Need a quick refresher, a synopsis of who’s who and what’s going on? Well, you won’t get much in SHADOWS. For story-telling purposes–plot, pacing and all that–I decided against a detailed recap. SHADOWS pretty much picks up where ASHES left off and is a bigger and broader book, with a LOT going on, new characters to meet, new mysteries to unravel.
But I also realize it’s been a while for some of you, so if you DO need a memory-jog, read on. If you haven’t read ASHES, shame on you. But don’t despair; you’ve got time before SHADOWS hits shelves 9/25/12.
In any event, BEWARE: major spoilers ahead. Really, if you’ve not read ASHES, don’t go any further. Not only will you ruin the perfectly good time you might have had—because no synopsis can do justice to a novel—you will miss a lot of vital information that I can’t include.
Just saying.
The Zap: On what starts out to be a perfectly nice Saturday in October, a wave of e-bombs sends electromagnetic pulses sweeping through the sky. No one knows who did this, or why. In some ways, that’s not important. All that matters are the effects.
In an instant, the vast majority of the world’s adult population dies; power and communications grids are destroyed, and sophisticated electronics, crippled. (So that spiffy new iPad? It’s a brick.) Along the East and West Coasts, the detonation of low-altitude nukes above nuclear waste storage facilities, as well as other facilities going critical because backup generators do not kick in, spews fallout into the atmosphere, turning the moon green and the sunrises bloody. Everyone who might be able to fix anything is also history. In a flash, civilization collapses into a hellish, pre-industrial black hole.
Those still alive—the very young and the very old—must find a way to battle new enemies, not only fellow survivors organized into raiding parties and rigidly-ordered societies (like Rule, a very small, very insular village) but the Changed: teenagers you really don’t want to meet in a dark alley. Dogs are like canaries in a mine when it comes to the Changed: acutely sensitive and able to alert people to the Changed’s presence. There is also some suggestion that dogs know who is likely to Change or actively Changing.
A very few people have changed in a different way, developing super-senses that some are not afraid to use to their advantage. Still others are Spared, teenagers and young adults who should be dead but aren’t. No one knows why the Spared have survived, and without sophisticated computers, laboratories, or scientists, there’s really no way to find out. All kids are suddenly valuable commodities; the few Spared are also viewed with suspicion because no one is quite sure if the Change is over.
Many other, much older individuals with advanced Alzheimer’s or other senile dementias are suddenly Awakened, returning to their previous level of function.
Who’s Who:
Alex Adair: living with her aunt in Illinois after her mom, an ER doc, and dad, a cop, died in a helicopter crash three years ago. Suckier still, Alex carries a monster in her head: an inoperable brain tumor that’s stolen her sense of smell and many of her memories, especially those of her parents. After two years of failed chemotherapy, radiation, and experimental regimens, Alex has decided to call the shots for a change. As the novel opens, Alex has run off on what might well be a one-way backpacking trek through the Waucamaw Wilderness in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She intends to honor her parents’ last wishes and scatter their ashes from Mirror Point on Lake Superior. As it happens, she’s also got her dad’s service Glock, just in case she opts out of a return. After the Zap, Alex gets her sense of smell back in spades: a super-sense that also allows her to intuit emotions and, on one occasion, get a glimmer of what’s going on inside the mind of a wolf. Which is pretty funky. Much more to the point and like the dogs, she is able to detect the bloated roadkill stink of the Changed. Oh, and all of a sudden, every dog is her new best friend.
Ellie Cranford: sullen, uncooperative, a trifle whiny, a kid Alex has to keep herself from slapping silly. What can you say? The kid’s eight. Her dad’s KIA in Iraq; her mother split years back; and Ellie’s now being cared for by her grandfather, Jack, who might have the patience of a saint, but cut the kid a break. She hates camping, and it’s not like she hasn’t got good reason to be a little pissy anyway. Initially rescued by Alex and then Tom, Ellie is kidnapped by some very nasty adults who see her as a meal ticket.
