Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

 

Title:  The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Author: Carrie Ryan

Review Copy Provided by: Curled Up with a Good Book

About the Book:  

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, when the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness.

Now 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 by so much death? 

My Review:  I am on a YA reading roll!  Seems like all I want to read these days.  It may be because the ones I've chosen lately have just kept me so riveted that I couldn't put them down.  The Forest of Hands and Teeth is one of those books.

If you aren't into zombies, you may not want to read this.  I'll admit, I've never really been into zombies, didn't like Night of the Living Dead, but this, I liked!  I think it's because the focus of the book is not really the zombies, but Mary and her delimna.  

Mary is a great character!  She's a dreamer, a wisher, a hoper.  She just "knows" that there is something beyond the Forest, but no one will listen to her.  Why do we do that to kids, try to squash their dreams?  Mary is also strong.  She has lost both parents and been ostracized by her brother, but still, she perseveres.  I admire her for that.  She doesn't let the fact that she is alone get her down.  Instead she tries to think of ways to get out of her current situation.  What a girl!

When the breach occurs and the Unconsecrated are unleashed in the village, Mary is reunited with her brother and childhood friends.  Together they must try to survive.  I love the way that Ryan writes more struggles into this part of the story.  Mary and her brother find the love that they once knew for each other as they struggle to survive and keep their friends alive.  Again, Mary is the optimist, knowing that they will succeed in finding life past their village and away from the Unconsecrated.  If only the others had her faith!

This book opens up alot of discussion about choices.  Why did Mary make the choices she made, with her mother, between Travis and Harry, and many others throughout the book.  What are your thoughts on hope?  Should you let others squash your dreams?  What would you do/give up for your family/friends?

I really enjoyed this book, and it has "haunted" me since I finished it.  I find myself thinking about Mary and the Unconsecrated many times.  I know that middle grade students on up to adults will enjoy this one.  I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

copyright 2009 by shelburns for Curled Up With a Good Book

originally published at Curled Up With a Good Book/curledup.com

See other reviews here:
Wands and Worlds
Bookshelves of Doom
Not Enough Bookshelves
A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
Presenting Lenore
The Story Siren