of betrayal and terror and death.

Now, with no hope of rescue-on the brink of starvation in a winter that just won't quit-she discovers a new and horrifying truth.

The Change isn't over.
The Changed are still evolving.
And...they've had help.

With this final volume of The Ashes Trilogy, Ilsa J. Bick delivers a riveting, blockbuster finish, returning readers to a brutal, post-apocalyptic world where no one is safe and hope is in short supply.

A world where, from these ashes, the monsters may rise.

 

Review:

 



What can I tell you about Monsters?  WOW.  This is an incredibly powerful ending to an amazing trilogy, but it is not for the faint of heart - for two reasons.  It's long and it's very violent.  Monsters continues to shock readers with the depravity of so called sane people.  Sometimes it's hard to remember just who the monsters really are. 

While I really enjoyed this final book in the trilogy I still found it a little confusing and I had to concentrate to keep it all straight in my mind.  The action is continuous and jumps around from focus to focus with alarming frequency and I found it difficult sometimes to remember just who's story I was listening to.  There are so many characters that you really have to focus and I found myself several times trying to remember just exactly who was who.  I'm really glad that I read Shadows and Monsters back to back, but I still wish I had re-read Ashes just to help with my memory.

Tom is still hunting for Ellie and Alex, who is still hunting for Tom and Chris, who is still  hunting for Alex and Peter, who ends up in a whole heap of trouble, and so on and so forth. Most of that trouble is centred around Rule, and I am extremely glad I don't have to visit there.  It made me quite breathless at times, and it was never possible to  anticipate what was going to happen, so the tension keeps up without respite.  Not only are there a lot of characters to keep tabs on, but there are also a lot of plot lines that take sudden twists.    One thing is for sure, you will definitely never get bored while reading Monsters.  It's a little like reading a train wreck - you just have to keep going and find out what happened.

An interesting factor in the story is Alex's heightened sense of smell.  There are continued references to various strong and memorable scents - most of an unpleasant nature - and it almost becomes a character on it's own. Sometimes I found myself wondering how these smells would taste on the back of my tongue.  I also loved the play on words with the title.  There are so many monsters, of varying degrees and types and Ms :Bick really illustrates the monstrous side of human nature and the depths of depravity to which we will sink. 

In the end though, through all the confusion, the tension, the horror, the final message for me was hope and love, and I loved it - it actually made me cry.  Well, snivel anyway.

We are lucky enough to have  one hardcover copy of Monsters to give away to one lucky reader.  US only though - sorry Canadian peeps, next time. So give it a try why don't you?

Important information about the MONSTERS giveaway:

* The giveaway is one hardcover copy of Monsters. and is open to US residents only - sorry Canadian peeps.

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Ilsa's Website

 

 

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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.

Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J. Bick - Guest Post

Published: February 2012

Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group

Pages: 352

Copy: Library

Summary: Goodreads

There are stories where the girl gets her prince, and they live happily ever after. (This is not one of those stories.)

Jenna Lord’s first sixteen years were not exactly a fairytale. Her father is a controlling psycho and her mother is a drunk. She used to count on her older brother—until he shipped off to Afghanistan. And then, of course, there was the time she almost died in a fire.

There are stories where the monster gets the girl, and we all shed tears for his innocent victim. (This is not one of those stories either.)

Mitch Anderson is many things: A dedicated teacher and coach. A caring husband. A man with a certain... magnetism.

And there are stories where it’s hard to be sure who’s a prince and who’s a monster, who is a victim and who should live happily ever after. (These are the most interesting stories of all.)

Drowning Instinct is a novel of pain, deception, desperation, and love against the odds—and the rules.

This is a book of monsters. While some might say that there is only one true monster in the book (and I can almost guarantee it isn’t who you think), I have a feeling that Ms. Bick wrote this book to point out that people are not inherently good or evil. We’re all just people making good or bad choices. But still, this is a book of monsters, if only in the way of choices and situations that rear their ugly heads and come crashing back down to destroy whatever lays in their path.

