Remnants of Tomorrow

Ashes Trilogy #3

by Kassy Tayler

The thrilling conclusion of the Ashes of Twilight trilogy—A whirlwind of adventure, romance, conspiracy and the struggle to stay alive in a dystopian world where nothing is as it seems.

Remnants of Tomorrow brings all the factions together. The royals, the shiners, the rovers and the everyday workers of the dome as they fight against each other and the inevitable. It is time to leave the dome.

Wren's father takes her on a journey through the dome where she sees the after effects of the destruction caused by her friends and the blue coats who came into the tunnels. What he doesn't realize is that instead of subduing her, he is giving more purpose and fuel to her cause. When he realizes his plan has backfired, he sells Wren and her friends caught inside to the rovers. They manage to escape and add more fuel to the hatred between the rovers and the dome. Wren and her friends from inside the dome and America are caught in the middle as the battle escalates and whoever wins the battle wins the right to life.

It's up to Wren to make both sides see that the only way they can survive is by working together.

Genres: Steampunk, Dystopia, Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romance, Post Apocalyptic

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 18, 2014

About the author

Kassy Tayler is a pseudonym of Cindy Holby.

Reviews

[Colleen Houck]

A satisfying conclusion to the series. I love the tank invention and how the different groups all interact with each other. I've decided I need my own canary. Love pip! Also the blind ponies.

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

As mentioned previously, I've gone against my typical habits and listened to this series rather than reading it--but only because my library had the audiobooks rather than any other format.

This last book was a fitting end to the series, and I think it mostly made up for all the ways I disliked the second book. The story moves forward, the characters start to move out of their awkward and lost phases, they struggle, they fight, and things are left in a hopeful place. I enjoyed listening to this book much more than I did the second one, and I am happy with how it ended.

There are still a decent number of questions I have after finishing, though. For example, why is it that the Hatfields (and by extension, the Americans?) are so much more advanced in their technology than the people outside the dome in England? I mean, it's not like our modern technology or anything, but I still wonder. And how does Dr. Stewart (right? I get mixed up with names if I'm just listening rather than reading) know how to make so many things? (Did anyone else envision his "walking tank" as an AT-AT?) What about exposure to outside diseases when the people within the dome left it?

How it ends: Wren manages to sneak out a few times during her imprisonment, but she's always brought back. She goes two weeks without seeing her friends, though she's kept in a nice room rather than a prison cell. She's finally taken to see Levi, who has obviously been beaten but is still in good spirits. On her way back to her room, she encounters Jilly and Pace walking with Ellen, the woman who angrily brings her food and such. She finds out from Findlay (the one constantly retrieving her) that Ellen is Pace's mother; she hates Wren so much because of the things she has been told by Wren's father (lies). Pace and Jilly are free because everyone has been told by Wren's father that they were part of a plot to spy on Wren and such. In addition, Wren finds out that Pace and Jilly are engaged. Pace whispers to her that things are not always as they seem, and she chooses to believe that they are carrying on a charade for a good reason. (Btw, I'm really glad that she chose to believe in him rather than thinking the worst.)

She is forced to attend their engagement party, during which Jilly secretly meets with her and explains everything. Pace later shows up, and during his meeting with her, they are discovered. Since none of them are willing to cooperate with Wren's father, he decides to sell them to some rovers. This includes Ellen, Jilly, and some other people. They try to convince the rovers, Ragnar and Janna, to side with them, but it doesn't work.

They are taken to the rover's settlement and forced to watch a man be beaten to death for thievery. Then they have to each run a gauntlet, with the rovers throwing rocks at them, to prove they're worthy to be sold as slaves. Because Jilly is injured and Ellen is weak, Wren runs for each of them, as well and is badly injured. The leader, Wulf, summons her to his dwelling so he can inspect her. She views him exiting a curtained-off area where a naked woman is sprawled on a bed. He asks various questions about the dome and the people in it, then accuses her of lying and pins her onto his bed, threatening to rape her and promising to do it the next day when he's purchased her. She is returned to the place where all of her friends are being kept.

The next day during the auction, Ellen is sold. Wulf is humiliating Jilly by tearing away her clothes, when the Quest arrives. There's a fight, but most of Wren's group are saved. Levi saves Wren from Wulf, but he accidentally shoots her through Wulf. Pace rescues his mother, but she is shot and killed before they can escape. Ragnar and Janna run, too.

