so, apparently, THERE IS A WHOLE BACK-MATTER SECTION of this book with a refresher-list of CHARACTERS and THINGS THAT HAPPENED in the first two books. it is not as complete as it could be - you are still going to have to sort out the whole jarvis/jasper/jayden situation yourself, but THIS MIGHT HAVE BEEN USEFUL FOR ME TO KNOW BEFORE i read the whole 600-plus page book. had i been reading a "regular" book, there is a chance i would have flipped to the back of the book and said "AHA!", but e-books [...]

DNF at 38%Life is too short to read bad books and everyone is annoying the fuck out of me.Here's the thing.I really enjoyed Ashes - for most part. It was a cool post-apocalyptic novel about Alex, Ellie and Tom surviving in a fried zombie infested world.Then Ilsa J Bick tried to turn it into a stupid dystopia. And with that story arc I really lost my interest. Shadows was no better. It was almost to worse with many different story arcs from different characters' point of views and none of them se [...]

This is going to be less of a review, and more of a list of my thoughts on why I just couldn't get into this book. I try generally to finish every book I start because I'm way too obsessive-compulsive not to, but I have to say it was so tempting to put this one aside. I did end up finishing it, but not without much zoning out and skimming.- I remember really liking Ashes, the first book of this trilogy. It was, in my opinion, a zombie survival story done well. We had a great beginning, an intrig [...]

The odds are if you were one of those people who didn't like the second half of Ashes, or you were really angry after reading Shadows, or you like your endings all wrapped up in a neat little bowyou may be less than thrilled with MONSTERS- the final book in The Ashes Trilogy.I am not one of those people I kind of loved it![image error]What drew me into this Trilogy, and made me want to stick with it, were the characters. Some I loved and cared about like I knew them. And some were soooo despicab [...]

This book is Monster sized.I didn't think I was going to finish it anytime soon. Not that it drags because it does not. The story keeps you moving through it-there's just so much information to the characters and what they have gone through. Ms. Bick does wrap up her trilogy well though. She doesn't leave you hanging with questions unasked.Her characters have wrapped me up in their stories. I do have to say though starting this book there was a period when I was totally confused. I had forgotten [...]

I was so excited for the conclusion to the Ashes Trilogy. But after spending four days reading Monsters I must confess I'm mostly disappointed.The plot is so all over the place, and there are so many characters and different story lines that I'm going to direct you to the summary instead of my usual summary.Monsters was just too long. It took me four days (that's unheard of, for me) to read the almost 700 page tome. And I just didn't think it needed to be. There was so much detail and repetitio [...]

OH.GOD This book was so absolutely amazing that I can't even find the words to describe it.Through the course of only three books, Ilsa has taken me on a journey I will never forget, and made me fall in love with truly inspiring characters. This book was so intense, so detailed and so carefully written that I was left completely breathless.I love how Ilsa has made all the characters (who, most of them, we're complete strangers before the EMP blast) connected in so many ways. For example Chris ju [...]

The Final book in the Ashes trilogy; about zombiesThe only word I can think to describe my reaction to this book is disappointment. The first book in this series is one of my favorite zombie novels of all time. That's no exaggeration. Then the second book (Shadows) came out and I was disappointed in it, but I gave Bick the benefit of the doubt because the second book is usually not as great and is just a hurdle we have to get through to get to the final book. This 800+ page book lived up to it's [...]

“A word of advice, sweetheart: when you're at the brink; when it's a choice between what's safe and what might be better, even if what's best is also scary, take a chance, honey.”This was a weird series for me. I'm not even sure why I read this book, because I didn't like the second book at all so I was pretty sure I wouldn't like this one either. But I actually really enjoyed the first book and I guess I just wanted to know how the story ended. The series started out as a pretty good dystop [...]

En realidad 4,5*Reseña completa -> thewordsofbooks.e«Nadie puede evitar contemplar lo monstruoso, porque el horror está emparentado con el asombro.»De las mejores trilogías que he leído y pasa a ser de mis favoritas con un final a la altura de lo que la historia pedía.

OMG my head is literally spinning with questions. Shadows had one of the worst endings I can imagine with all these different plot lines. (view spoiler)[ did Wolf save Alex? Is Chris alive? Is Lena changing? Is Tom going to fight against Rule? Will Ellie appear again? What about Peter? (hide spoiler)] Argh it's just too much

When Ashes first came out, I was a little slow to pay attention. Once I read it, I beat myself across the head because I LOVED it! Nobody knew what was happening, other than people within a certain age range (kids) were turning into Chuckies (aggressive little zombies), the older adults were all of a sudden just dead, and the elderly were spared, but they became easy prey for the hungry Chuckies. For some reason, a handful of kids didn't turn - which included three that met within a national par [...]

This was without a doubt the BIGGEST disappointment of the year so far for me!! After having raved about and absolutely loved the first 2 books in this trilogy, I was beyond stoked to finally read the conclusion. I never expected it to be such a let down.First of all, I spent the first third of the book utterly confused. I remember it being difficult in book 2 to remember all the characters and plot lines, but somehow I got into it again. But this one was impossible! I even went to the author's [...]

Un muy buen final para una trilogía diferente dentro del género juvenil y que ha ido a más con cada libro.Reseña completa: voragineinterna.e

Please don't let Tom die!!!! they have to end up together!!!

Please do not read this if you have not read all three books yet.Ok where to start (This is kind of my review for the whole series)Well ever since I got one chapter into the first book I was hooked. I read ASHES about six times in one year because I needed my Tom, Ellie, and Alex fix while I waited for the second one to come out. Alex is the perfect character. She is fierce and strong with that personality that draws you in but like the real people in this world she has flaws. She isn't super wo [...]