I’m not normally a reader of contemporary fiction – reading is an escape for me, and that means magic, gadgets, creatures, outer space and more. But I put this on hold at the library because I loved Ms. Bick’s Ashes – it scared me half to death. And a few days after reading it, I was still unsettled. Without mentioning zombies, vampires, werewolves or ghosts, Drowning Instinct once again unsettled me.

Written as a narrative as Jenna tells her story to a police officer, we follow her through the twists and decisions that have led her to where we first meet her (dripping wet and freezing cold in an interrogation room). Her story is unfortunately one that probably isn’t far from many teenagers truths, and noting the triggers for actions and reactions is something Ms. Bick points out to us oh so subtly, in ways many writers cannot. Is it a happy story? Almost. Love is an overwhelming power house here – but it is love as a teenager feels it for the first time: all-conquering.  But the layers of fear and secrecy woven throughout (as well as disdain, which I think you can feel from Jenna’s rhetoric as she lays the story out for Bob – mostly in her cutting way of reminding him that no, Bob, I’m not giving you all the nitty gritty details) add a depth and mystery that can be missing from more upbeat contemporary fiction. In the end we’re left with resolution, but more questions. We’re left to decide the truth for ourselves, depending on where our allegiance lies (FYI, mine actually lies with Bob).

A great surprise for me – a contemporary fiction novel that I didn’t need to relate with to enjoy (although sadly, there are some aspects that I can relate to), characters that pushed the limits of tolerance for the reader (you want to love/like/hate almost everyone at some point) and an author who can breathe life into a simple, stunning, and sad teenage narrative.

Thanks again to Special K for this great review. We love you.

Ashes by Ilsa J Bick

Published: Sept. 6th, 2011

Publisher: Egmont, USA

Pages: 480

E-Copy: Courtesy of Netgalley and Publisher

Summary: Goodreads

It could happen tomorrow...



A cataclysmic event. An army of "The Changed."

Can one teen really survive on her own?

An electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky, destroying every electronic device and killing billions. For those spared, it's a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human...


Desperate to find out what happened and to avoid the Changed, Alex meets up with Tom---a young army veteran---and Ellie, a young girl whose grandfather was killed by the electromagnetic pulse.


This improvised family will have to use every ounce of courage they have just to survive.

When I started reading 'Ashes' I was thinking I would just give it a few pages more since it wasn't really capturing my attention - I wasn't sure where it was going. Then BAM ....everything hits the fan and the story takes off, with things going from bad, to worse, to worst.  I was absolutely enthralled by the book and felt an almost visceral fear as I was reading.  It seems so very plausible, and therefore so much more disturbing.
 
The story revolves around Alex and her experiences after the 'event'.  Alex has a handicap, not a physical one, but a medical one, and this affects her way of thinking.  She meets up with Ellie,  an irritating 8 yr old, and Tom, a  very self sufficient soldier and together they try to make sense of what has happened and to cope through the winter.  Each of these characters is well rounded and well written and it is easy to believe in their struggles.  A variety of other characters flit in and out of the story and we are constantly hoping that the situation will improve for Alex, Ellie and Tom.  There are some wild surprises and surprising characters that will leave your heart pounding.

I have wondered occasionally how I would cope if there were some kind of apocalyptic event. Would I be calm and sensible, or would I fall apart? Would I be able to adjust to a new world? 'Ashes' asks just that question. How do we cope in extreme adversity? What would happen to society when everything we know has gone?

Ms. Bick gives us a very intriguing answer to that question. She writes in such a way that you almost become part of the action.  There is small hope, huge despair and struggle and an almost palpable sense of dread - with no end in sight,  but the need to turn each page and find out how the characters cope is so compelling that it was physically hard to put the book (or ereader in this case) down.  It's an exciting  and incredibly gripping book and has easily become one of my favourites for the year. I am anxiously waiting for the follow-up, although I suspect this will be quite some time arriving as 'Ashes' isn't published until next month.  Thanks again to Egmont for the opportunity to read this marvellous book.


Gramatical changes made at 12.30 am Aug 29th.