I was initially not really interested in this book as I don't really get the whole zombie thing. I couldn't imagine that I would be terribly interested in reading a book about zombies, so I figured I'd give it a miss. But then I read Lenore's review and she mentioned that people who enjoyed impossible love stories, (i.e. The Hunger Games) would enjoy this one.
I was so there.
I read this book during the 24 Hour Readathon, and it was the perfect book for that event because it starts out with a bang and really doesn't relent. Mary lives in a village that is enclosed by gates. Their situation is quite precarious because just outside of those gates are the living dead...zombies who long to consume their flesh. The zombie's hunger is great, but the Sisterhood has many rules in place to protect their people.
Mary, our heroine, has run out of options on what to do with her life. She joins the Sisterhood but due to her curious and questioning nature is not fully accepted as one of them. While she is staying there, Travis is injured and comes to stay. Mary cares for Travis and falls in love with him, but he has already promised commitment to her best friend. And then one day, an unusual zombie, one who is faster and stronger than the others breaks into the village...and life for Mary and her friends will never be the same.
This is a book with extremely high stakes and lots of action. Mary is a very strong character--she has a dream of what life was like before The Return and she longs to reclaim a piece of that now. At times, her stubborn nature really got on my nerves, but for the most part I was cheering her on and wishing everyone else would listen to her.
This story is in many ways quite bleak. There's lots of death and sorrow, and yes, I cried! But a tiny little flower of hope takes root in the pages.
With brisk pacing and characters you care about, The Forest of Hands and Teeth is a page-turning great read!
Rating: 4.25/5
Things You Might Want to Know: There are zombies in this story.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth is published by Delacorte books for Young Readers.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Posted by Amy at 12:00 AM
Labels: Book Reviews, Young Adult
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13 comments:
This one's on my wishlist! I didn't realize it had one of those impossible romances in it either. Now I want to read it even more.
It's on my wishlist too! It sounds just like my kind of book.
PS: I hope you're having a lovely time at BEA :D
I just picked this up from the library yesterday. A postapocolyptic romance zombie novel is just too odd of a combination for me NOT to read! :D
I had this one checked out and then I had to return it before I got to reading it. I guess I'll be checking it out again!
This sounds really good Amy. Great review. Don't know if I can get past the flesh eating zombie part though. Those have always creeped me out.
This book scared me to death. I hate zombies and Carrie has a great way of bringing out the emotions. This book is going down in my top 5 for this year.
I went through a brief zombie movie phase, so maybe I'll like this one. I like the idea of an enclosed village - spooky. And I love the title.
I'm reading this book right now...it's very good so far, don't know when I'll finish it though as I have about 5 OTHER books that I'm reading! I thought this book looked cool because of the whole "zombie" factor and I just finished the Left 4 Dead video game featuring zombies so I was in a zombie-ish mood! Love the whole romance factor in this book too!
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I loved it and cried too, some parts were so sad!
I have this book checked out from the library and was kind of on the fence about if I wanted to read it or not. I'm going to pick it up ASAP now. Great review!
I'm so glad I can now say that you are truly my friend Amy. Meeting you was awesome. This author is from the area we live in and the official party for the book's launch was here. I meant to go to it, and totally forgot. :(
I wasn't really interested in this book either, but your review has caught my interest!
I was on the fence until I read your review and a few others. Definitely adding this to my list.
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