Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

 The Forest of Hands and Teeth-Carrie Ryan
Publisher: Delacorte
Publication Date: 2/10 (Paperback)
Source: Purchased
 Author Website

I have to admit that I had really high expectations for this book. I've been reading Carrie Ryan's blog for a few months before I read this book, and from what I see of her, I really like her. She's funny, and I love zombie talk. She's one of the few that seems to love the remake of Dawn of the Dead just as much as the original.

But I digress. This review isn't about liking Carrie Ryan as a person, but liking her novel. I have to admit that I had a similar experience to when I started The Hunger Games-I wasn't sure that this was a world I wanted to visit. It's pretty bleak, Mary lives in a village in the middle of the Forest, with tons of Unconsecrated (read: zombies) just aching to get in and go all chomp chomp on her and everyone she loves.

Mary is not an easy character to like. By the middle of the book I was getting a bit exhausted by her endless whinging. Then I would try to remember that if I was a teenage girl living in the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse, I may find myself fancying the more depressing side of life. Her life does seem to be one endless disappointment or despair after another, so I tried to remember that when I found her a bit selfish or undeserving of the love of a pair of brothers. Thing is? Mary realizes she's a bit of a whining pain in the ass, and that is her saving grace. Well, that and she's not going to let anyone get in her way of finding the ocean, even if that means leaving the people she cares about behind.

There are a lot of really great horror elements in this novel that I absolutely adored. Well, if you can adore being scared crapless. I've always had a soft spot for zombies and you can't help but root for one of them in this book. I appreciate that Mary sees the zombies as the people they once were.

 I felt The Forest of Hands and Teeth was very well written and I'll be reading the companion book, The Dead-Tossed Waves, one or two books down the road from now.