Review: Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin

Synopsis:
It’s been over six months since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Alex and Darla have been staying with Alex’s relatives, trying to cope with the new reality of the primitive world so vividly portrayed in Ashfall, the first book in this series. It’s also been six months of waiting for Alex’s parents to return from Iowa. Alex and Darla decide they can wait no longer and must retrace their journey into Iowa to find and bring back Alex’s parents to the tenuous safety of Illinois. But the landscape they cross is even more perilous than before, with life-and-death battles for food and power between the remaining communities. When the unthinkable happens, Alex must find new reserves of strength and determination to survive.

Publication Date: October 14, 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Post Apocalyptic, Adventure
Source: Thanks so much to Tanglewood Press for making this title available through Netgalley!


Review:
First off, what do you think of that cover? Amazing, yes? I like it even more after finishing this book. I almost had a heart attack when I saw this on Netgalley because I loved the first one so much.  The awesome male POV and the way that I really felt the cold and the hunger right along with Alex and Darla carried into this second novel as well.

In Ashfall Alex is finding his way in the new world after the eruption.  He's still figuring things out.  In Ashen Winter they've been living this hard life a bit longer and you can really notice the changes in Alex from one book to the next. 

As would be expected after an apocalyptic event there are groups struggling against each other for survival. Trusting somebody means putting your life in their hands and most of the people Alex runs into aren't the type that you want putting their hands on you.  Most groups and communites of survivors aren't friendly to outsiders, but other gangs of people are just plain criminal, preying off of anybody weaker.  And you better not trust in the Government either because they sure as heck don't have your best interest at heart in this case.

It's these human interactions that cause most of the problems for Alex and Darla as they look for Alex's parents.  Hunger, cold, fatigue.  All a factor, but those play second string to the crazy-ass people dominating  the world.  I would probably end up buried under a pile of snow and dead within days of something like this happening :) Luckily the characters in this book aren't such horrible wimps!

I felt like Alex was really just taking hit after hit in Ashen Winter. Talk about some bad freaking luck. I think it really proved his character and what he's willing to go through for the people he loves.

A ton of great action and tension throughout this one. I love being immersed in this world and was sad to reach the end. The mark of a great book!

Cover Reveal: Ashen Winter (Ashfall #2) by Mike Mullen

I was just browsing around Goodreads and noticed that Ashen Winter now had a cover!! An amazing cover!

Ashfall was one of my first Netgalley reads and an all around awesome book.  I've been waiting eagerly for Ashen Winter's release which is listed as October 8, 2012 on Goodreads.

If you haven't read the first one, give it a chance and catch up before Ashen Winter comes out. You won't regret it!

What do you guys think of the cover? Are you excited for this one too?

Addition to original post: I just saw today that Kathy from I Am a Reader Not a Writer has an ARC giveaway for Ashen Winter (holy cruds!!) so you know I entered it. Click the link for her blog if you'd like to try to win too :D

Review: Ashfall by Mike Mullin

Synopsis:

Under the bubbling hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park is a supervolcano. Most people don't know it's there. The caldera is so large that it can only be seen from a plane or satellite. It just could be overdue for an eruption, which would change the landscape and climate of our planet.

Ashfall is the story of Alex, a teenage boy left alone for the weekend while his parents visit relatives. When the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts unexpectedly, Alex is determined to reach his parents. He must travel over a hundred miles in a landscape transformed by a foot of ash and the destruction of every modern convenience that he has ever known, and through a new world in which disaster has brought out both the best and worst in people desperate for food, water, and warmth. With a combination of nonstop action, a little romance, and very real science, this is a story that is difficult to stop reading and even more difficult to forget.

Review:

I was really looking forward to reading this book. I love books, movies, tv shows, video games, etc. that are in post-apocalyptic settings. Ashfall exceeded my expectations even though I had set them pretty high. This book feels so real that I kept forgetting it wasn't actually a first-hand account of actual events.

It's written from the view-point of a teenage boy named Alex and starts off with him giving us a small glimpse into what his life is like 'pre-eruption', as it is called in the book. I was hooked from the very first paragraph. For the most part, we get to know Alex as he adapts and survives in a world that is strange and dangerous. His family was out of town when the eruption happened, and he makes a promise to himself that he will find them. The eruption forces the remaining population into a survival situation. The results are what you could actually expect when there is no law and nobody to keep the peace. Alex sees and experiences some horrible things.

It is no small feat for him to travel hundreds of miles on foot across a now-dangerous landscape. Just reading about how physically exhausting the actual walking (and skiing) across the deep ash and snow made me feel Alex's pain. Eventually he happens upon a girl, Darla, and her mother. Alex is on the verge of death when he stumbles into their barn. His relationship with Darla grows and thrives even in the cold, harsh world they have found themselves in. They end up saving each other, not just from physical harm but from the mental devastation of living through something so life-changing.

I literally could not put this book down, and was sad to come to the last page. Luckily, there is another book coming out in Fall 2012, Ashen Winter. I can't wait to immerse myself back into the world that Mike Mullin has created.

Publication Date: October 14, 2011

Genre: Young Adult, Post-Apocalyptic

Source: Thank you to Netgalley.com and Tanglewood Press.