Sunrise (Ashfall, #3)

by Mike Mullin

[shannonmiz]

Another wonderful series has ended, and while I am satisfied with the ending, this is another I will certainly miss. This was a solid end to a great trilogy. I think I wanted it to be a little more exciting than it was, but it was certainly good.

Alex and Darla are just amazing. They compliment each other perfectly, and are probably the most compatible and believable young adult couple I have read about. I could actually picture seeing them in life, and that is pretty spectacular character development.

I found this book to be quite different than its predecessors, both in positive ways and a couple of negatives. While the first books had our characters traveling around the Midwest, this book takes place in a fairly small radius, focusing more on the long range survival efforts.

The focus on the various relationships was pretty great. I loved seeing Alex and Darla evolve, both together and separately. I loved Alex and Ed's interactions, and the progression of Alex's relationship with his uncle. And I loved that some of the relationships didn't just wrap up like a nice little gift- it was refreshing to see some "real" relationship dynamics, especially in relation to Alex, Darla, and his Mom.

I liked that the characters had real concerns that one would expect to see in a post-apocalyptic world. They were struggling with hunger, living conditions, illness, injury, and even mundane daily issues like plumbing and sleeping arrangements. I feel like a lot of books gloss over these things, and the detail that Mullin puts into it helps the whole situation feel more realistic to the reader.

When there was action, it was pretty intense. I was horrified by some things that happened in the book. The flensers (cannibals) alone are horrifying, but there were a few plot twists that had me staring at the pages in shock. But to me, that is a definite mark of a good book.

The only part of the book that moved slowly for me was the parts with the more technical aspects of preparing their homestead. I think that it might just be my own personal preference, or maybe my disdain for science in general, but I kind of felt myself thinking that if I didn't have a Darla in the apocalypse, I'd be a goner, because I could not care less how to build stuff, or make stuff work. The only other minor issue I had with the book was that it seemed sometimes that people were a bit too team-oriented. I felt like it was a bit unrealistic, and while some people would have been cooperative and helpful in real life, there would have been those who were complaining and not helping, those who had their own opinions, etc. It seemed like no one here is lazy.Who knows, maybe all the lazy, irritating people are already dead because of their own negligence?

The ending worked for me, which I was quite happy about. I loved these characters, so I wanted them to reach some peace, even though their road has been and will be long. The only gripe I had is that there were a few things that we never really got answers to, but I suppose our characters probably wanted to know those same answers, so I can live with it.

Overall, a wonderful book and a wonderful series that I would highly recommend.