Play Book Tag discussion

Ashfall – Mike Mullin
3.5***

From the book jacket: Many visitors to Yellowstone National Park don’t realize that the boiling hot springs and spraying geysers are caused by an underlying supervolcano, so large that the caldera can only be seen by plane or satellite. And by some scientific measurements, it could be overdue for an eruption. For Alex, being alone for the weekend means freedom from his parents and the chance to play computer games and hang out with his friends without hassle from his mother. Then the supervolcano erupts, plunging his hometown into a nightmare of darkness, ash, and violence. Alex begins a harrowing trek, searching for his family.

My reactions:
As post-apocalyptic novels go, I found this one is pretty interesting, engaging and compelling. I was quickly drawn in by Alex and his situation. Harrowing is certainly the right word for Alex’s journey in search of his family. But he’s smart, resilient, and trained in taekwondo. He also happens on a few people who will help him. He is, after all, only fifteen (“almost sixteen” he reminds us). First, his neighbors who take him in when his house is hit by a large piece of molten rock, and later by townsfolk and strangers who agree to share their own meager supplies in return for his labor.

Make no mistake, however, the journey is difficult in the extreme, and he runs into many dangerous people, including some who one would think would be helpful. Fortunately, at a critical point he comes across Darla Edmunds and her mother, who are managing (just) on their farm, thanks in part to Darla’s gift for mechanical invention.

Darla and Alex make a great team. Where one is weak, the other is strong. Where one is rash, the other is deliberate and cool under pressure. More importantly, they are fiercely loyal to one another.

Although this ends in a sort of cliff-hanger (it’s the first in a series), I forgive Mullin for that. Mostly because I want more of Darla. She is one strong female lead!

LINK to my review