User blog:Mimishiku/New Ashfall Fan

I don't know who will be reading this, but I wanted to tell the short story of how I fell in love with the Ashfall series.

We had to read the first book, Ashfall, in my Young Adult Literature class this semester. I was never really a huge fan of the YA genre before, and I had only  liked 2 out of the 4 books we'd read so far, so this one was the scale tipper of the first half of the semester. I usually don't read synopses of books I have to read for school -- this is never intended, I'm just more focused on getting the reading done -- so I didn't know what it was about until I was a few pages in, thinking "Oh yeah, I should actually see what I'm getting myself into!"

Unlike the other books we had to read, this one was complete realistic fiction, a genre I don't see enough of. So, at that point, I was very interested, not even mentioning how much more my interest piqued seeing that it was about the Yellowstone volcano erupting -- a potential tragedy I think about more often than should be considered normal.

Now, onto reading. As I said, I don't look at the summaries of assigned books because I'm focused on getting the reading done, but one of the other reasons I looked was because I had read four pages and hadn't seen a name yet, which was strange. Strangely refreshing. Usually, YA protagonists are kind of.... self-centered? when introducing themselves. I understand that we have to be introduced to character and they're usually in first person, but something about normal YA books makes the characters seem a bit pretentious and too self-aware for me to care about them. Alex wasn't like this. We barely get any description from him about himself throughout the series. Hell, the first person to say his name wasn't even himself (it was his mother chastising him)! It's like Alex was too focused on the more important things (like the end of the world as he knew it) to focus on giving a complete fanfiction-esque description of himself. The most we get out of him is what he likes to do on the weekend and hints to regular teenage antics like dirty rooms and bad study skills.

There's also something about reading the thoughts of teenagers I can't stand a lot of the time. I understand YA novels are majorly in the category of high school aged teenagers, but I've never been attracted to seeing the thoughts of this age group depicted on paper, even when I was in high school, and especially now that I'm an adult. But there was something about Alex that caught me. Maybe it was initially the general story of the book that got me interested, but soon enough I found myself emotionally invested in the safety and health of a fictional 15 year old kid. I feel like part of the reason I liked Alex so much as a character was his maturity for his age. Yes, he still acted and thought like a typical teenager, but with the added knowledge of his black belt in taekwondo and all-around moralistic personality, he stood out from other YA protagonists I've read about. He was a nuanced character who never lost sight of himself -- or, rather, Mike Mullin made a nuanced character but knew what made Alex "Alex" and highlighted that throughout the series.

Enough gushing about Alex, let's talk about other things for a moment: representation. Almost immediately, we're hit with our first bit of LGBTQ+ representation in the series (later on we see more representation, but no spoilers). This comes in the form of Darren and Joe, Alex's next door neighbors. The best thing about reliving this moment was when I had to read the sentence again and again until, finally, the clarity hit that they were a same-sex couple! I was honestly so shocked and surprised that I'm pretty sure I had to take a break for a second. LGBTQ+ representation is SO. RARE. in YA Literature that a lot of the time I feel like a crazy person trying to grasp at any HINT of representation I can get and here comes Mike Mullin waltzing in just adding two LGBTQ+ characters all cozy-like in the middle of this eruption. The real cherry on top, though, the thing that butters my buscuit, the cream of the crop, the-- well, other food related analogy -- is the lack of highlighting that they are a same-sex couple by Alex. They are literally introduced in the book as "Darren" and "Joe, Darren's husband", like they're... I don't know... a normal couple? (WOW, WHAT?!) And it made it even better that Alex had no issue staying with them up until the break-in/massacre.

More representation in this story consists of, surprisingly, the LACK of representation we get throughout the books. If it weren't for the cover of the book, I would have been able to picture Alex (and Darla by extension) as any race imaginable. This goes for (almost) every other character in the series. There are some unnamed people at the FEMA camp that Alex does a general "people of all races and ages" situation and a kid in Ashen Winter who is specifically noted as Asian, but other than that, a majority of other characters are pretty "color-blind casting". I find this awesome. I can understand if not everyone agrees with me on this, but right now I'm talking about ME, so, ha! It also saves the reader from once again having to sit through the fanfiction-esque descriptive paragraphs.

Another aspect of this book I am absolutely in love with is it's overt feminism. Please don't run away, this is good, I promise! Mullin does an amazing job of empowering female characters throughout the book, as well as highlighting that the men don't always have to be strong to be heroes. Alex himself is not the most masculine of people, but that never stopped him from being an amazing (and rightful) protagonist of the story. Even with Joe and Darren, they weren't emasculated simply because they were husbands and that's kick-ass! The women, however, were absolutely amazing (even Alex's mom, when you think about it). All of the women we see throughout these books are strong, smart, and beautiful in their own way and Mullin seems to make a point of pointing that out. This also just adds to Alex's amazing personality. Not only does he do the bare minimum of saying "women are people, too" and getting a standing ovation, he allows women to stand up for themseleves. When he doesn't, however, he gets told off and feels genuine regret over how his preemptive masculinity could have harmed both him and the woman he was in relation with. The women are constantly the driving force in his journey, too. There is not one chapter in which a second female is not mentioned apart from Darla. If Darla is/mentioned in the chapter, another woman is mentioned as well. If she is not, then 2 women are in/mentioned in the chapter, even if that's just Alex's mom and sister. When he has to leave his burning house, the firefighter that took action to help him was a woman, the person who welcomed him into the school, church, and houses were women, etc. He wouldn't have survived if it weren't for them. I don't know if it was extremely intentional of Mullin, but it definitely made all the difference.

And Darla. Darla, Darla, Darla. One of my favorite female protagonists in a while. Granted, I haven't read a lot of actual novels for fun recently, but even compared to the ones I enjoyed with my workload, Darla takes the cake. She's strong in mind and body, and even when she's at her lowest, she somehow comes through on top... even after the Big Event in Sunrise. She's a genious and I don't use that word lightly. At times I found myself wishing I had her smarts, and after reading Darla's Story, I totally understood why she was so aloof and angry. I'm really glad Alex didn't hold it against her. For a 17 year old, she sure did go through way too much to be judged on how she acted right after a volcanic eruption. Even disregarding how smart she is, she's also kind. She's the brain to Alex's heart, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have a heart as well, and that's definitely a driving force behind her motivation throughout the novel. Some of my favorite Darla moments were between her and Jack, he was her last reminder and a great pal to her. Even through all the toughness she had to build up and play off on the journey, we knew that she would be cuddling this cute little bunny at the end of the day.

The Ashfall series was a game changer for me in the world of Young Adult Literature. It's always tough trying to find apocalypse books that satisfy me, but I know this series is going to have me for a long, long time.