Wren wakes up, having been treated for her wounds. She asks Levi to help her find Pace, and he takes her outside. She tells him that she loves Pace, and he helps her find him. She tells Pace that she wants to be with him, and she is there for him as he grieves his mother, whom he is going to bury. Wren is ordered to stay in bed and let her injuries heal while everyone else attends the funeral.

Everyone makes plans to break open the dome, as they discovered that Zan was not back with her family as they had hoped. Wren figures out that Zan was the other prisoner at her father's house, and they are going to save her and free the people of the dome.

They do break the dome, and the people are understandably scared. There's a lot of fighting. They rescue Zan, but James dies protecting her (after having kissed her once--so sad). Wren's father is killed. After initially hiding inside, Wren and her friends risk going outside to tell the people about the outside world. They manage to do it, and things sort of settle down eventually. They tell each group to choose a representative and meet in the library to discuss the future. Wren is chosen as representative for the enclave (their new settlement outside), Adam for the shiners, John for the scarabs, the king for the royals, etc. Dr. Stewart explains parliament to them, and they decide to elect a prime minister. The king volunteers, but Pace is chosen.

David and Lucy get married. Levi & the rest of the people on the Quest leave, Alseed going with them, and plan to return in a few months. Dr. Stewart stays behind to study and learn. Pace and Wren look forward to a future together.

Note: Some mild language. Threatened rape (again--sheesh, one in each book).

Narrator: Nicola Barber

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series was a lot better then I anticipated, and the final book was the perfect ending. I understand why Wren chose who she did in her complicated love triangle, but I will always love the other more!

[Extreme · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I am glad that the tedious aspects of stabilising a community in chaos were not left out. The characters were handled well. The events were realistic and well-written. The only peeve I had was the numerous references to Pace's beautiful blue eyes. In fact, I reckon this could be a start of a drinking game. Cheers!

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

This ended well enough. I confess I did imagine the elite would be so scared of leaving they'd off themselves, but they didn't. I'd like another trilogy about how they worked to establish a civil society. They wouldn't have done it easy. The filchers and the other rovers are still out there to contend with after all.

[Leslie Whiteing · Rating 5 out of 5]

good ending to a series. I wish she could have been able to split in two to pick both men too.

[Sandra Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good ending to the series.

[˚₊‧☾ space case ✩‧₊˚ · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5

[Stephanie Tiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review coming soon.
stephanietiner.weebly.com

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I appreciate the closure and the wrap-up to the plot and the love triangle and all, I felt like I just read 300 pages of ruminating and preaching on the nature of life and freedom. I don't remember feeling this way about the rest of the series, but we were treated to so many of Wrens' moralizing thoughts and grand statements about life that it came to feel a bit like a sermon thinly disguised as a YA novel by way of a flimsy love triangle. It got to the point where you could totally recognize at a glance the paragraphs where it would diverge from the plot into a solid paragraph of moralizing, partly because every single one would end with two or three rhetorical questions. There would be two or three of these paragraphs per page, and it sped up the reading process, as I got good at skimming over them to get back to the plot.

Basically, it tried way too hard to be meaningful and instead came off as preachy in the extreme. Wren came off as preachy in the extreme, not to mention majorly stubborn and strangely unfeeling towards the death and destruction around her, for all that she professed her overwhelming need to take care of everyone. That juxtaposition turned her "need to care for everyone" into "need to be in charge and play the hero," because even though she said she couldn't bear to leave anyone behind, she left a lot of people behind pretty quickly once they moved past her sphere of influence. By that, I mean tons of people died and she couldn't seem to care less, possessing a remarkable ability to spout "heartfelt" platitudes and then move on, perfectly happy.

There were some good things, but I am currently too annoyed at being preached at to think of what they are. I'm glad I've had resolution for this series, but that's about the best thing I can say right now.

