Title: Ashes, Ashes
Author: Jo Treggiari [website] [twitter] [facebook]
Genre: Dystopian
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Format: Hardcover
Source: Provided by publisher
Parental Advisory: language, alcohol, criminal activity
Teachable Moments: survival skills, team work, interpersonal communication, society building

“Lucy dreaded this time of day, when there was a pause and her thoughts rose up and threatened to submerge her.  As long as she was busy doing, she could keep the loneliness at bay.  She drew the edge of the sleeping bag up around her ears, the shawl over her head, and nuzzled into them, smelling the nose tickling mustiness of leaf mold, ground-in dirt, and the dried grasses she slept on.  Her mind buzzed at her like an annoying mosquito.”

Summary (from the publisher):
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 releases 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.

Opinion:
In a post-apocalyptic world that can easily be envisioned into our reality, Ashes, Ashes focuses on Lucy, a teenage girl who has survived both the plague that has killed her family and the furious physical elements that continue to afflict the continent.  Left behind by everyone she loves Lucy fends for herself by living off the land.  The terrain of New York and New Jersey have changed significantly as a result of earthquakes and tsunamis leaving Lucy in what seems to be some section left of Central Park.  She’s build a makeshift home for herself, seems relatively protected from the hazards of both weather and other (more nefarious) survivors and leads a straight-forward yet difficult existence.

This exemplifies how Treggiari has built a compelling and vivid world where the elements are as vicious as the people who inhabit them.  She paints a very specific picture of where things are situated so that anyone with genuine knowledge of the landscape around New York City and parts of New Jersey will assuredly have an idea of where she speaks.  Further, she has done well to make the reader feel as if they too are experiencing the discomforts Lucy is.  I personally experienced the overcast tone and the gritty feeling that makes flesh itch and crawl.  The terrain was unforgiving and did much to add to the general feeling of hopelessness survivors regularly felt.

On the other hand there is Aiden.  One of many who live amongst a tight knit community of survivors he is part of re-purposing and rebuilding society.  He is resourceful and outgoing in ways directly opposed to Lucy.  But then, he’s also had the luxury of maintaining physical and emotional relationships where she has not.  As a result, he feels as though there is something to invest himself in.  He is a leader, a protector, a member of a family which in turn helps create a feeling of hope and encouragement in the book.

Ashes, Ashes had a believable romance as well.  Lucy met Aiden by circumstance — he saved her from certain death — and was not immediately as taken by him as he was her.  This is most likely a result of their differing lifestyles — she being isolated, he being amongst others.  But as circumstances progressed their lives eventually converged at a time and place that allowed them to better explore their feelings.  Not always the easiest road to travel the two were compatible in a variety of ways.  Further, it stood to reason, for me anyway, that extenuating circumstances (such as the way the world worked at the time) allowed each the ability to quickly discern their compatibility with each other.  Though their relationship blossomed into more than friendship at a speedy pace it didn’t feel like one moment they hated each other and the next they were inseparable.  Most importantly it was a very small part of the story.  It was infused at the most reasonable level so as to progress the larger story.

Speaking of which, the plot of the book was creepy enough to have me sitting on the edge of my seat at times and certainly did it’s job of making me feel ill-at-ease about society and how people react under pressure.  While many choose to remain positive and productive, attempting to rebuild society into some form of it’s former existence, others chose to go down a darker path.  In this case, there is a group of people who herd survivors, picking them off the streets for purposes not everyone is entirely sure of.  They attempt to articulate their intentions as being for the betterment of society but that is questionable at best.  Their reason for existing and the plans they have are part of a darker more nefarious part of the plot that I won’t divulge here.  I can’t say that the plot was entirely unpredictable but the characters made some of those more transparent circumstances enjoyable regardless.

Ashes, Ashes is an enjoyable dystopian to add to an upper middle grader and young adult reader’s catalog.  Action packed to be sure it is fast paced and filled with dynamic characters.  There are a few teachable moments but they are subtly drawn to give genuine perspective.