Review: Shadows by Ilsa J. Bick

Title: Shadows

Author: Ilsa J. Bick

Publisher: EgmontUSA

Release Date: September 25th 2012

Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

Quick Review: 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. 

Welcome to Shadows, the second book in the haunting apocalyptic Ashes Trilogy: where no one is safe and humans may be the worst of the monsters.

Detailed Review: From the start of Shadows we learn about Jed, who tells his story as 'Once a marine, always a marine'. Jed tells his story about his wife and the child called Grace. He tell us about the war which broke out in Vietnam and at the same time he lost his left eye in the war with a bullet to it. Then he talks about another character called Michael. We learn about Tom Eden. About his relationship with Alex, how close they'd been. As he left her but she came fighting back, being as brave. Tom starts to see things. Like his old best friend, Jim that he shot and how realistic Alex had been screaming for him to help her but he himself felt even more helpless like the rest. In the end he knew these visions were going to get worse ending with-

"Hang on, Alex," he whispered. "Hang on."

Then the start of the actual chapters begin. Alex is cornered by Five Changed people. Two girls and three boys. They wear wolf skins on their heads and at the same time she recognizes one of the boys. And it hit her. This boy looked like Tom, yet he was dead. Or was he? That's when everything hit her. She knew these people. That's when she knew she would die fighting or let Spider take her to the ground. She found a hay hook and slashed Spider then bulleted into her. As the fight broke out and the final moment was Spider squeezing the trigger. 

Then she meets new people and her actual journey begins as she races to find Tom and save others. Meeting her old friends, Nathan and the rest, they devise a plan to find people who Chris thinks they're missing. At the same time, Peter has gone and is founded by the group leader, Finn. Finn brings Peter somewhere where they find a boy, naked. A few people beat him and torture him! Peter thinks Finn's crazy as he tries to calm the boy. And slowly he cuts the child and next thing you know, they decide to do an experiment. 

Part three; Alex has defeated the Five Changed and now moves on with a group to a far world. Grace the little girl is thinking about the last meal she will have as she thinks about a boy she forgot. Jed and Tom goes on a journey to find Alex and keep her safe. Back home, Grace hears knocks and voices and finds out there are three, two rifles and six horses. With Alex, she talks about her life with a few other people she's with. 

All the people make their journey to each other as one try to find the other. As Tom tries to find Alex and so does she. Alex stumbled upon a boy called Daniel. Fighting side by side, they wander until horrible, terrifying events start to unfold. Everything was in a blur as Tom is getting closer and closer to Alex and yet he doesn't seem to understand it. Alex and Daniel starts to move together when a shootout starts and Daniel gets infected. He soon dies by Alex's gun as she races away from him. During the journey Tom meets Luke before this, now they're fighting for their lives as they race away, hearing a whistle. 

Then Tom finds Ellie screaming Alex's name. And finds her in a tunnel which is very far down. Unknown to Luke, they rescue Alex as Luke tries to reason with Tom that they had to leave. 

Part Six; Lena is confronted with the Changed. In another part, Finn saves Davey with Peter by his side. 

In the end, Tom escapes with Luke and finds Cindi, a girl. Tom feels Changed as the girl Cindi tries to understand what it feels like. 

Cindi was suddenly very afraid, but she had to know. "What's it feel like?" 

His eyes were terrible: weary and haunted and far back in his skull. The hollows were as purple and pewter gray as thick clouds gathering for a storm. Looking into Tom's ravaged eyes was like trying to stare directly into the sun for too long: something bright and horrible it could burn you blind. 

"Black," Tom said. "It feels black." 

It ends with Tom admitting to the Change as Cindi felt scared. 

*I felt this was confusing but good read though I have to choose a three out of five for me.*

Brief Review: 'Brave, interesting and terrifying, Shadows was a read that I quite liked but there were parts of the story that made you understand the life line of reality.' 

My Rating: 3/5  'Quite liked.'

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