Ashfall by Mike Mullin
October 11, 2011 by Tanglewood Press
Hardcover, 466 Pages
Borrowed/Library

Alex is having a bad day, what starts off as something kind of cool has become a bit of drag, his parents decided to leave him home alone while they spent the weekend visiting his uncle in Illinois......but its not like they left without thinking about it. The neighbor couple is keeping an eye on him and for some reason things just seem off, perhaps its loneliness or perhaps its just feeling guilty for treating his mom bad, either way, something in the air feels wrong. When a huge explosion tears a chunk out of Alex's roof, loud banging noises deafen his hearing and black ash turns his sight pitch dark well lets just say that bad day Alex was having is about to turn into a bad month, heck Alex is about to lose everything normal in his life and everything that it meant to be a teenager in America. When Yellowstone's Volcano explodes, the devastation is astronomical to the United States, communication is instantly down, food, water and air are all effected and while some parts across the US are managing, other areas, like the States surrounding Alex are in complete chaos.

When the explosions finally settle down, Alex decides to take and a chance and go looking for his parents. His first obstacle: Travel. With the amount of ash covering the ground and the ash floating in the sky walking is almost impossible.With a genius idea, a backpack of supplies and a case load of courage, Alex hikes it out of his hometown in Iowa with only skis and the wits to survive.

In the first day there is trouble, the air is almost impossible to breath, Alex has to keep his face covered and the covering wet to block out the ash to his lungs, but with very little water supply, every drop is precious. Food is low, shelter is nonexistent and everyone is scared. People he encounter have guns, or people are rioting and turning to their basic savage need. Violence meets him around almost every corner and just surviving day to day is a mission in itself. When Alex runs out of his own luck a horrific event leads him to small farm run by a girl named Darla and her mother. The girls take care of Alex and nurse him back to health and as he awaits the days when he can hit the road again, life on the farm brings him a silver of peace. But peace in this world doesn't last for long and before any of them know it, tragedy has struck again and the only option is to get to his parents. The road this time is scarier than the first, violence has changed them, devastation has striped them of something and in the process corrupt leaders will steal what freedom they have left.

I loved reading Ashfall and I think my favorite aspect of Mullin's story was that I got to be in the middle of the destruction, I got to be at the beginning of the "end of life as we knew it" for Alex and the world around him. I got to be a part of reading how the dystopian world was going to be set up and how everything was going to change for these people. Mullin's writing was for the most part smartly done, I enjoyed Alex's growth and seeing him at point A- a typical male teen to point B- a maturing man. The journey, the obstacles he faced, the near death experience, the love and relationship with Darla- everything changed that boy and in the end we see the potential of the man he will become.

I also loved that Ashfall presented a real type scenario, something that could potentially happen in the face of disaster, yet in a small sneaking way it also touched on the power of the government, the ideas of socialism, the idea of self reliance and the lengths we would go for freedom. I cant help but think also (even if it was just me) that along the way the shelter, food and care which seemed to follow Alex had little to do with luck and more to do with a higher purpose, call it fate, or the will of his creator, leading him along the way.

It was terrifying, exciting and no place I would ever want to be except for on my couch in my mind coasting along the wave of Mullin's imagination.

Rating

Recommended to teens 15&up and contains: Graphic violence, including a few brutal scenes with murder/death, frightening weather environments and end of the world type scenes, mild sexuality and language.

5/5- YA-Dystopian