The Forest of Hands and Teeth (udgave 2009)

I am a bit torn on how to rate this book. Great story---I want to read the remaining 2 books in the series to see what happens. Controlling religious zealots, compounds surrounded by forests filled with the walking hungry dead, conspiracies and coverups, pirates (yes, pirates!)---I am all ears so far. Great world building---complex, multiple landscapes, great detail makes you really curious to investigate. Great back story---from the tantalizing snipets of what caused "The Return," where the dead come back as vicious zombies to eat the living, I am very interested in finding out how it all happened.

But.....

I absolutely HATED these characters.

I am just going to chalk it up to the fact that I am almost 50 and all of the characters are teenagers and this is a YA novel after all (I admit that I also found Katniss Everdeen to be very annoying at times). Also, too much romance for me (see comment about this being a YA novel with teen-aged characters).

I am looking forward to the rest of the series. ( )

3.25* Haven't read a post-apocalyptic book in a while and thought I would give this a go. While the last third of the book was action packed, there were too many lulls where it felt like the plot wasn't going anywhere and the characters weren't trying to accomplish anything but continue with their lives while ignoring the zombies (called unconsecrated in this book). They were able to ignore them so well at some points that they didn't even feel dangerous at some points. I understand that these people lived in constant unease because the unconsecrated were constantly around, however, bringing up every other page about how they were pushing their fingers through the gate became repetitive and lost its effect after a while. I also didn't like how much we were in Mary's head at times. I don't need to know what she's thinking at all times and in those moments of characters just living and ignoring the unconsecrated, we were in Mary's head a little too much for my taste.

I somewhat enjoyed the love story but thought it was a little too dramatic at times and didn't understand why there needed to be a love triangle with a set of brothers... I mean really? I wish there was a little more answered (like how did the unconsecrated become zombies anyway; and why was the Sisterhood hiding so much information from the townspeople?)... Very few things were actually answered and I'm not sure I feel invested enough on the story to find out the answers to these questions. ( )

I think that one of the main reasons I picked this book up was because of that title; The forest of hands & teeth it just seems so evocative somehow. And the blurb itself sounded vaguely interesting; “In Mary’s world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent.”

The world Mary lives in is a village in the middle of a forest. It is isolated and cut off from the rest of the world. Surrounded by a fence that keeps people safe inside, and the unconsecrated outside. Villagers are trained from birth to be aware of the Unconsecrated ones, to not go too close to the fence, to know that if bitten and infected they face one choice; to be killed or to be left outside the village to join the rest of the unconsecrated. They know that they are all that are left of humanity. That only by serving God will they be kept safe from this punishment.
Full review: http://www.susanhatedliterature.net/2010/04/11/the-forest-of-hands-teeth/ ( )

This started with with such promise (zombies, a village protected in the middle fo the forest by fencing, a dominant Sisterhood in charge), but it devolved into another love triangle story. I'm not being completely fair; Ryan does explore the protagonist's wish for freedom and understanding about the Unconsecrated around her. It was just overshadowed by the love story aspect a bit too much. And somehow, I was bored during all of he action scenes. I guess the story didn't do a whole lot for me, though there are plenty of people who will love this book. ( )

Mary's world is a dark one. Her village is surrounded by a forest filled with flesh-eating undead. A fence separates the village from the dangers hiding in the trees. Nobody ventures into the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

Mary wants more from her life than marriage or joining The Sisterhood in their Cathedral. She dreams of the stories told to her by her mother. Stories of the ocean and what life was like before The Return, when the dead began to prey on the living. Everyone tells her the stories are just fairy tales and nothing exists past the village fence but death.

One fateful day, the village is overrun by zombies. Mary and other survivors learn the truth about what lies beyond the fence, and must either learn to survive or die.

Too many dystopian or apocalyptic stories fall into the same pitfall -- the belief that there has to be some sort of silver lining, a happy ending. In reality, sometimes there is no magical shining light at the end of the tunnel. Ryan is not afraid to portray death, loss and despair in this book. She avoids the pitfall and offers up a story where the main characters have major flaws and don't necessarily survive. But, this isn't a depressing story. In the end, it's realistic. And the light at the end of the tunnel is sometimes within the characters themselves. In the beginning, I found the main character, Mary, to be childish, self-centered and foolish. In her defense, she was still a child. And aren't we all self-centered when very young? But over time, she grew up, gained strength and learned that there were things more important than herself.

The Forest Full of Hands and Teeth is not just a frightful coming-of-age tale. It's also an enjoyable zombie horror story. I'm always up for a good zombie fight - and this was a good one! Anyone who enjoys The Walking Dead or other zombie fare will enjoy this book. It is YA fiction, but given the subject matter, the story does deal with violent death and other themes best for ages 16 . I am a few decades past 16, and still found this book enjoyable. It's a well written tale that can be enjoyed by teens and adults. In fact, I think being written for a YA audience strengthened the plot because the story wasn't bogged down in unnecessarily vivid gore, sex or profanity. Sometimes the psychological horror aspects get lost amid spurting bodily fluids and all forms of the F-word in more adult renderings of the zombie apocalypse.

There are two other books in this series, The Dead-Tossed Waves and The Dark and Hollow Places, plus several short stories. I'm definitely going to read the rest of the series.

Carrie Ryan is the author of several other books including Daughter of Deep Silence. Learn more about the author and her books at her website here ( )