Mina: Ellie’s dog, a Belgian Malinois, and formerly her dad’s MWD (military working dog). Mina also has the patience of a saint and packs a mean bite. The nasty adults take her, too.
Tom Eden: a young soldier and explosive ordinance specialist on leave from Afghanistan; a competent guy who complements Alex in a lot of ways. After Alex fends off a pack of wild dogs, Tom saves both Ellie and Alex by shooting his buddy, Jim, who’s gone through a major lifestyle change. Steady and calm, someone to whom Alex is instantly attracted, Tom also has a few secrets of his own. The biggest is just why he’s in the Waucamaw to begin with. Once they leave the (relative) safety of the Waucamaw—we’re talking wild dogs, booby traps, and kids who’ve suddenly decided that people make excellent Happy Meals—Tom is shot while trying to prevent the nasty adults from stealing Ellie.
Chris Prentiss: formerly from another town, Chris is the grandson of the Reverend Yeager and Rule’s de facto second-in-command. Dark and reserved, a bit of a brooder, Chris has an uncanny ability to find Spared, especially up north around Oren and its nearby Amish community. He falls for Alex in a big way. Despite her initial determination to escape from Rule, Alex eventually reciprocates.
Peter Ernst: Rule’s overall commander, although he takes his marching orders from the Council of Five, representatives from Rule’s founding families, who run the village. At 24, Peter is the oldest Spared and fiercely protective of Chris. Peter has a thing going with Sarah, one of Alex’s housemates.
Sarah, Tori, and Lena: Alex’s housemates and all refugees to whom Rule’s offered sanctuary. Of the three, Sarah’s a tad bossy; good-natured Tori alternately crushes on Greg (another Spared and part of Chris’s squad) and Chris and still makes a mean apple crisp. Taciturn, irreverent, and originally from that Amish community near Oren, Lena’s a girl with ‘tude. Having manipulated Peter, Lena once tried to escape only to be caught in the Zone, a no-man’s land buffer zone through which those who are Banned (i.e., kicked out of Rule for various and sundry offenses) must travel in order to leave Rule’s sphere of influence.
Reverend Yeager: a descendant of one of Rule’s original founding five families and filthy rich from having run a very profitable mining company, Yeager heads the Council of Five (the other members are Ernst, Stiemke, Prigge, Born). Before the Zap, Yeager was quietly dementing away in the Alzheimer’s wing of Rule’s hospice. After the Zap, Yeager was Awakened. Like Alex, he possesses a super-sense and can determine emotions and truthfulness through touch.
Jess: a tough cookie with a penchant for spouting Bible verses, Jess seems to have her own agenda when it comes to who should be making the decisions for Rule. She’s hot for Chris to stand up to his grandfather. For a variety of reasons—all of them very good—Chris is reluctant. Jess makes no secret of encouraging Chris and Alex to become, well, a little closer.
Matt Kincaid: scruffy, pragmatic, sharper than a tack, Kincaid is Rule’s only doctor. He is also an Awakened, though he has no super-sense. He is the only one who knows about Alex’s brain tumor as well as her super-sense of smell. Kincaid has suggested that the monster might be dead, dormant, or organizing into something entirely different.
Events Leading Up to the End:
After Tom is shot, he and Alex make it to a deserted convenience station. While there, Alex battles three brain-zapped teenagers and very nearly ends up as an appetizer. Already weak from his gunshot wound, which is also badly infected, Tom is even more seriously hurt when a brain-zapped kid takes a chunk of his neck. Although Alex treats him as best she can, they both know that he’ll die if she doesn’t go on alone to Rule and return with help. Before she leaves, they have a nice moment and Tom, who’s come close to admitting the truth about why he came north to begin with, promises to tell her everything once they’re reunited.
