Ashes, teen novel written by Ilsa J. Bick, who has written multiple best-selling novels including Draw the Dark, Drowning Instinct, and White Space. Most of Bick’s novels have a sci-fi theme and can be bought at most bookstores.

Ashes is the first book in the trilogy, and centers around seventeen-year-old orphan, Alex: a girl who is on her last legs. In the final stages of an inoperable brain tumor, Alex leaves her Aunt and the treatment she’s been undergoing for the quiet life of the woods. Then the unthinkable happens, an electromagnetic pulse flashes through the sky, killing many and leaving Alex and many other survivors permanently changed. Alex finds that she can now do the seemingly impossible: she can smell other’s emotions. Others, not so positively changed by the pulse, transformed into vicious, crazed zombie-like monsters.

Desperate to find answers, Alex and her dog join eight-year-old Ellie, and a twenty-some year old solider on leave, Tom, as they race to find help and other survivors.

Many authors have recommended Ashes, including James Dashner, New York Times best-selling author of The Maze Runner, who stated, “Ashes gripped me from beginning to end-dark and suspenseful. I loved it.”

Additionally, Michael Grant, New York Times best-selling author of Gone, also praised Ashes saying. “A haunting and epic story of survival in a shattered world. Ashes is a must read.”

Ashes is a good read for anyone who enjoyed The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, or are in need of another dose of apocalyptic adventure and intrigue. Ashes is a terrifying and thrilling story of what could be our fate at any second, and it is definitely worth putting on your reading list.