Remember when I reviewed a book called Draw the Dark and I gushed for it like I gushed for very few books in my book blogging days? Remember the fantabulousness that I thought it was? Remember how it made my 2010 Squee!!mers list that was, needless to say, rather short? Remember the last time I steered you wrong about a book I gushed about? Yeah, I didn't think so on that last one.
Ilsa J. Bick, author of Draw the Dark, is coming out with her next book, Ashes, in September through Egmont. Is it like Draw the Dark? Not so much. It's more along the lines of the current apocalyptic/dystopian trend that's hitting the YA market now. Take a look -
An electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky, destroying every electronic device and killing billions. For those spared, it's a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human . . .Desperate to find out what happened and to avoid the Changed, Alex meets up with Tom - a young army veteran - and Ellie, a young girl whose grandfather was killed by the electromagnetic pulse.This improvised family will have to use every ounce of courage they have just to survive. (ARC back blurb)
A proper apocalyptic, but not like anything I've read yet. More on that in a minute. Right now I want to release its cover. If you get the Publisher's Weekly daily emails, then you've already seen it. If you've looked to the right and in my sidebar, you've seen the stock ARC cover. If you read my Added to the Pile post on Sunday, you've seen the tentative cover on my ARC. Creepy as hell. Rest assured I turn the thing over when it's on my nightstand. But the real cover? It looks like this -
You creeped out? Good. You should be. Because it's a creepy ass story. It's not meant to have some torn love triangle or really have any pretty romance in it at all. It's a survival story and it holds no qualms about it.
Ilsa's signing?
Tuesday, May 24th
10:30 - 11:30 at Table 4 in the Autographing Area
2:30 - 3:30 at Egmont Booth 4522
Why should you line up nice and early to get this ARC?
- It's an apocalyptic story that makes sense. With a growing number of cranked out dystopians and general books of future dismay being released, it's plainly obvious Ilsa has spent a lot of time crafting this destroyed world. She did the research. She studied the people. The thing's so damn realistic that it'll have you looking up at the sky with a touch of fear in your eyes.
- It's relatively romance-free. I say relatively because there is a hint of something. What would a YA book be without some nominal teenage hormones, even in the most desolate of times? But it's not a focus. The story is about these kids surviving. That's it. I know there are those of you out there yearning for a future-imperfect story sans romance. This is it.
- It will make you feel things you didn't think a book could make you feel. Like how you really shouldn't read this when you're eating. And I'm not exaggerating. From nausea to pain to extreme loss, you will feel it all along with Alex.
- Ilsa is merciless with her characters. They are spared nothing. Logic does not evade them. They don't miraculously escape tricky situations. They get pwned by them. They are ripped, torn and pulled apart until there's barely anything left, but their will to survive is so strong they just keep going.
- Zombies. Sort of. They're kind of non-traditional in that they're not reanimated corpses. But the Changed aren't spared that classic title.
I could keep going but I'll save it for the review. So now you have no excuse not to go to either of Ilsa's signings. So go and tell her I sent you. You'll meet an awesome chick and get a fan-fucking-tabulous book while you're at it. Seriously, you won't want to put it down and, quite frankly, it blows the rest of those dismal-future books clean out of the water.
