Review: Sunrise (Ashfall #3) by Mike Mullin

I was able to get an ARC of this from the publisher, Tanglewood Press.  This is a series I have been a huge fan of since the very beginning.  Here is my post about the first in the series, Ashfall.   I got the sequel as an ARC at BEA 2012, and you can read my review of Ashen Winter HERE.  I have to say this is one of the best conclusions to a series I've ever read.  And there have been a few good ones lately to make up for some of the not so great ones of the past year.

As always, we are following our main character, Alex, as he tries to survive in what is left of the world after the giant eruption of the Yellowstone volcano.  He is living at his uncle's farm, along with the people from the town nearby who had to go there when their town was attacked.  But when they were attacked, they lost a lot of their food.  Living on what kale there is won't last forever.  Their greenhouses can only do so much.  So they mount an attack to get their food back.  They are up against what will come to be kind of the evil villain.  His name is Red, and that he says, is because of the blood that he likes to draw.  Using techniques suggested by Ben, the autistic boy we met in the last story, eventually they are able to get back their food, or most of it anyway.  But not without losses, and not without Red threatening to see them again.

But this isn't the only problem.  The townspeople want to move back to their town.  Which is fine, the farm is really only made for so many people, and it is nice for them to be just family and immediate friends for awhile.  But Alex's mother has changed since they lost his father.  She refuses to accept Darla.  But Darla and Alex are a pair, and will not be separated.  More family is lost in the battles.  And Ben keeps saying that they will not be safe like they are. That they should move to the town and build a wall around the town.  But try as Alex might, he can't convince the mayor to build the wall.  Darla and Uncle Paul have an idea to use some wind turbines and create a home there.  With Ben's help, they begin building a new home there, along with new greenhouses, and getting the turbines working to provide electricity.

Things aren't all roses and daisies at this point though.  There are more challenges.  Until they can get the kale growing, they need more food.  And they need supplies to build all these things they want to build.  So they try to trade.  First in town, but the mayor has set people against Alex.  Then the decide they must go to Chicago.  Along the way they find things they need, as well as more danger.

I don't want to give a lot away, so I won't tell too much more.  I just know that as I was reading this, I could totally see it as a tv series.  The things that happen to people in this are so real.  It's not all just getting away from the bad guys for the main characters.  They suffer loss of limbs, sickness, family issues, starvation, all of it.

There was a part at the end, when it seemed all was settled, they hadn't solved all their issues, but it seemed it might be the ending.  Working towards the final settlement.  But there was like 20 pages or so left, so I just knew there had to be something else.  And there was.  Just when it seemed things were where they should be, all wasn't as seemed. And it wasn't done in a hokey, throw something in at the last minute way.  It was done perfectly, the results were believable and perfect.  A great end to a great series!  Can't wait to purchase this final book for the high school library where I work now.  And once again I'll share my picture of meeting the author at BEA in 2012 after I read and loved the first book.

