Ashes, ashes, the second half fell down.

A few weeks ago I received this digital ARC from the publisher (Thanks a bunch!) through netGalley, and how awesome are ARCs on my Kindle, right?

Ilsa J. Bick writes this pre-to-post-apocalyptic story called Ashes about Alex, Ellie and Tom, who have to brave a suddenly dangerous and different world and "The Changed." The beginning of this book sucked me in immediately with a very different sort of beginning compared to the average YA novel. Bick seems to create a well fleshed out character in Alex effortlessly. She is vulnerable for reasons I don't want to spoil, yet capable and independent. Like Alex, Tom quickly comes across as a real person, a genuinely good, real person.

And Ellie. Ellie is a kid with issues. (I actually pictured Chloe Moretz as Hit-Girl from the movie Kickass--attitude, not violence--when I read Ellie.)

Not only are the characters intriguing and unique, but the plot! The plot is so different from what I've come to expect in the post-apocalyptic YA genre. It is gritty and suspenseful and plausible enough to willingly suspend my disbelief. It basically starts right before an apocalyptic event that changes most of the population in a catastrophic way and takes us beyond it into the very new post-apocalyptic landscape.

The problem with this book rears its head just past the middle. I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say it reads like Bick had two VERY different versions of this manuscript and just spliced them together. Midway through everything about the focus of the book shifts. All of the existing plot threads and characters (with the exception of Alex) are basically cut and all new ones manifest the way they should in the beginning of a book.

For me this was a huge let down for the plot. Because the initial story arc basically gets severed, the resolution at the end of the book only addresses the new arc, challenges, and characters introduced halfway through the book. Another problem, that may just be personal preference, is that the first half was far superior to the second, so the drastic shift was even more disappointing. Also the strength I loved in Alex through the first half seemed conspicuously absent in the second half.

It's hard for me to discuss the details of this book without giving too much away, and half of the enjoyment for me with this story was the discovery. It's part sci-fi, part post-apocalypse, part zombie battle, part wilderness survival, and the telling was extremely visual and well-paced.

What it really breaks down to is 5 of 5 stars for the first half of the book and 2 of 5 stars for the second half. I am still very optimistic for the next book, hoping Bick can get the story back on track, and personally hoping she returns to some of the characters and plot threads she ditched halfway through. I'm not ready to give up on Alex, Tom, and Ellie yet.