Shadows by Ilsa J. Bick (ARC)

Shadows (Ashes #2)
Ilsa J. Bick
Exp. Pub: September 25, 2012 TODAY!!!

The Apocalypse does not end. The Changed will grow in numbers. The Spared may not survive.

Even before the EMPs brought down the world, Alex was on the run from the demons of her past and the monster living in her head. After the world was gone, she believed Rule could be a sanctuary for her and those she’d come to love.
But she was wrong.

Now Alex is in the fight of her life against the adults, who would use her, the survivors, who don’t trust her, and the Changed, who would eat her alive.

Grundgy and Gritty. If a zombie book hasn't gotten you to cringe in disgust and splatter your skin with goosebumps yet, this one will.

So in Ashes, the characters believe EMPs were set off all over the world. It seems anyone that's new adult to a ripe old age died right on the spot. The elders seemed to be immune, which makes everyone believe brain activity may decide who lives and who dies. And all those kids? They didn't die, but they morphed into some form of zombies, which unfortunately, are a little smarter than those you see on TV. But for some reason, some kids haven't changed yet. Like Alex. Like Tom and Ellie, who she meets roaming the wilderness like her. And the older generation either sees them as one of two things: a blessing to repopulate the world, or a plague that needs to be eradicated before they have a chance to change too.

 

Alex has found herself in quite the pickle. She chose to run from the community that protected her, and risk the open world of zombies to find her two companions from Ashes, Tom and Ellie. Ellie was stolen as a desperate attempt for some oldies to barter themselves into a protective community, and with Tom, she had a search party come rescue, but his damaged body did a disappearing act from the gas station she had stashed him at. But life at the community isn't what Alex expected, and she has no desire to involve herself in their sinister actions. But the moment she escaped the community, she was immediately snatched up by a gang of the Changed, and found her strapped to a line of humans, constantly wondering if she'd be the next meal. This one particular zombie is the twin of who she was supposed to matched up to in the community, and seems to have an interest in keeping her alive...to the irritation of the zombie Alex beat up, who trully wants to rip her to shreds. Tom's luck isn't any better. He was picked up and nursed back to health by a kind couple, but from there on out he's running for his life...and it's not the zombies chasing him down.

If you haven't checked out the Ashes Trilogy yet, I recommend you do. I guess the one thing I'm on the fence about is the change in POV. Ashes was straight up Alex all the way through. Shadows, on the other hand, gave the whole freakin' world a POV. I don't mind multiple POVs...hell, each of my Immortal Archives novels have an average of five per book. It's just weird because these characters were all in Ashes, so it's a little jarring that their POV didn't begin when they were introduced. And truth be told, I still prefer Alex over everyone else, and I want more of her! Although Tom's been a good POV too. The others...I could live without.

ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley.