Her critically acclaimed first YA novel, Draw the Dark, won the 2011 Westchester Fiction Award and was named a Bank Street College 2011 Best Book. What’s Next: The second book in the Ashes Trilogy, Shadows, was released in Fall of 2012 and the third book, Monster, is scheduled to be released in September 2013. Bick is a child psychiatrist, as well as a film scholar, former Air Force major, and now a full-time author.

But, it is a page turner with suspense around every corner and definitely one of the best books I have read in a while (I would rate it up there with The Hunger Games). Story includes horror, post-apocalyptic, and paranormal interests. Warning: This book is full of blood and guts and even some cannibalism. Ashes is a book series for ages 12+ by Ilsa J. Tom, Ellie and Alex must fight for survival in a new world and the adventures only begin with these characters. GenresYoung AdultZombiesDystopiaHorrorPost ApocalypticScience FictionFiction. They also discover that the “zap” has caused most teenagers to turn zombie like and go on killing sprees. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling post-apocalyptic novel about a world that could become ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation. Her journey after the “zap” brings new discoveries as she travels with two other survivors (Tom: a war veteran and Ellie: an 8 year old whose grandfather died after the zap) and they deduce that the “zap” must have been some sort of EMP (electromagnetic pulse) explosion. She starts to believe otherwise when she discovers that those around have had the same experience and some are even dead. Four days into her trip, Alex is suddenly struck with an excruciating pain which she initially believes to be caused by the brain tumor that has been slowly killing her. Alex, orphaned, 17 and dying, decides she's sick of pointless chemo. Told from her point of view, Ashes tells the story of Alex and those she encounters in the Waucamaw Wilderness of Michigan. 13, 2011 When civilization ends and you're faced with an army of face-eating, nuclear-mutant zombies, having a brain tumor doesn't seem so bad. Alex, a seventeen year old traipsing through the wilderness as she ventures to spread her parent’s remains in Lake Superior, discovers a lot more than she bargained for.

Ashes by ilsa j bick