William Johnstone ASHES SERIES

[paintball]

I been reading this series and I would have to say it is the best i have read in a long time. If you get a chance read some of the books and enjoy!

[Demorian]

Ashes series was an excellent read, it seems to be a love or hate it for most people, especially since Bill didn't pull many punches with that series.
Saddest thing is when Bill wrote the Ashes series he died too soon before he got to continue the Last Rebel series which is the sequel to Ashes series

[TheLastMountainMan]

I've read three or four of the Ashes series, I really like them. Did not know Bill had died though. Started reading his books from The Last Mountain Man series. Hence my log in name......

[Demorian]

Bill died back Feb 2004, his books have been continued by "a carefully selected author" as his wife said awhile ago on his website. Bill was a very interactive author with the people who read his works.

[avking]

I had not seen this series before, but after seeing this post I looked it up. Looks like the kind of reading I enjoy. I read Stony Man and the Deathlands Series. I ordered the first six of Ashes from Amazon today and will order the rest if I like the first couple. Thanks for the tip.

[paintball]

Its a great series im up to book 6 now. It has all kinds of survival information and tips throughout. and i think that if something of this nature happens this is close to how it would really be.

[firemanphob]

Does this series need to be read in order or are they all independent stories?
Mike

[paintball]

well the first one i read was the 5th book and it refers back to the earlier books so you can fallow along without to much trouble. I just started buying them on ebay so far i got 1-7 and several others on up

[Demorian]

Does this series need to be read in order or are they all independent stories?
Mike

Most of the Ashes series is quite continually linked from book to book, I know when I first read the series I started at #7 and I felt completely lost of what was going on but enjoyed it and due to that I went back and started over from book 1 on up.
But Bill seems to be quite good at a continuing sagas.

[lady_banjo]

Always glad to hear recommendations for subject-related books. Thanks for the post!

[cbprice797]

Yea I started reading the series when I was in 7th or 8th grade in like 1982. Read every one of the 36 books including the first in the new series, THe Last Rebel. Even though Bill was still writng his mountain MAn series he passed the last 9 or 10 Ashes books to a ghost writer and you can surely tell it due to the interaction between the characters being stilted in their actions towards one another. But I still read them since they were based on his outlines for the story, except for the Escape From the Ashes, the last one in the series. It was written when he was very close to death by the ghost writer without his approval as a lead in to the revamp of the series and new characters in The Last Rebel. So read the series and enjoy them. The last 10 or so are a disappointment compared to the others but still a pretty good read.

The quality of the writing in the Ashes series definitely declined when the ghost writer took over. The last book in the Ashses series, Escape from the Ashes, was such a bad book that it makse you regret reading the previous 34. The ghost writer took a great series and ruined it with the last book, in particular the ending of it. He had been promised the right to write the new series, The Last Rebel. If you love the series and get to Escape From the Ashes, DO NOT READ THE LAST BOOK!!!!!! There is no resolution just a crappy ending.

[paintball]

thanks for the tip i hate movies and books with no resolution and leaves u there going uhhhhh ok now what lol

[hammer502]

i read some of the series back in the late 80's and early 90's while in the service.just started reading them again while driving a truck.i'm up to 24 and looking forward to the next books to hit the barnes and noble.

[snowman]

I had also read the series while going through desert shield/storm. I couldn't get enough of them but as other guys have said, the last ones wern't as good an I don't think I ever finished the series.

[cbprice797]

And you never will finish it. THe NEW series was called The LAst Rebel that had a Ben Raines type character named Jim Leduc(I think that is it) and he is taking over the rebel forces because BEn PAssed along his famous Chicago Piano. It was such a crappy story they never even continued beyond the first one in the new series when it came out in 2004.except for the very last one the stories were good even though the later ones were obviously written by a ghost writer because Bill was sick. The last one though you just gotta read it, if ofr no other reason than a good laugh.