Book Review: Monsters by Ilsa J. Bick

Monsters (Ashes Trilogy #3)
Author:  Ilsa J. Bick
Publisher: Egmont USA, 821 pages
Expected Publication Date:  September 10, 2013
*Received an ARC from publisher through NetGalley

From Goodreads:
The Changed are on the move. The Spared are out of time. The End...is now.

When her parents died, Alex thought things couldn't get much worse-until the doctors found the monster in her head.

She headed into the wilderness as a good-bye, to leave everything behind. But then the end of the world happened, and Alex took the first step down a treacherous road of betrayal and terror and death.

Now, with no hope of rescue-on the brink of starvation in a winter that just won't quit-she discovers a new and horrifying truth.

The Change isn't over.
The Changed are still evolving.
And...they've had help.

With this final volume of The Ashes Trilogy, Ilsa J. Bick delivers a riveting, blockbuster finish, returning readers to a brutal, post-apocalyptic world where no one is safe and hope is in short supply.

A world where, from these ashes, the monsters may rise.

Review:
This is an exciting end to this series and I did enjoy it, but I did have some issues with it.  The first is the multiple POVs.  They're necessary because a lot of the characters are in different places, but there were so many POVs and so many story lines to follow that it was sometimes confusing.  I would really rather it be just a few of the characters, and really I mainly interested in Alex, Tom, and Ellie.  I was rooting for them the whole time and sometimes I was so frustrated with what was happening that I wanted to scream.  Sometimes the writing was a bit confusing because it was almost like stream of consciousness and some of these characters are pretty much losing it and it reads that way. 

There is plenty of action in this book, so much that you never have a chance to catch your breath.  Just one horrible thing happening after another.  It is constantly life and death.  Just like in Shadows, these poor people can never catch a break.  There are so many evil, twisted people and they do incredibly horrific things.  And I'm not just talking about the Changed.  

This book was intense and I was madly flipping through the pages to find out how it all would turn out.  I had to know.  And while there is a decent amount of closure, there are some things left open, which was a little frustrating.  

All in all, action-packed page-turner that's dark and complex.

And if it's been awhile since you've read Shadows, Ilsa J. Bick's website includes a synopsis (So You Read Shadows a Year Ago) to get you back up to speed.  I really wish all authors did this!  

Posted by:  Pam