Author: Mike Mullin
Published On: April 15, 2014
Publisher: Tanglewood Press
Book Synopsis:
The Yellowstone supervolcano nearly wiped out the human race. Now, almost a year after the eruption, the survivors seem determined to finish the job. Communities wage war on each other, gangs of cannibals roam the countryside, and what little government survived the eruption has collapsed completely. The ham radio has gone silent. Sickness, cold, and starvation are the survivors’ constant companions.
When it becomes apparent that their home is no longer safe and adults are not facing the stark realities, Alex and Darla must create a community that can survive the ongoing disaster, an almost impossible task requiring even more guts and more smarts than ever—and unthinkable sacrifice. If they fail . . . they, their loved ones, and the few remaining survivors will perish.
This epic finale has the heart of Ashfall, the action of Ashen Winter, and a depth all its own, examining questions of responsibility and bravery, civilization and society, illuminated by the story of an unshakable love that transcends a post-apocalyptic world and even life itself.
Buy Links for Sunrise:
I got this book from the author, free of cost, in exchange of an honest review from my side.
Firstly I would like to thank the author and the tour organizers for giving me this opportunity of reading and reviewing this book.
Whoa!!! Oh my god, I can't express my feelings about this book but in one word the experience was madly thrilling and frightening as well, so a prior warning to you guys, if you don't have a strong heart then don't go for this book because it will surely give you heart attack.
Here we continue the story of Alex and Darla where they decide to go after Alex's parents and end up in another FEMA camp and slowly the story progress from there. There is immense action which will chill you to your bones. The best thing is that in this story even the main characters doesn't get to get out unharmed and totally victorious and that fact made this book even real to me.
The gruesome torture that Alex and Darla went through is really heart wrenching but it also made me read more of them and I wasn't confident that they will make it out at any point because the suspense is intense and eerie as well.
Coming to the other characters I hated Mayor Petty and I couldn't understood some emotional decisions that Alex's mother took but other than that I loved all the other characters.
To be honest this book changed my view of the world and also made me believe that nothing can be taken as granted even our day to day life and the best part of the story line is the apocalypse itself because it's so real and can happen in real life too.
I'm not giving away any details about the story but I would say one thing confidently that you guys should definitely try this trilogy out if you haven't already, this is going to blow your mind off!!! Enjoy!!!
Rating: Five Post-Apocalyptic Vampires
Guest Post:
Topic: STRATEGIES FOR WRITING BELIEVABLE CHARACTERS
I use two strategies for making my
characters more believable. First, I rip off real people. Second, I act out my
characters’ roles.
Almost everyone in the ASHFALL series
is loosely based on someone I know. The original inspiration for Alex, for
example, was Ben Alexander. He was sixteen when I first met him, a third-degree
black belt and instructor at my taekwondo school. I chuckle every time I read a
review that doubts a teen could be as good at taekwondo as Alex is. I want to
see them spar with Ben Alexander. He can kick my butt and make it look easy,
and I’ve got almost a foot in height and 100 lbs of mass on him.
Uncle Paul, Aunt Caroline, Max, and
Anna are named for my brother’s real family. They live on a small farm near
Yellow Springs, Ohio. They’re far nicer in person than their characters are in
the book, of course. My brother, Paul, is an electrical engineer just like the
fictional Uncle Paul. He was a huge help in figuring out Darla’s MacGyver
moments. I also learned about goats, ducks, and greenhouse farming from him and
his family.
Sometimes my characters are partly
based on other fictional characters. Darla, for example, is an homage to my
favorite strong young adult heroines: Katsa from Graceling, Ree from Winter’s
Bone, Katniss from I really don’t have to tell you this, do I, and D.J.
from the Dairy Queen series. Darla is
also partly inspired by my wife, Margaret. She’s just as tough, loyal, and
determined as Darla, but Margaret can’t fix our cars, darn it. It would be
awesome if she could fix our cars.