[Hillary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Remnants of Tomorrow, the last in the Ashes Trilogy, picks up the pace and becomes much more action packed again. Though I hadn't been a very big fan of the second book after really enjoying the first, the third does seem to bring the quality and the intrigue back to an entertaining level. However I still couldn't bring myself to give this book three stars. With so many good YA books out there I felt this series as a whole fell short. It had a strong, interesting beginning but it almost seemed like once the concept was laid out, the rest was filler with repetitive statements about power and dictatorship. The relationship component continues to be fairly formulaic throughout and quite honestly I feels lends very little to overarching story development. Still the world outside gets a bit more detail, Tayler throws in more info on the violent world of the Rovers in a way that makes you think something big is coming, but never does. The story was better than book two so I wish I could give it 2.5 stars, but i can't put it on the same level as some of the other YA's I've given three stars too. In the end I would call it an OK series that was mildly entertaining, keeping you engaged but relieved when it's over.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third in a trilogy and not a disappointment (as they so often are). Taylor wraps up the love triangle nicely and the book kept me reading. She kept a strong mood throughout the trilogy and never lost that.

Book description:
Kassy Tayler's Remnants of Tomorrow brings all the factions together. The royals, the shiners, the rovers and the everyday workers of the dome as they fight against each other and the inevitable. It is time to leave the dome.

Wren's father takes her on a journey through the dome where she sees the after effects of the destruction caused by her friends and the blue coats who came into the tunnels. What he doesn't realize is that instead of subduing her, he is giving more purpose and fuel to her cause. When he realizes his plan has backfired, he sells Wren and her friends caught inside to the rovers. They manage to escape and add more fuel to the hatred between the rovers and the dome. Wren and her friends from inside the dome and America are caught in the middle as the battle escalates and whoever wins the battle wins the right to life.

It's up to Wren to make both sides see that the only way they can survive is by working together.

[JC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I really liked this book for what I understood of it. I was totally lost for the first half of the book as I hadn't read any of the other books in the trilogy. If you're a fan of the series or YA novels then you'll enjoy this book. I'm going back to book 1.
-----
Read this book after reading the first two. Considering the first two books weren't the best, this was about as good as the first time I read it. Understood more, but wasn't overly invested in the characters.

[star_fire13 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good. Everything got wrapped up nicely. I'm sad that Wren ended up with stupid Pace. I liked Levi much better haha

What would've made this book better is if we had learned more about what had happened after the dome came down. I want to know if their parliament ever caught on. What happened to the rovers? Did people survive? Or did everyone starve, riot and die??

[Jenny Escobar · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the beginning I was lost because I didn't read the other two books. Although I kept reading and I really liked it. It was exciting and I really liked how the author incorporated the poem in the beginning into the end. Now I want to read the first two I hope I can find them.Thanks Goodreads and to Kassy Taylor for the chance to win books and read them.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway so of course I downloaded the first two in the trilogy to read first! :) These books are nearly identical to the Divergent series so it begs the question of who wrote them first or if they influenced one another. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed this trilogy and appreciated the ending to this third book (no spoilers though)!

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remnants of Tomorrow was a beautiful ending to a fantastic series. Everything about it was amazing. I would rate the books in the trilogy as follows(best to worst):
1. Remnants of Tomorrow
2. Ashes of Twilight
3. Shadows of Glass

This is such a great trilogy and I would definitely recommend all of them

[Akantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

While an interesting concept, this book wasn't compelling to me. Events happened too easily, characters were trope-y, and I just couldn't believe in the book.

I received this book from a First Reads Giveaway (thanks!).

[Cindy Talbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a free win from Good reads. I realy enjoyed the characters and the story line of this book. I am looking forward to reading the fist two books in this series. It kept my attention and was enjoyable.


Cindy

[T. Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the second book the best. This, I felt, was kinda slow.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://librarianonthelake.wordpress....

[Shelby Naylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as endings to trilogies go this one is pretty good! I kind of hope she continues some new series off of the side characters lives after this! That would be pretty awesome!

[Shelby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting ending. Left me want to know the rest of the story. What happened with the people in the dome, Wren, Pace and those who went on the Quest.

[Akantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book from a First Reads Giveaway(Thanks!).

This book was a bit puzzling for me.

More detailed review to come.

[Jessica K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this series. I recommend this series all the time to my book loving friends. It was a great read and Remnants of Tomorrow ended the series well. Loved it!

[Gwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of inner dialogue could have been cut to keep the story moving, but it was a good end to the series.

[Duckyday · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't catch that this was part of a series.
I do NOT recommend reading this without having already read the preceding books. It does not stand well alone.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. May not be appropriate for younger readers as it talks about rap possibly occurring but it actually is stopped. Otherwise very clean for older teen.

[Joedi Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit better than the previous two.

[Gapeach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect ending to an amazing series!