Ashfall
Mike Mullin
Publisher: Tanglewood Press
Release Date: September 27, 2011
Pages: 466

Rating: 1.5 stars

Under the bubbling hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park is a supervolcano. Most people don’t know it’s there. The caldera is so large that it can only be seen from a plane or satellite. It just could be overdue for an eruption, which would change the landscape and climate of our planet.

Ashfall is the story of Alex, a teenage boy left alone for the weekend while his parents visit relatives. When the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts unexpectedly, Alex is determined to reach his parents. He must travel over a hundred miles in a landscape transformed by a foot of ash and the destruction of every modern convenience that he has ever known, and through a new world in which disaster has brought out both the best and worst in people desperate for food, water, and warmth. With a combination of nonstop action, a little romance, and very real science, this is a story that is difficult to stop reading and even more difficult to forget.

Ashfall by Mike Mullin was a very mixed boat for me. I did enjoy some aspects of it, but overall, I found my dislikes outweighing my likes. It did hold my attention long enough for me to finish, but that is the biggest compliment I found for the book.

I have to give props to Mike Mullin for having a kick-ass female lead character. Darla always knows what to do, saves Alex’s butt way too many times, and gets them out of situations. Though, I found her logic skewed in some instances. Alex on the other hand I had a bit of an issue with. I just felt like he didn’t use his head – which should be your first priority. I mean, hello? You are in a DISASTER.

The concept of this book was cool, but the execution was a bit off. I had an issue with the descriptions of killing animals. I get it, it’s disaster, people need to eat, animals get sick, etc but I found myself having to skip pages because I couldn’t stomach the killing of animals. I did like the fact of how scary Ashfall was, in the sense that this could really happen some day!

The first chunk of the book was iffy for me. I was turned off mainly be Alex’s behavior. I had this thing with the fact that he has a limited number of bottles of water, and he kept talking about drinking a whole bottle for breakfast and another for dinner, then realizing he’d be out of water soon. Again, in a disaster! I would think you’d conserve til the last possible moment. Another thing I found a bit odd was how it almost felt like

The story changed then and I was was enjoying it a bit more. Mrs Edmunds was AWESOME. I loved her! I also found the relationship between Darla and Alex that develops a bit awkward. I mean, there were definitely moments where is was absolutely adorable, but I felt like a lot of the time I was like *awkward turtle*. As the story went on, I had no idea where some of the plot turns came from. I mean they were definitely unique, but I found myself rereading going, wait, what? I didn’t feel like the end had any closure. It was just done, and I get cliffhangers, but those at least are at a height of action of something. This was just an end.

This definitely was not the book for me, but I definitely would see how some people would find it a good read – with the whole factor that it really COULD happen! I have heard brilliant things from so many people, but I had a few issues along the way, which ultimately lead to my not being crazy about the book.

While I wasn’t as crazy about Ashfall, here are some reviews that simply loved it:
A Book Vacation
That Bookish Girl
Bibliotropic