Sometimes people ask me where I got
the idea for Target, the antagonist in ASHFALL. I used to say I had no idea,
that I’d never met anyone like Target and never wanted to meet anyone like
Target. But one day I was presenting in a library in Armonk, New York, and the
librarian stood up and said she knew where the idea for Target came from. I
replied no way—I don’t know where I got the idea for Target, and I wrote the
book. You can’t possible know where the idea came from. But when she explained herself,
I realized that she was right. I’d rewritten part of The Odyssey, a book I hadn’t read in more than twenty years. Target
is a version of the cyclops Polythemus. Odysseus beats Polythemus in part by
putting his eye out with a spear, just like Alex strikes Target’s eye with his
staff. Even blinded, Polythemus is too powerful for Odysseus to beat, and
Odysseus must outthink and trick him, just like Alex outthinks Target by
bringing the grindstone into the hayloft with him before their last confrontation.
There are physical similarities as well: Homer describes Polythemus as having a
long braid that he keeps coiled on the back of his head like a target—similar
to the tattoo Target sports.
Second, I act out many of the scenes
in my books from different character’s perspectives. This can get a little
embarrassing, if, for example, you’re sitting in a Panera Bread and decide to
act out one of Alex’s taekwondo moves. People look at you funny when you
practice taekwondo in a coffee shop against an invisible opponent. I’m not sure
why.
Some writers take acting classes to
hone their characterization. Writing isn’t much different from method acting.
If you know each character’s motivation in each scene—what they want from that
scene—it will inform your writing, particularly the dialog, and make your work
much more believable.
If you can master those two skills:
ripping off real people and acting out each scene from the perspective of every
character who appears, then you’re well on the way to populating your novel with
a completely believable cast.
About the author:
Mike Mullin’s first job was scraping the gum off the undersides of desks at his high school. From there, things went steadily downhill. He almost got fired by the owner of a bookstore due to his poor taste in earrings. He worked at a place that showed slides of poopy diapers during lunch (it did cut down on the cafeteria budget). The hazing process at the next company included eating live termites raised by the resident entomologist, so that didn’t last long either. For a while Mike juggled bottles at a wine shop, sometimes to disastrous effect. Oh, and then there was the job where swarms of wasps occasionally tried to chase him off ladders. So he’s really glad this writing thing seems to be working out.
Mike Mullin’s first job was scraping the gum off the undersides of desks at his high school. From there, things went steadily downhill. He almost got fired by the owner of a bookstore due to his poor taste in earrings. He worked at a place that showed slides of poopy diapers during lunch (it did cut down on the cafeteria budget). The hazing process at the next company included eating live termites raised by the resident entomologist, so that didn’t last long either. For a while Mike juggled bottles at a wine shop, sometimes to disastrous effect. Oh, and then there was the job where swarms of wasps occasionally tried to chase him off ladders. So he’s really glad this writing thing seems to be working out.
Mike holds a black belt in Songahm Taekwondo. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and her three cats. Ashen Winter is his second novel. His debut, Ashfall, was named one of the top five young adult novels of 2011 by National Public Radio, a Best Teen Book of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews, and a New Voices selection by the American Booksellers Association
Author Links:
Website: http://mikemullinauthor.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mike_Mullin
Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/mike.mullin.author
Giveaway:
This giveaway is sponsored by Books With Bite. It is one complete set of The Ashfall Series (Ashfall, Ashen Winter & Sunrise) from The Book Depository. Please make sure they ship to your country. Open to everyone!
I know that young people can learn a great deal of control in Taekwondo because my youngest grandson earned his black belt at 11, of course he's a big boy and loves both the grace and force, not that he would use it to hurt anyone! Anyway I have a tendency to ramble, sorry about that! Your excerpt and then how you chose the characters is very interesting and I am glad that you learned a little about goats etc they and other animals would be great in the book but if the volcano, cannibals etc there probably isn't any domesticated animals left. I would love to get into your books so I am keeping my fingers crossed, thank you for the giveaway and excerpt. of your book "Sunrise"(Ashfall 3), thanks. ever yours, Karen.
ReplyDeleteThanks for being a part of the tour!
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