Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin Review

It’s been over six months since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Alex and Darla have been staying with Alex’s relatives, trying to cope with the new reality of the primitive world so vividly portrayed in Ashfall, the first book in this series. It’s also been six months of waiting for Alex’s parents to return from Iowa. Alex and Darla decide they can wait no longer and must retrace their journey into Iowa to find and bring back Alex’s parents to the tenuous safety of Illinois. But the landscape they cross is even more perilous than before, with life-and-death battles for food and power between the remaining communities. When the unthinkable happens, Alex must find new reserves of strength and determination to survive.

(If you haven't read Ashfall, I high suggest you get on that).


There are some books that have an obvious problem with an obvious solution and then there are others that leave you scraping for answer to that one strange, mild feeling. But as much as you poke and prod and dig, you can't quite put a label on it. You know this bugged you, yet you also know that the book can't do without that. That event had to happen to escalate to the climax, even if it felt labored and lengthy. So then I try to pin it on the writing but Mullin's prose is stripped bare already--it's meant to be speedy and to the point. So why the heck did everything feel long and encumbered with stuff?

I think I know why. But let's get to the good stuff, shall we?

This book starts with a bang--literally. The first half flew, despite how windy the direction and events were. It felt sporadic but necessary. One thing Mullin loves to do is put his characters in the worse situations ever, and let me tell you, Alex, Darla and crew are in some physical and psychological pain through out the entire book. It's always fun (in a twisted way) to watch how they all scramble out alive, especially Alex. I swear, the dude faces the worst possible scenarios sometimes. Just when he hits the jackpot, that jackpot is literally sucked under a sheet of ice, down a strong watery current. 

And what does Alex say? 

"Well there goes all our supplies."

I might have been annoyed by his lack of panic but then again, this isn't the first time he's been stripped of everything. Plus, his situation was less worrisome (okay not really) and when you've already survived one horrible treck crossing over unfamiliar lands with crazy people and crazy weather, how horrible can it be when you know the land and know how to handle the people? See, this is what I appreciate about Alex. You can see the shift in his demeanor and character, but the core of him, that ultimate goodness and promise is still present.

But all that fluttering awesomeness starts to flat line occasionally, eventually weighing the rest of the book down. This is were I'm a bit confused as to why I became a bit...bored? Not bored, just impatient, maybe. Alex is stressed to the max. He continuously rants on about what he needs to do, and for spoilers sake I won't mention what that thing is, but trust me. You will agree that he really, really needs to do this thing. But here's the hitch, it takes him over half the book to do it. Along the way he meets new people of all sorts, all with their own postvolcanoe problems and experiences to share, and then road block after road block and road block. Never ending it feels like. 

And then when I was pushing myself to get through, I realize Mullin has a method for Alex and road blocks. Introduction to new location (house/shelter or city). Introduction to new people. Introduction to conflict between said people (or location) and Alex. Introduction to people's personal problem. Alex trades for resolve in aid or goods. Alex ends up helping solve a "physical" issue because he's a good guy. Alex leaves with gain of "freedom" while sacrificing something. Okay it's not exactly like that. Sure, events are not perfectly like that, but boy did it feel like that. It starts to go in circles in away. Alex really wants this thing but he's honestly just chasing his tail over and over and here I am watching him. It's fun at first to see him struggle and then it gets old and boring. Move on, already.

There are a few other things that irk me (why does alex have to be so NICE? Why do all the gangs, mean people talk like idiots? Why can't things just go smoothly for once?) but their easily shrugged off. Nothing too horrible.

I look forward to the third book, not quite sure what's in store but I'll be back!