Don't get me wrong, this series is by no means the next Hunger Games or Harry Potter. It definitely has some significant faults which we'll get to in a minute. But if a book or series gives me that feeling, it definitely did something right.
First, let me give a little background on the novel. I'll preface this by saying that this will essentially also be a review of the first two books in the series, as it's hard to review the third book in a trilogy all by itself. Also, I'll do my best to keep it spoiler free in case one of you wants to read the book after seeing this review.
Background
The Ashes Trilogy is set in a post apocalyptic world (surprise!) after someone or something lets of a series of Electro Magnetic Pulses, or EMPs, that causes almost everyone to die or turn into zombies (surprise!) leaving only a small amount of lucky survivors.
The central character of the series is Alex, a teenage girl who lost her parents in a crash a few years previously and was then diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. The original novel follows her and her struggle to survive in this sad sad world, while the final two novels also branch out and follow the characters she encounters along the way.
This book is technically Young Adult Fiction, but the material is definitely not suitable for anyone under the age of 14. These are some intense books which deal with a lot of mature subject matters. Also there is a lot, and I mean A LOT of gore. Imagine going to a butcher's and then rolling around a cow's intestines (my apologies to any vegetarians or vegans reading this). That's how you feel after reading these books. But if you're one of those people who refuses to read certain books just because they're classified as YA, please don't let that stop you from reading this one.
Alright, let's get to the real stuff.
The Good
I'll just come out and say it. Characters. The characters in this book are absolutely amazing. Bick does an incredible job painting her characters as real people with real problems, ones you can connect to. And the best thing is, there are so many characters, that if you don't like one of them, you're guaranteed to find one you do. It actually gets to the point that there may be too many characters (we'll get to that later) but Bick really does an amazing job of giving life to so many different people. You actually grow to care about the characters and are invested in their fate.
The plot is also extremely stellar. For such a contrived and cliched concept, Bick really hits it out of the park. She takes the series in a completely different direction from what one would expect, and it really helps her stand out among the sea of post apocalyptic YA fiction writers that seem to be taking over the Earth. There are very few things I would change when it comes to the plot; it almost plays out like a movie in your head. Every character's decision stays true to who they are, and it pays off in some incredible drama.
Also, the suspense in this novel is amazing. Some people don't like when authors end every other chapter with a cliffhanger; they say it's lazy writing and it loses its effectiveness when over done. Well, maybe I'm just a sucker, but I fell for it every time. When I picked the book up and really started to read, I just couldn't put it down.
Perhaps most importantly, the ending of the book is satisfying. It wraps up all of the lose ends it needs to wrap up, and has a satisfying, albeit not necessarily happy, conclusion for all of the main characters. There is very little controversy or ambiguity. Sure, a few questions are left open-ended, but the novel and the series is better off for that.
The Bad
Let's start with the obvious; it's a Young Adult Fiction series that is based in a post-apocalyptic world. Sound familiar? At this point, it's a cliched, and overdone concept that might turn readers off before they even pick up the book. And on top of that, it's a trilogy. I mean, come on! Can't authors just write one book anymore and leave it alone?
Speaking of leaving things alone, let's talk about the characters. While I did say above that Bick's characters were probably the strongest points of the series, she might have tried to outdo herself. She creates just a few too many characters, that she can't quite reach them all and make all of them meaningful. So there are a few uninteresting characters floating around. This isn't a huge problem, but it is when there are several chapters in a row focused on said characters.
Also, Bick gets a little too cute with the whole idea of telepathy/mind control/dreams/out of body experience thing. It wasn't an issue at all in the first two novels, but it's really at the forefront of this one, especially at the big climax of the novel which kind of irritated me. In general, I get the idea, but Bick makes it way more complicated than it should be. I found myself scratching my head at more than one point trying to figure out what exactly was going on. In addition, as a rule, I despise dream sequences in books, even when the author tries to tell me that they're "real" dreams, and this one had a little too much of that.
The Ugly
Alright, time to get to the biggest issue of not only Monsters, but the entire trilogy. And that is Bick's writing style.
I'm not saying she's a bad writer, in fact, it's completely the opposite. Bick is a very talented wordsmith. But I don't have to know every single detail. Oh my goodness. Unless you've read the book, I really cannot explain to you how much detail Bick includes. It's over the top. She describes every move of every fight scene, of which there are several, as well as the intricate details behind the guns and other weapons used. There is also way too much of the characters thinking to themselves and struggling to battle their own personal demons. As a result, there can be pages at a time when nothing interesting is happening and there is absolutely no dialogue. Honestly, this book, and both other books in the trilogy, could have been about 200 pages shorter.
I think Bick's biggest mistake is that she tried to make The Ashes Trilogy bigger than it was. She tried to make it some fantasy epic, when it simply wasn't. The nearest thing I can compare it to is George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. Martin's books also suffer from one too many characters and an overabundance of description. But, I find myself more forgiving when it comes to Martin's novels, if only for the reason that A Song of Ice and Fire is truly a fantasy epic. But even then, it's hard to overlook those faults. So how am I supposed to do so here? Martin's books involve battle and intrigue on a grand scale with so many interesting pieces fitting themselves together. Monsters is nothing like that, no matter how hard Bick wants it to be.
But she does such a good job of pretending it is an epic, I almost believed it myself.
Verdict: 7.5 out of 10
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