Alex makes it to Rule, acquiring an orphaned puppy on the way and having a close encounter with a wolf pack, but is nearly lynched by a mob of terrified adults who see kids her age as potential threats. Chris and his dog, Jet, rescue her. She convinces Chris and Peter to leave the relative safety of Rule and go back for Tom. When they arrive, however, Tom has vanished.
It is now the beginning of November. While on her way to meet the Council of Five, Alex picks up a scent she’s smelled before: one of the men, Harlan, who kidnapped Ellie (and stole the fanny pack with the ashes of Alex’s parents, a letter from her mother, and a Bible). Harlan confesses and says that he last saw Ellie and Mina weeks before and south of Rule. Harlan is Banned. Alex gets her parents’ ashes back, but the Bible and her mother’s letter are gone. Sensibly pointing out that they don’t have the manpower to mount a search and that Ellie could be anywhere at this point (or dead), Chris and Peter refuse to go after the little girl.
With nowhere else to go, the winter digging in, Ellie gone, and no idea if Tom is still alive, Alex really has no choice but to stay. This turns out to be moot since Rule has no intention of allowing the Spared to leave; indeed, the inhabitants of the village—extremely fundamentalist and maybe an offshoot of the Amish near Oren—are encouraged to see rescuing the Spared as a sort of holy grail. Furthermore, this is a very traditional society organized along gender-specific tasks.
Still, not everything is rotten. She’s apprenticed to Kincaid as an assistant and doctor-in-training. Banking on the day when she’ll be able to escape, she squirrels away odds and ends. Yet the months slip by and life develops a mind-numbing routine that begins to wear Alex down in a kind of acceptance. What Alex doesn’t count on is a growing friendship with and affection for Chris. Chris makes many overtures she rejects, but she does grow fond of him.
The holidays pass and then it’s January. Even though previous foraging expeditions have been successful, Rule’s beginning to run low on supplies. Forced to go ever further, Chris and Peter leave for Wisconsin. The morning they’re due to head out, Alex is unexpectedly shaken when she glimpses Chris and Lena in some sort of impassioned argument. (Alex’s mood doesn’t improve when Lena throws her arms around Chris.) Alex isn’t prepared for how hurt and jealous she feels. Frustrated because he’s made a promise to help Lena in some way, Chris can’t explain what they were arguing about. But he can kiss Alex, and boy, is it a doozy. Alex admits that she’s been afraid to let herself like him because that means she’s choosing to stay in Rule for the long term and giving up on Tom and Ellie. Chris leaves on his foraging expedition, and Alex seems content to wait for his return.
BUT:
After several weeks, one splinter of Chris’s party—including Greg, who’s happily returning Tori’s major crush—returns with a gravely-ill boy they say Chris found near Oren. This is strange since it means that Chris broke off from the main party to go north instead of sticking with Peter and his men, who went west. In the course of taking care of the boy, Alex finds something of hers: a whistle her father gave her long ago and which she gave to Ellie. Unfortunately, the boy dies without regaining consciousness.
Yet, putting together bits and pieces she’s heard and learned over the months, Alex figures out that while Chris and the others might be gathering supplies, they’re also taking Spared wherever they can find them and, quite possibly—very probably—by force. In other words, they’re stealing kids.
Appalled by this and also galvanized by the discovery of her whistle, Alex makes the impulsive decision to hijack Kincaid’s horse and leave Rule by way of the Zone which is close to Jess’s house. She is stopped, however, by none other than Jess, who Alex now realizes is an Awakened with a super-sense of her own (hearing).
As it turns out, however, Jess has been waiting for Alex to make this decision and helps her escape. Jess’s rationale is, however, a little suspect. She doesn’t care so much about Alex; what Jess wants is for Chris to wake up to what Rule’s doing and mount a challenge to his grandfather. Chris has to want this badly enough, however, and Alex is the tool Jess will use to force Chris’s hand.