Ashen Winter (Ashfall #2) by Mike Mullin

I finally got around to reading this!  Not that I didn't want to, just the size of it I think kept me from picking it up when I had sooooooo many other books to read.  Not that I don't still have a ton, I just decided with our late March snow last weekend that a book like this was the right way to go.  Once I picked it up, it was a quick read, well as quick as I could get through an over 500 page book while teaching every day this week! Not to mention it seemed I had something to do every night this week and I didn't have a lot of nights that I was just sitting around reading.  Until last night, when I finished the last 100-150 pages.  Once I started it I really just wanted to sit and read and find out what happened next, and then after that, and then next, and how would it all end?  And it was another good book.
Okay, so if you read the first book, Ashfall, you know that there was a supervolcano explosion, in Yellowstone National Park.  From that explosion there were major changes.  It threw dust and ashes up into the air, and basically created winter.  It got colder as the sun was blocked out, plants began to die as they had no sunlight and the ash just cover them.  Our main character in this book is again Alex.  He and his new girlfriend Darla, although after all they've been through she is more than just a "girlfriend", found their way at the end of the first book to his uncle's house, where his parents and younger sister were supposed to be.  Only once they got there, they found his parents were gone, they had left to try to find him.  For awhile they stayed and worked on the farm.  The farm did okay because they were able to grow kale, which was good because kale had a lot of vitamin C, which many people need in this time of ashen winter.  In fact the seeds are so valuable, they can use them as money for things that need.  Help from a doctor, information, etc.
The farm gets attacked, and Alex recognizes one of the guns as one that was owned by his father.  So he and Darla follow after these men, called flensers, to find out where they got the gun.  Flensers, a disgusting new group of people, many different groups actually, that eat people.  They are cannibals.  They find out that the gun was traded to this group from a FEMA camp.  Well Alex and Darla remember what it was like to be in one of those camps.  Alex insists on going to find his parents.  He takes many packets of kale seeds.  They also remembered from crossing the river before that there had been a whole barge of wheat grains.  So they, Alex anyway, decides to try to go by there first to get some of the wheat so that they can plant that as well as the kale.  Unfortunately when they reach the barge it is now swarming with the military.  Alex insists that they try to get some wheat from the guard shack.  But the heist goes wrong, and Darla gets shot when they're on a bridge, and she falls off the bridge onto the top of a truck.  And now, Alex must find Darla too.
So he is now looking for not only his parents, but Darla too.  And when or if he finds his parents, will they want to help him find Darla?  Along the way he meets a girl named Alyssa and her autistic brother Ben, and rescues them from one of the Flenser groups.  But will they be able to fit in and  help Alex as well?

Such a good book.  You're on pins and needles all the way.  It's a great apocalyptic survival story, reminded me in some places of The Walking Dead in how much you got involved with the characters.  The author does such a great job with Alex's Tae Kwan Do skills.  And his portrayal of Ben, the autistic character is right on from my experience of the few autistic students I've had in the past.  You can see the way they do have their quirks, and you even smile at points where you can feel Alex's exasperation, but also Alex's learning patience with Ben, and even coming to be able to be a part of Ben's life.  I do love how Ben calls Alyssa his "sister unit".  A great read.  Lots of action, great characters, and even some sadness and heartbreak.  But now, I have to wait until 2014 to read the third book.  *Sad Face*  On a kind of interesting note, the first book in the series was the first e-galley I ever read from Netgalley.  I got an ARC of this one at BEA 2012.
Oh yeah, and I have to include my picture with the author from BEA last summer.  He is such a neat guy!  And you can tell how much he appreciates teachers from just talking to him, and mentioning that I was a teacher got him talking to me for quite a while!

2011 Debut Author Challenge 9: Ashfall by Mike Mullin

This is my first egalley I'm reading from NetGalley, and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to blog about it yet, because some of the galleys said something about waiting until 30 days before the book came out, but I'm going to go ahead with this one and try to be better next time, and hope this is okay.

This book was really good. The storyline is a supervolcano at Yellowstone Park erupts and of course, this sends the world into disaster. The beginning you're in major suspense while the main character, Alex, is home alone because his family went to visit other family, and he wanted to stay home as an adult. Of course this is bad, because when his home is destroyed and they begin to have looting and robbing, he knows all he wants is to go find his family. And so we follow him on his journey. The ash from the volcano is like snow, so he finds that skis help him to travel. Along the road he meets helpful people, murderous people, and ends up at the home of a very nice woman and her somewhat grumpy daughter. They take him in when he collapses thanks to the prison escapee he last ran into attacking him. He spends time on their farm where they are able to grind corn and seem to be able to make it. They decide to go into town to see why the rabbits are dying, and when they're gone, disaster strikes back at the farm. Now they must set out to find his family again. Along the way they come across a woman with small children that they help, and then find their way to a government disaster camp. Which turns out to be almost a concentration camp in a way. When they can escape they move on to find his family again.

I like that Alex knows martial arts, it makes it a bit more likely that he is able to survive this situation when it becomes violent. I like that they don't gloss over that he is a teenager who does want to have sex. I saw a review that said these things were annoying, but I feel they fit the story perfectly and will make it very accessible to teens. I also was greatly reminded of Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, and will be able to recommend it to people who enjoyed that. Now, it doesn't come out till October, so I'll be eagerly awaiting to share it!