Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Carrie Ryan

Official Summary:
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 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?

What the Pros Say:
PW: That Mary maintains emotional distance serves to render her yearnings and romantic feelings even more poignant and powerful. Fresh and riveting.

Kirkus: But despite plot holes, more angst than action and an excess of philosophical meanderings, Mary's story delivers what's important: zombie apocalypse.

What I Say:
I read the first two chapters of this book online and I was hooked. HOOKED. So hooked, in fact, that I broke my "never buy a book before you read it" rule and ordered this one online after not being able to find it in the library or any of the local bookstores. The first two chapters just delivered this amazingly well-developed world, and gave us a protagonist in Mary who was full of curiosity and potential and fire, and I could NOT wait to read more.

I suppose it's not too much of a surprise that with expectations as high as all that I was slightly (and here let me emphasize the slightly) disappointed by the rest of this book. For a book about a zombie apocalypse, a whole lot of this book takes place in Mary's head, and there's a surprisingly small amount of action (both in the violent and romantic senses, interestingly). On the other hand, Mary's musings are definitely interesting, as is the world that Carrie Ryan has created for her characters to flee zombies inside of.

This book definitely left me wanting more, because with all the groundwork that has been laid in this book I can't help but wonder what's coming next for the zombie survivors. Forest of Hands and Teeth didn't quite live up to my expectations, but it was fantastic nonetheless, and I can't wait to read the follow-up.