Monsters and I got off to a bit of a rocky start.  Having been a year since I read Shadows and a year before that that I'd read Ashes, I'd forgotten quite a bit.  Even with Ilsa's handy dandy refreshers (So You Read ASHES a Year Ago & So You Read SHADOWS a Year Ago), I still felt like there was more about this world than I was remembering.  Re-reading my reviews for each book didn't help either, since I try to refrain from spoilers in my reviews.  I just knew that there were things I' [...]

Mystery, cruelty, and psychotic ambition swirling around the town of Rule finally reach their climax in this third book of the Ashes trilogy, and the finale is anything but quick. Monsters is six hundred eighty pages of dense, heavily detailed action and more minor plot twists than I can keep straight as the main characters regroup after the underground mine detonation at the conclusion of Shadows to figure out what's next now that most of the Chuckies (or "Changed") are dead. Threats to human l [...]

Let me start by saying my son and I are huge fans of this series and I mentioned these books at teripolen/2013/01/16/would. It's been about a year since the second book, Shadows, came out, so I was glad Monsters included a cast of characters (there are many secondary ones) and summary of who's where and doing what at the end of the second book. Unfortunately, that part began on page 673, when I was already finished with the book. Had it been in the first few pages of the book, my reading experie [...]

(Technically 4.5 stars, but since I can't rate half stars at GR, I rounded up here! =D)You can see this full review at my blog, The BookaholicNow I have come to the conclusion of the Ashes trilogy. I am saddened by this. I kept my pacing timed so that I could savor the finale. Obviously, you’re gathering from these sentences that this trilogy is a favorite. I don’t think I’ve loved a set of books so deeply in years. And maybe that’s saying something. It stacks against my love of Vampire [...]

Almost 700 pages! And I'm done! Well not quite. I still have to rate it and maybe write a bit of a review. Whatever. I'll sort out my feelings for this one later. For now, I'll just rejoice for a while on the fact that I finally finished this freaking series with this mammoth of a book appropriately named Monsters. I'm done. I'm free. Praised be the gods of YA.

The Good: Sadly, nothing.The Bad: I've never read a trilogy that started out so flipping amazing and ended so unbearable that I almost couldn't even bother finishing it. I loved Ashes. Raved about Ashes. Shadows wasn't good, but I soldiered on. Sometimes middle books just don't work for me. I still had high hopes. Monsters was nothing short of atrocious. I just feel so let down by this trilogy. Everything that was wrong with Shadows was just amplified in Monsters. The pace was meandering. The bo [...]

Volumen final de la trilogía. Son 800 páginas pero me ha mantenido pegada a sus páginas toda la lectura. Me han encantado los personajes, las escenas más duras y como se ha ido resolviendo todo. No le doy las cinco estrellas porque me han quedado bastantes dudas que me hubiera gustado saber y que el final fuera algo más cerrado.

Initial reaction:HOLY HOLY HOLY HOLY HOLYGOD GOD GOD GOD GOD GOD GOD Words are failing me right now. This series started with a bang and ended with a fricken fireworks display. There is so much action and adventure and thrills and gore and horror and mystery and romance and this series keeps you on the edge of your seat and I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!Synopsis:The Changed are on the move. The Spared are out of time. The End now.When her parents died, Alex thought things couldn't get much worse-until [...]

(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to Egmont USA and Edelweiss.)This is book 3 in the ‘Ashes’ series, and picks up where book 2 ‘Shadows’ left off.**Warning – some unavoidable spoilers for books 1 and 2 ‘Ashes’, and ‘Shadows’.**Alex is stuck in the mine which has just exploded; time is running out if she wants to survive.Tom blames himself for Alex’s death, and vows to kill Chris if he ever meets him.Chris is pinned bene [...]

I really really really wanted to love this book! Ashes was amazing, and Shadows was pretty good. I fell in love with Alex, Tom, Chris, and Ellie and I wanted them to all have a happy ending. But Monsters was needlessly long. I tried really hard to be interested, but I was bored a lot of the times. I don't think I've ever skipped so much of a book before. The biggest drawback of this book is the action. Action? Why? You ask. Don't we want action in our books? But I don't need to know EVERY SINGLE [...]

The conclusion to the Ashes trilogy where teenagers inexplicably turn into people-eating monsters and thank goodness it's finally over. I loved the opening of this trilogy, Ashes. It was intense, full of post-apocalyptic action and had a trio of great main characters you cared about. Then the characters got sidetracked in this weird town and it didn't end. The second book, Shadows, just delved into more weird stuff and introduced these odd factions. The series still had great moments, so I kept [...]

Although I very much enjoyed Ashes, the first book in the series, I felt the series went downhill from there. The second book introduced way too many characters to keep track of and I honestly didn't really care about any of them. The three main characters get separated mid-way through Ashes (book one), and do not re-unite until the very end of Monsters. This frustrated me so much! Monsters is a huge book, well over 600 pages! The author does include a list of characters and where they are and w [...]

This book was quite gripping and very hard to put downbut boy was it dark . The action was so unrelenting the characters went from one disaster or fight scene to another. There was no moments of peace for the characters to stop and just enjoy being together even for a moment. Perhaps a true reflection of what it's like to be in a state of war but from the reader point of view I needed a break from all the fighting for a bit more humanity and tenderness between the characters. Far too many charac [...]

OMG. OMG. OMG I just finished shadows and I am literally on the tip of crying. the book left me with more questions than answers.I really really, really hope that Tom doesn't change, and I also do NOT want anything to happen to Chris , I mean, I know that Alex will have to end up with either Chris or Tom, but I still don't want any of them to die, like honestly might heart will break into a million pieces. its super hard trying to Not like both Chris and Tom.I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE BOOK " MONSTERS [...]