A worthy addition to the post-apocalyptic genre. It was similar in style and feel to Life as We Knew It. When a supervolcano erupts unexpectedly near Alex’s Iowa home, he is separated from his parents. Desperate to reunite with them, he begins the dangerous journey in the midst of a cataclysmic ashfall. Facing hunger, injury and violence, Alex also finds unexpected friendship and help. I’m eager to read the sequel, Ashen Winter, due out in October.

Alex is on a solo camping trip in the UP, mourning her dead parents and trying to come to peace with a deadly brain tumor of her own, when a shower of EMP’s are detonated. Alex begins a journey to find some answers and some survivors, with orphaned Ellie under her wing. The girls soon discover that the EMP not only destroyed all computers, but it killed many people, and changed the survivors in sometimes horrifying ways. When Tom, a soldier with secrets of his own, joins their little band, the three friends struggle to stay together and to survive in their new, horrifying world.

Suspenseful and tense. A bit too gruesome in parts for me; I had to skim over some sections. But overall, I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen, and the cliffhanger ending will stay with me for some time.

A great dystopian young adult book.  Definitely one of my favorites.

I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel.

Anaximander is undergoing her final entrance exam for the elite Academy, a small group of thinkers who guide her isolated island community. For the subject of her exam, Anax has chosen to extensively research a hero from the past, Adam Forde. But as Anax dives deeper into Adam’s past, the questions become more difficult, and soon she is questioning everything she ever thought to be true about humanity.

I almost set this book aside, but I’m so glad I didn’t. I have to admit that during the middle section, I did some skimming. The conversation between characters seemed to drag on, and I felt like the book wasn’t really moving forward. But I stuck with it, all the way to the end, which completely took me by surprise, and had me re-thinking the book in a whole new light.

This is definitely a good addition to any dystopic reading collection. Also, it would be a good read for an intro philosophy class, as it contains many illusions to Plato, and covers basic debates about what it means to be human, be conscious and have a soul.

A worthy sequel to The Hunger Games.  If you haven’t read this series, you need to.