The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

Published By: Delacorte

Year of Publication: March 9, 2010

Categories:YA, Fiction, Series, Zombies

Pages: 407

Summary (from goodreads.com): Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

Review: While I definitely enjoyed reading this book, I think I liked The Forest of Hands and Feet better. I think part of the reason for that was that I forgot parts of The Forest of Hands and Feet, and it took some time to remember what happened.

I’m not a big zombie person. For the most part I don’t find them very interesting, either in books or movies. I just don’t ‘get’ them. But I liked reading this book. The way that different characters saw the zombies made it different from the usual zombie fare.

I found the relationship between Catcher and Gabry interesting. Every time something happened or changed, I had to know what that would mean for them. But the two characters that I liked together the most were Gabry and Elias. I felt the chemistry between them every time that they were together. I really want to know what will happen to them.

I found the first half of the book a little slow, so it took me a little time to get into it, but at about the halfway point I couldn’t put it down. I had to know what would happen next. I think part of it might have been that I didn’t immediately like Gabry, but she slowly grew on me. The more I liked her, the more I wanted to know what Gabry would do next.

I will definitely be reading the next book in this series, The Dark and Hollow Places, which will be released later this month.

Image: goodreads.com

Disclosure: I got this book from the library.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Published By: Delacorte

Year of Publication: 2009

Categories: YA, Zombies

Pages: 310

Summary (from goodreads.com):

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 its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, 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 in so much death?

Review: I have to start off this review by admitting that I’m not big on zombies. I’m not sure what it is, but they’re just not for me. I don’t like them in books or movies. I just don’t have a connection to them. So my expectations weren’t very high for this book when I started reading it.

However, I do like books set during the Victorian era, and the 18th and early 19th century. There’s something about how prim and proper people appeared to be that appeals to me. Although this book takes place well after both those time periods, it had the same feel to it. That’s why I had put the book on hold and was interested in reading it.

Even though there were zombies in it, I was impressed with how much I liked this book. The plot kept me interested, and I found myself not wanting to put it down. I just had to know what was going to happen next.

There were a couple heartbreaking deaths in the book for Mary, and I found that with each death I identified more and more with Mary. It felt like everything bad was always happening to her, but she wouldn’t give up, she kept moving forward.

I thought the ending was great. While I definitely don’t want to give anything away to those who haven’t read it yet, all I’ll say is that  I thought Mary made the right decision. I think the whole book was leading to that decision, and really it was the only one she could have made that would have made sense with her character. It was definitely a hard one to make, but it was 100% right for Mary.

I will definitely be reading the second book in this series, The Dead Tossed Waves.

Image: goodreads.com

Disclosure: I got this book from the library.