Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari Review

"A thrilling tale of adventure, romance, and one girl's unyielding courage through the darkest of nightmares.

Epidemics, floods, droughts--for sixteen-year-old Lucy, the end of the world came and went, taking 99% of the population with it. As the weather continues to rage out of control, and Sweepers clean the streets of plague victims, Lucy survives alone in the wilds of Central Park. But when she's rescued from a pack of hunting dogs by a mysterious boy named Aidan, she reluctantly realizes she can't continue on her own. She joins his band of survivors, yet, a new danger awaits her: the Sweepers are looking for her. There's something special about Lucy, and they will stop at nothing to have her."

Ashes, ashes, we all fall down. Gosh, that's an old song. I hated doing that circle thing. It was terrible for my brain. I would have a headache for an hour before I can even attempt spinning around again.

Ashes, Ashes is a great book, but the author makes is hard to enjoy. I get it (the story). I don't get why the author has to make it hard to speak in our language. How she conveys the story to the readers is kind of annoying. Lucy is sort of emotionless and cold. I understand why Lucy is like that (third person POV book), but the author could had brought her voice down to the reader's level and not be like a god. To author: Bring down your notable knowledge of what happens and stop being so rude. 

First, the big mystery behind why Lucy is being hunted by Sweepers. I have no idea why they are being so stupid (they meaning Lucy's friend and Lucy herself). The answer is in Lucy's blood. Literally. Lucy is immune to the plague. She can protect herself (with her immune system) from all types of the plague. While the population mostly dies, Lucy lives. While the people around her die, she lives. Yes, I'm telling you this now. Because I have to and because I'm not amused by the author. 

Second of all, you don't have to read the book. I'm not jesting. You don't have to read the book. For those of you who dislike reading, you can watch I Am Legend (with Will Smith and the other people). Ashes, Ashes is relatively similar to it. All you need to do is replace Will Smith with Lucy. Add more surviving victims, because there's no such things as vampires. However, there are creepy surviving victims of the plague, so add those scarred and ugly people in. Oh! I can't forget this. Add in a love interest. BTW, the main character doesn't end with death. She ends up living (or at least for right now). 

What's great about the book is how stable the setting and conflict is. The characters on the other hand are a bit too crazy. Anyway, the setting is in New York City, or once was NYC. Now, it's sort of a messy place with a lot of creepers. The conflict is to survive (basically man vs. nature and man vs. man). 

There's some plot holes I hate. For example, I dislike the Del plot (Del is a girl). She weaves in and out, annoyingly. And also, Aidan is sort of an inconsistent character. He says one thing to Lucy. To other people, he says the opposite. He smells like a liar, but the author doesn't focus too much on him. Instead, she focuses most of her time on Lucy.

Please, please, please! More background and history. I hate it! The author refuses to tell us what truly happened to Lucy's family. Most of it is implied, but I have a very strange feeling that one of her family members might turn out to be alive after all these years. Also, how did NYC become creepy NYC. A hole in history books, I guess.

Rating: Three out of Five