THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH: A Double-Barrelled Review

By Norah and Heather
AKA Wilson Doherty

Because Heather and I have both read this book, we’re both going to give you our thoughts. Naturally, with my background as a romance writer, I am always cognizant of the love story, while Heather, with her background in dark literary, often brings different filters to her reading. Two for the price of one!

From the back cover:

In Mary’s world there are simple truths.

The Sisterhood always knows best.

The Guardians will protect and serve.

The Unconsecrated will never relent.

And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village. The fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

But slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and it’s secrets, and the Guardians and their power. And, when the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness.

Now she must choose between her village and her future, between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?

NORAH’S COMMENTS:

Zombies! In a YA!!! I love it.

Okay, to the story. I thought the writing was great. In my opinion, Carrie Ryan certainly deserves all the awards this book raked in. She did a good job drawing this post-apocalyptic world for us, where the villagers go about their daily lives with the constant background of shuffling, moaning zombies outside the protective fences. I had a great deal of sympathy for Mary, who burns to know where the fenced paths leading away from the village go. She was raised by a mother who told her stories of an ocean and beautiful beaches. Now, with both her parents gone (infected and turned out with the other Unconsecrated), Mary’s choices are narrowing. She may either marry Harry, the brother of Travis, the boy she loves (Travis is betrothed to her best friend), or go into the Sisterhood she is so suspicious of. Neither choice is appealing. With every day that passes, her dream of the ocean grows stronger, as does her desire to know what, if anything, lies beyond the forest. My only teeny-tiny niggle was wondering why Mary loved Travis so. I totally bought that she did love him – quite madly, in fact – but I didn’t necessarily understand why. Maybe I just needed Mary to recall something that had happened in their youth, cementing her fixation on him. IMO, I thought his brother Harry frequently showed himself to be worthier, and he certainly loved Mary As I so often do, I was rooting for Harry, the underdog, to win the heroine’s love. Of course in the end Travis very much earns his hero status, deserving every bit of Mary’s love. Overall, I thought it rocked. And as it happens, I see the next installment, The Dead-Tossed Waves is now available in hardcover….

HEATHER’S COMMENTS

Zombies??? In a YA?? Yeah, well, I kinda loved it too :-)

I thought this story rocked. And I am with Norah in thinking Harry was a more appealing and worthy suitor. In truth, I found Travis annoying. What I liked about Mary was her strong will. She wasn't one to meekly accept the circumstances that were given to her, or the position that others put her in. She wasn't full of fear, cowering in it, dying in it, as others (and life) tried to break her spirit. I love that kind of socially defiant female protagonist. And though many of those around her didn't believe in the stories that sustained her, she’d be damned if she'd let go of them. But I can’t say I was cheering for her when she mooned over the aforementioned, getting-on-that-last-nerve Travis. Granted, I am oh-so-unromantic by nature, so we can easily chalk up my less than appreciative take on this love aspect to that, rather than any lack of skill on the writer's part.

In fact, Carrie Ryan is a very skilled writer. The world she wrote us into was dark, challenging, terrifying, hard to put down (and impossible not to recommend!). I'll definitely be picking up The Dead-Tossed Waves.