Ashes by Ilsa J Bick

The end of the world is nigh!
According to the latest crop of teen books to hit my radar we don't have long to wait. Will it be a mutant virus? A nuclear dome? Or in the case of Ashes - electro-magnetic pulses that destroy every electronic system, fry healthy brains, and change other brains for better or worse.

Hormonal teenage brains get zapped into zombie, flesh-eating creatures. Older, diseased brains are suddenly cured, sleep-deprived brains are spared and some brains become super-sensitive.
Alex is a special case - a teenager with a brain tumour, prone to nightmares. She develops a super sense of smell. Tom is a returned soldier suffering from post traumatic stress and Ellie is only 8.

I wasn't that keen to get started on this book - zombies and love in the wild isn't usually high on my priority list. But thankfully Ashes is so much more than that. It is a great addition to the Armageddon genre.

I raced through each drama and catastrophe and let out an audible "aarghhhh" when the book finished on a cliff-hanger leaving all the loose ends flailing about madly. Book 2 is not due for another 6 months, but we can be prepared by checking out Bick's blog here.

My only hiccup with the book was the number of clumsy accidents that the 3 main characters had. Bick obviously used this device to add suspence and drama. I just found it frustrating.