As Alex is escorted by Jess and her allies to the Zone, Chris suddenly gallops out of the woods. He’s returned early, and in the nick of time. Frantic to stop Alex from passing into the Zone—screaming that she doesn’t know what she’s doing—Chris is forcibly stopped by Jess’s men and then clubbed unconscious by Jess. Although Alex tries to help Chris, Jess forces her out at gunpoint.
Once away from Rule and many miles into the Zone, Alex comes upon a shocking tableau: a sort of processional way marked by the flayed corpses of wolves dangling from trees; piles of clothing and jewelry; bones; and a pyramid of human heads, all in various stages of decomposition, which suggests this has been going on for a while. One frozen head she recognizes: Harlan, the man who stole Ellie and was Banned months before.
And she is discovered by a pack of five Changed: all in winter gear (although two wear wolf skins and cowls); all armed; all looking very well-fed.
It is then that Alex realizes the truth.
Rule isn’t fighting the Changed.
Rule is feeding them.
My teacher gave us a list of 8 books to read, and we had to choose our favorite 3 books. Once I saw this option it sounded really good! When I first started reading it I didn’t know if Alex was a boy or a girl, but once I got more in the book it made a lot more sense. I also liked how Alex was very protective over Ellie when the wild dog pack was chasing them! I like how this book involved a lot of adventure and thriller and I can’t wait to read the next books! You are such an amazing author and an inspiration, and trust me I can find talented authors because I don’t like a lot of them recently, but your books are AMAZING!!! I hope you keep writing!
My teacher gave us a list of 8 books to read, and we had to choose our favorite 3 books. Once I saw this option it sounded really good! When I first started reading it I didn’t know if Alex was a boy or a girl, but once I got more in the book it made a lot more sense. I also liked how Alex was very protective over Ellie when the wild dog pack was chasing them! I like how this book involved a lot of adventure and thriller and I can’t wait to read the next books! You are such a talented author, and I can’t find a lot these days so I am happy I found yours! I hope you keep writing.
I plan on it 😉
Glad you’re having fun!
Dear IlisaJBrick,
Your books (the ashes trilogy) are AMAZING! It said on the front of the book ‘AS GOOG AS THE HUNGER GAMES OR YOUR MONEY BACK’. I sure did not want my money back! If you are going to do films of the ashes could you keep me informed, because I would be very interested in auditioning. You are an incredible author and, I wish I was as imaginative as you. Alex is a great character and I can relate to how she feels. Please could you reply!!!
I did, I did, and thank you again, Hayley. If ASHES is ever optioned, I’ll be sure to tell the world! 😀
Thanks Ilisa. 🙂
Are you thinking that you might do a film for the ashes?
Also what do you imagine Alex to look like? 🙂 😀
Unfortunately, it’s not up to me, Hayley. Some producer or director or star somewhere needs to read and love the books.
Other than younger, taller, and better-looking than me and with red hair and green eyes? Nope 😉
Cool. Sounds nice 😉
Sorry if I’ve wrote Ilisa instead of Ilsa a couple times it’s my spell check. Have you always wanted to be an author?
No worries. Everyone does that. In terms of always wanting to write…no, not really. Kind of fell into it during my first career as a physician.
This is probably a really common question but what was your inspiration to write the ashes?
It is, but the short answer is that I read a lot of young adult dystopian and apocalyptic novels and thought that the majority had too many soft edges and padded corners, with people who were too well behaved. Read history; look around you. There are a lot of bad people in the world, and not all of them are the ones who turn into things we might call monsters. I was also pretty tired of books focused on twinkling vampires or were nothing more than primers on how to get a boyfriend.
Is there any authors or people that inspired you to write?
Also thanks for answering my questions and, sorry if I sound like a complete blabbermouth but, I have never actually ‘talked’ to an author before!
No worries–and, no, not particularly. That is, I love books and good stories, so I guess you could say that every good book has made me want to see if I can turn out anything half as a good 🙂
This is the most RANDOM question ever, but what’s your favourite food?
