Book Review: Ashen Winter

Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin

Series: Ashfall #2

Published by Tanglewood Press on October 16th 2012
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 576

Goodreads

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.

Review: Ashfall

Ashen Winter takes place a few months after the events of Ashfall. Alex, along with Darla, has been living with his uncle and his family in relative comfort. They have just enough to survive, but much, much more than most. However, Alex's parents still have not returned. And through a promise with his uncle, Alex is determined to bring them back, or at the very least discover what happened.

In a few ways, the plot of Ashen Winter could be described as Ashfall backwards (minus the post-apocalyptic event, of course). Many of the events that Alex and Darla went through in Ashfall are repeated, but thankfully, Mullin's has plenty of twists up his sleeve. Making a book that could have fallen flat easily, feel fresh and as exciting as the first book in the series.

Final Verdict:

Ashen Winter was a pure delight. And an amazing follow-up to the awesomeness that was Ashfall. Just when I thought that this series could not take it up a notch, Mullin pulls through with some crazy twists. And like Ashfall, an ending that will leave you dying for the next installment.

Kate

Kate is the co-blog owner of The Book Monsters. I am a twenty-something year old who is passionate about reading. I currently hold a B.A. in English and am married to my high school sweetheart. We have two (cat) children, Gracie and Kit, who are total divas. I have an insane and possibly unhealthy passion for reading. You can usually find me with my nose buried in a book.