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Carrie Ryan
320 pages

I’m not usually a fan of zombies but I have seen this one pop up on a few of the blogs that I read frequently. The zombies weren’t what reeled me in initially. It was the fact that this is dystopian fiction.

I often wonder why I enjoy dystopian fiction so much. I think it has to do with the fact that it makes this world look a lot less crazy to me once I have wrapped up a novel such as The Hunger Games or The Forest of Hands and Teeth where their world is just a nightmare. Makes my world tame by comparison.

Even though this story doesn’t unfold quickly, I was drawn in from the beginning. Mary’s world is dark and scary because of the zombies but for some reason The Sisterhood and the life in the village are what really captured my interest. It kept me hooked until it started to be more about what Mary wanted and less about the society. Then I started to have a hard time relating. I was really rooting for Mary to follow her dreams…until she stopped caring about what it cost the people around her. Then Mary went from losing my interest to getting on my nerves.

Even though I was having a hard time, I wanted to finish the story for several reasons. I wanted to find out how it was resolved(It wasn’t. At least not the way I was hoping it would be.) I think the author is a talented writer and I enjoyed her writing very much. I just didn’t like the direction Mary’s character took. However, that’s a personal preference sort of thing and I would definitely try something else by Carrie Ryan.

If you like zombies and dystopia….you should give The Forest of Hands and Teeth a shot. (2.5/5)

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Pages: 310
First Published: Mar. 10, 2009
Genre: YA, post apocalyptic fiction, horror
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

My mother used to tell me about the ocean.

Comments: Mary’s world is very small and quite simple. Her village is large enough to roam around in and grow crops but it is completely enclosed by heavy-duty wire fencing. Her world is run by the Sisterhood who guide their laws and lives through religion and the Guardians who take orders from the Sisterhood and guard the village with force. Day to day life is quaint and simple but on the other side of the fencing are the Unconsecrated and one bite from them will turn you into one yourself, so you must never get too close to the fence ….

This was a fabulous book! Initially it reminds me of the society portrayed in the movie The Village, while not exactly the same their are many parallels. Mary is a wonderful character. She has a mother who has told her stories, carried down through the generations of women in her family, of the world before and Mary especially dreams of the mysterious place called the ocean. The stories have given Mary something to hold onto and a passion not to accept her world as it is. She is a powerful, strong character. Another thing I especially like is that once we find out the reason for the apocalypse at the end of the book I found the reason so plausible that it really was scary, unlike so many books of today which use the controversial “global warming” theme that I must take with a grain of salt. The book is very well-written, the plot tense and the individual outcomes along the way not always happy. In fact, there are many quite shockingly intense scenes. The zombies are fantastic, I mean who doesn’t love a great zombie book!

There are intense relationships: mother/daughter, husband/wife, friends, and blossoming new found love all in a world in which one may die at any moment. The author has shown the deepness of these relationships with a deft sweep of her pen. The one thing that bothered me about the book was that near the beginning Mary blatantly (and for no reason) states, out of the blue, that she does not believe in God. Then later on in the book she tells us the moment she stopped believing in God. This felt as if it was important and yet the subject was never voiced again. No other character’s belief or non-belief was mentioned and other than making me feel sorry for Mary, it made me wonder why the author stopped short of making her point. However….

Highly recommended! I’ve never given two books a tie as favourite book of the month but this time I just can’t not say this was my favourite although I’ve already said so of another book. I hate to compare to the Twilight books as this book is in a league so much higher than those but I think teachers/librarians should use the comparison to promote this book as it will appeal to the same teen audience, as well as the boys. One could call this a horror book, and it is, but it goes so much deeper into relationships between people, that anyone who can stand the gore that comes with zombies is going to be itching for next year’s (2010) parallel novel. Read this book!

Nicola