Yeah, that is kind of random.:-) Actually don’t have a favorite; I really like trying all kinds of ethnic foods and I’m pretty good at cooking them too. Having said that, there’s nothing that beats a really well-made bowl of bubbly macaroni and cheese.
Ohhhhh. Now that’s made me hungry! Do you read a lot of books or do you mainly write them? Also have you read Harry Potter?
All writers read a lot. As for HP… never floated my boat. Read the first book and that was enough for me.
I found that as I read through the books they got better! How old would Alex be?
Thanks. I think I say within a few pages that she’s 17. Sounds to me like you’re still doing this report? If so, why not make a list? Much more efficient that way.
love your book ashes!! i am currently writing an isu(independent study unit) for english based on your book and really the title gave me the perfect symbolism! ashes! it realted to after death to zombies and i also have the best and easiest symbol for my presentation in class! i really like u series. i was wondering if there will be a forth book?
Glad to hear it! Actually, I have written about the what-if of a fourth book: https://www.ilsajbick.com/?p=2354. Good luck on that paper! 🙂
hi Ilsa, I REALLY loved your first two books! But I have a question: are you actually going to make a fourth book? I think that you should because the third one kinda seemed like a cliff hanger, and I really want to know what happens to Alex, Tom, Chris, and Ellie. I was SO prepped for a happy ending and I was so surprised when the book just ended! I had to read it over, like, 20 times before I could finally accept that it was the end of the book. I LOVE your stories because they’re so descriptive, I really get that I-can’t-put-down-the-book feeling whenever I read them! SO PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE MAKE A FOURTH BOOK!
~Mep5
oh! and BTW, I LOVE the names you gave all your characters! they’re So fitting! 🙂
~Mep5
I’d ALSO love if you could write back. I’d REALLY appreciate it! Thanks! 🙂
~Mep5
LOL! First off, I’m so pleased that you like the books. In terms of the fourth one… actually, I’ve written about that particular issue and you can read about that here: https://www.ilsajbick.com/?p=2354.
Believe me, I know I have more stories in my head about these people, but I also really did wrap up a lot of arcs in that last book. At this point, I need to move on. I trust that Alex, Tom, Chris, and Ellie will get in touch whenever they’re ready. 😉
Thank you!
I always answer my fans. My mother brought me up right 😉
lol! well, anyways, thanks. I’ve just finished a book report on Monsters, it gave me lots of ideas and quotes to describe the characters. since I really loved the first books, can you give me any recommendations on any other books?
Not really. Everyone’s taste is so different. One thing you might try, if you haven’t read it yet, is Patrick Ness’s CHAOS WALKING. The first book, THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, is excellent. The rest of the trilogy is just okay. But you could get by on just the first book alone. You might also try Rick Yancey’s, THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST. Again, the rest of the books in that series are only okay, but the first is really quite good.
OK, thanks for all the help! I’ll really try to take a look for them when I go to the library. I always try to look for a book that’s kind of addictive, like for example the Warrior books by Erin Hunter. can’t ever put those ones down, because there’s so many unsolved mysteries and fascinating characters, like your books have. I just have a quick question though; do you have any talents in the arts? or at least just describe to me just how Ellie looks in Ashes? Because, whenever I read, I just couldn’t picture her in my mind, and it frustrated me SO much sometimes, and since I borrowed the first book from the library, I couldn’t get a description of her. is there any way you could show me of tell me what she looked like in the book?
Lori’s. Unfortunately, I don’t have a single artistic bone in my body. So I’m unable to draw anything for you in terms of Ellie. But I can tell you is that she’s got blonde pigtails, somewhat of a square face, blue eyes, and she gains a lot of outdoors savvy. She’s not afraid to get dirty by the end, and she develops into one tough cookie.
yeah, I’d kinda picked up of the survival stuff and that, but I’ve never imagined her with blonde pigtails. You know at the end of Monsters? I can’t remember, was Jayden with them? I thought he was, but I’m not so sure. And also, when the moon turned white again, was that supposed to mean the changed would turn back? Or the electricity maybe?
