Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari

Pages: 341

Intended Audience: Teens and Mature Tweens

Genre: Post-apocalyptic adventure/romance

Notes for parents: Some violence.

The Inside Cover

Smallpox epidemics, floods, droughts – for sixteen-year-old Lucy, the end of the world came and went, stealing with it everyone she ever loved. Even the landscape of her beloved New York City is ever-shifting and full of hidden dangers. As the weather rages out of control, she survives alone in the wilds of Central Park, hunting and foraging for goods and making do with the little she has, while avoiding roving scavengers and thieves. But when an unrelenting pack of vicious hounds begins to hunt her, Lucy is not sure she can continue on her own. Then, suddenly, she is swept to safety by a mysterious boy named Aidan, who helps her escape the hounds and urges her to join a band of survivors. Reluctantly, she finds him after her home is destroyed; however, new dangers await her.

An army of Sweepers terrorizes the camp, carting off innocent people and infecting them with the plague. Lucy and Aidan realize that it’s up to them to save their friends, but Lucy doesn’t know that the Sweepers have laid a trap – for her. There is something special about Lucy, and the Sweepers will stop at nothing to have her in their clutches.

What the Back Cover doesn’t tell you:

It pretty much tells you everything so there will be few surprises if you actually read the book.

What’s good?

The premise was promising – a strong, capable teen, living on her own in a post-apocalyptic world with the help of a tattered survival manual (smart!), her dad’s hunting knife, and her 10^th grade high school yearbook (huh?). It’s too bad the story just doesn’t deliver. I did like Sammy and the idea of the S’ans (people who were infected but survived the plague).

Best part: The map at the beginning of the book is cool.

What’s not so good?

With a slow, meandering plot and overly detailed scenes, I was quickly bored. There was no depth to the characters and very little sustained suspense. The few bits of action were well written, but led nowhere. The drama was light, the love triangle was lame, and the point was rarely discernible. I think this author’s writing has potential; she just needs to focus a little more on the mechanics of the story and a little less on the description.

Worst part: The math. If only 1 in every million people in the world survived and the world population is approximately 7,000,000,000 that means there are only about 7000 people alive worldwide. New York has a population of about 8 million people. Shouldn’t there only be about 8 people in New York? Where did all the people come from?

Recommendations þoooo

I have to admit that I spent a lot of time skimming the paragraphs rather than drinking in the words. I could picture what was happening way faster than the author could write it and I felt like I was waiting for the story to catch up to me. It was predictable and evoked very little emotion from me. There are way better apocalyptic survival stories out there than this one.

Treggiari, Jo. Ashes, Ashes. New York: Scholastic, 2011.