ASHES / Ilsa Bick reading levels

Ilsa Bick's first novel was DRAW THE DARK.  She followed it up with the very popular first book in her Ashes Trilogy.  The second volume, SHADOWS was received less favorably as it deviated from the simpler plot line of ASHES.  The second book also introduced more points of view and became much more graphically violent.  Things to consider when recommending the series.  We wait however, with high expectations for the 3rd and final book.


bookcover of DRAW THE DARK by Ilsa Bick
DRAW THE DARK

There are things the people of Winter, Wisconsin, would rather forget. The year the Nazis came to town, for one.  Christian Cage for another.

Christian's parents disappeared when he was a little boy. Ever since, he's drawn obsessively: his mother's face...her eyes...and what he calls "the sideways place," where he says his parents are trapped. Christian figures if he can just see through his mother's eyes, maybe he can get there somehow and save them.  Profanity and violence.

Reading Information:
Word Count: 85,657
Page Count:  338
Accelerated Reading level: 5.4 / points: 13.0
AR quiz: 138210
Lexile: 790L
 

bookcover of ASHES by Ilsa Bick ASHES
(Ashes Trilogy #1)

Alex has a brain tumor and she's tired of chemo and the constant day to day struggle to stay positive.  When she hikes into the woods alone it's to consider what her next step should be.  What she doesn't imagine is that it's all going to be taken out of her hands when a huge series of electromagnetic pulses blast the United States.  These flashes destroy more than every piece of technology the world.  They do something strange to almost every human being.  Some people it kills outright.  Others it alters their minds so that they can think of nothing better than to chow-down on the next person they meet.

Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.  Together they try to survive.  Violence.

Word Count: 104,605
Page Count: 480
Accelerated Reading level: 5.0 / points: 16.0
AR quiz: 146122
  • Publisher: EgmontUSA
  • ISBN-10: 1606841750
  • sample pages available

bookcover of SHADOWS (Ashes Trilogy #2) by Ilsa Bick SHADOWS  

More Adventure.  A lot more Graphic Violence.  Shadows isn't going to be for the feint hearted.  Nor for those who are easily confused by multiple Points of View.

This story follows Alex and Thomas as they struggle to survive.

Word Count: 119,220
Page Count: 528
Accelerated Reading level: 4.9 / points: 18.0
AR quiz: 154948
--sample pages available