Jayden was with another party, but they were all headed to the same place. As for the moon, if you recall the reason that it changed color to begin with was because of particulates in the atmosphere. All this signifies is that things might get back to normal. But you never know, particularly in my books 😉
yeah I thought it was something like that. before I get to Wolf, I wanted to know what happened to Penny and her unborn baby, like if it was born changed or not. I know in the second book when Alex was with Wolf, Spider, Acne and the rest, you said that the changed had dead babies/children, but I didn’t know if they were born
changed or not. And what about Wolf? the only things I really want to know about him is 1: how he and Penny got together and sort of… got together? and 2: what happened to Wolf after Alex gave him the Almond Joy bar?
btw, I’m sorry if I ever sound like a complete info freak, but I just always have questions whenever I finish the (maybe) last book in a series! I’ve also never been really able to ‘talk’ to an author about their ideas and input on the story. 🙂
Absolutely no problem. Like I said, I love hearing from my fans. 🙂
Well, in terms of your first question, I think I gave you plenty of hints in the book. So, what do you think?
As for your second question… well, I’ll leave that up to your imagination. 😉
Wow. This book is amazing.
About 2-3 weeks ago, I picked up a book that a good friend recommended and I started reading lots and lots. I was found mostly reading in the subway and bus on my way home. It takes roughly an hour and 30 minutes, which means a lot of time for reading. When I finished the book my friend recommended, I started picking up books after books in my library. When all the sudden this book showed up. It was different from the other books; The side of the book was weird, the front cover was mysterious and a hint that this book won’t be sunshine and lolipops. I started reading the book and more and more into the story, it started to get more and more intense and soon, I was even reading it at home. This book changed me and added on to my life. You are an excellent artist. However, I think you should have hinted that this was only book one, I just found out after coming home and looking up this book.
One more thing, when Ellie got taken away, I felt like I died a little inside. I felt like she suddenly became a giant factor in my life. The next few chapters had a tone shift, it suddenly felt cold and winter-ish. I can’t relate to this, but it was the same feeling when I was reading a visual novel (its Japanese so don’t bother) and the main character got kidnapped. I would cry but I was reading on the train. I was into the book but I was still conscious of reality. When Tom dissapeared, I started to wonder what he was thinking, what he would do. But I am sure that if a friend of mine dissapeared for a long time, promising help, I would stop believing in him/her as well and try to survive on my own.
First off, I am so excited that you have discovered the world of books. It’s a wonderful feeling, isn’t it? I’m glad you’re having a good time. 🙂
Also, thanks very much for telling me how much you’ve enjoyed my book! Yes, I know that it ended in a very unconventional way, but it was certainly different, wasn’t it? 😉
See, this is the magic of books: to take you places you wouldn’t normally go.
You mentioned about reading a book in Japanese. Are you? I might actually be talking to someone in Japan?
Hello Ilsa,
I can’t tell you how in love I am with your writing. I Started the Ashes series last spring break, finished it in probably three days, then proceeded to search for any bookstore in florida that could possibly have the second book. You could say I was a little anxious to read more. I just finished the third one yesterday and I am honestly upset that the journey is over! I closed the book still wanting more! I wanted to know what happens to Wolf and Alex and Tom and everybody! I know it is a “Trilogy” but I would kill to read more. Maybe you should just write another one 🙂 Thank you for the wonderful story!
My pleasure. I’m so glad you enjoyed the series. I found it hard to say “good-bye,” too 🙂
And, actually. I talk about the possibility of sequels here: https://www.ilsajbick.com/?p=2354.
This book was absolutely amazing, and I was devastated after I thought the book had finished without a complete series until I found out about the second one 🙂
I normally don’t read over the summer but I couldn’t put it down and this has become one of my all-time favorite books <3