Review: The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

Title: The Dead Tossed Waves
Author: Carrie Ryan
Series: The Forest of Hands and Teeth #2
Pages: 407
Publisher: Delacorte Books
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic/Zombie
Source: Library

Goodreads Description:
Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

My Review:
At first, I was a little dissappointed about this book. I really wanted to learn more about Mary and the Forest and what not...but then as I got to know Gabry a little better, I kind of decided I liked her better than Mary anyway (plus we still get to see what happened to all the loose ends from the last book). Also...I'm not sure what more Mary could have told us. I like seeing her a few decades down the road so that she is a more developed character.  Also, with Gabry's perspective, you get the mindset of a teenager who never REALLY had to fear the Mudo/Unconsecrated. She lives in a time where the infection (at least in her village) is at such a low, that the kids actually resent the walls that keep them in the village. Instead of appreciating that they are safe, they disobey their parent's rules and rebel by sneaking outside of the walls. What a contrast to the sisters and guardians on the last book!

All that aside, wow...Carrie Ryan has done it again. She is like the Taylor Swift of zombie authors.  It's like her books are the soundtrack of my life...if my life were to be overrun by a horde of undead flesh eaters...The main character, Gabry has problems coping with the same things I do, and makes me recognize truths and issues about my own life that I didn't even know I had. If you think about it, it's completely ridiculous that one of the books that I identify the most with involves death and dying and zombieism. The imagery made the book come to life fantastically. I really love reading Ryan's writing style and pretty much all of her work because her insights into life and the world that we live in are so dead-on accurate that it's like she is giving a voice to every fear, hope, and insecurity that I've ever been scared of sharing with others. The best part about her books is that I don't even realize I've read something profound until I stop and think about it for a little bit and the all of the sudden I am floored by how awesome a certain part was.

Okay. So obviously I love Ryan's writing style...but I am SO frustrated because even though she makes me feel for her characters like they are my own flesh and blood...she also seems to have this perverse impulse to keep them miserable. There are moments of such joy, such happiness, and then almost immediately, Ryan makes something happen so that the moment that just made you so happy is a twisted and disturbing irony.  For example, in the first book, you spend almost the entire time falling in love with Mary and Travis...only to have Travis bitten and killed at the very end of the book. In this book, Gabry FINALLY seems to decide between the two boys that she "loves" and they are acting cute together, when literally five seconds later tragedy strikes and Gabry is forced to flee with the boy she just basically rejected,  and leave the boy she loves in danger. Can you stay star-crossed lovers??? Ryan just seems to toy with our emotions, sending you from blissful giggling happiness to gut wrenching crying pain within ONE PAGE. It's traumatically awesome. I get so torn up about everything, but I definitely love reading the books. It's strage, but at the end of the book you feel emotionally drained...almost like you have to take a nap and re-charge before tackling anything else.You're an emotional wreck, but it's so fantastic that you can just get over it.

You get a lot more information about the new world that has been created after the zombie apocalypse. There was the re-introduction of pirates to the world, and the centralization of civilization around "The Dark City". Whenever the city or it's guardians, the Protectorate, are mentioned I kind of have this ominous feeling, so I'm really anxious to see more about them in the next book. You also learn why there are fast zombies like Gabrielle in the first book. They are called breakers and they emerge when the zombie count is too low, so that they can spread the disease better. Everything about the breakers, and immunity, and all that were really scientific. I appreciated the logical and precise nature of all the happenings, because it made them all the more real for me. If you can explain something logically with science, then it just seems more believeable and takes away from the burden of suspending your beliefs.

I liked this book even better than the first, and I gave THAT one 5 Keys, so I will definitely have to give The Dead Tossed Waves the same honor. Ryan grabs you by the throat and never lets you go until the very last page.There is non stop actuon, relationships that tear at your heart, plot twists up the wazoo, and a lot of lingering questions are answered so you feel all happy on the inside...or at least thats how I feel when my bookish questions get answered...of course at the END of the book there was a kind of cliffhanger which drove me freaking crazy, but luckily, I have the next book right here next to me and will be starting immediately :)

My Favorite Quote:
"It's never been a perfect world. It's never going to be. It's going to be hard and scary and, if you're lucky, wonderful and awe inspiring. But you have to push through the bad parts to get to the good."

Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Author: Carrie Ryan
Publisher: Delacorte
Genre: Paranormal/Dystopian (YA)
Pages: 308
Series: Forest of Hands and Teeth #1
Source: Library
Goodreads Description:

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?

My Review:

I'm probably going to drive you all crazy with how much I blather on and on about this book. I'm sorry you guys, but when I really like a book, I seriously can't shut up about it. There was SO much awesomeness in The Forests of Hands and Teeth! I so totally loved it!! It was dark, eerie, terrifying, heartbreaking, and just plain fabulous. First of all...just start with the title.The Forest of Hands and Teeth. How great is it? SO great. It just conjures up this image of a desolate woods, full of dead bodies, fog, and danger. I thought the first cover of the book showed the mood much better than the second, though the second is pretty good too. The first just has more of a downtrodden and somber air, which is very present throughout the book. The tone is just so woebegone and somber, with just a hint of hope and intrigue...I enjoyed it from the minute I picked it up until I finished the last page.

"Sometimes I wonder what is the point of existing on the edge of the world like this? I wonder if it isn't easier to just let go, if it is simply easier, more peaceful, to become unconsecrated."

 I just love the tension that occurs between the Sisters and Mary. The brainwashing that the sisters have done to the town is seriously impressive. They have been blindly following Sister Tabitha's every word, while she has personal agendas, and secrets that keep the truth about the world from the common people. The sisterhood has kept the knowledge that there are other villages, other people who are alive from the rest of the town so that they can remain in control of the town and it's people. When the people think that they are the last ones on earth, and are being rewarded because of their faith in God, they have no reason to question the hardness of their lives, the forced marriages, the guardians, the unconsecrated...The sisters, especially Sister Tabitha, will stop at nothing to keep the fragile stability that they have created and to keep their positions of power. The control that she possesses over the townspeople is frightening. When Gabrielle, an outsider, threatens the life they have built, they keep her away from the rest of the townspeople, and eventually find a way to silence her so that she cannot "disturb" the peaceful state of the village. Ironic isn't it then, that by trying to keep the outsider from causing a stir, they eventually lead to the downfall of the entire village?

"Mary, you are inquisitive, and that can be a dangerous trait."

And on a completely different tangent, forget love triangle...there is a freaking love square in this book. Involving two brothers no less! It was actually pretty interesting...and exasperating. Mary gets asked to the Harvest celebration by Harry when she has a crush on his younger brother Travis. But Travis asked Cassandra, Mary's best friend to the Harvest. Oh...and the Harvest  is basically what amounts to announcing your engagement in this world...So then certain things happen and Harry doesn't take Mary to the Harvest so she has to go join the Sisterhood, which is basically a bunch of nuns, where she has to take care of Travis after he has a horrible injury. Travis and Mary fall in love, while Cass falls in love with Harry because they spend so much time together worrying about Travis, so Cass breaks off her engagement to Travis but then Harry, who has been in love with Mary since they were eight, asks Mary to marry him...and this is all in about 4 chapters people. The relationship drama knows no end! It's angsty and stressful, and you kind of just want to slap everyone so they will stop being with who they think is right and be with who they love. Regardless, it was this love and confusion that drove a major part of the plot. The relationship dynamics were mixed in with surviving, with finding happiness, and it really made the story come alive.

"This life, it's not about surviving. It should be about love. When you know love...that's what makes this life worth it. When you live with it everyday. Wake up with it, hold on to it during the thunder and after a nightmare. When love is your refuge from the death that surrounds us all and when it fills you so tight that you can't express it."

At first, Mary's character seems kind of one tracked, a little repetitive, and way bleak. However, the more I got into the story, the more I loved the way her character was. Mary can't seem to break out of her one track mind about the ocean and Travis because they are her only hope. In a world where you are only expected to be born, have babies, and hopefully die without being unconsecrated, Mary's outlook is bleak and it is reflected in her character. I feel like this is understandable due to the fact that BOTH her parents are now unconsecrated shamblers. Not only are they "dead" but you have to look at their decomposing bodies as they try to get into the fence and eat you. Not exactly stuff that makes your life full of rainbows and unicorns. Anyway, Mary's character is understandable. She has been so beaten down by the lifestyle of her village, the loss of her parents, and her lack of hope, that all of the life seems to be sucked out of her. Her lack of a personality is more of a reflection of her circumstances rather than a character flaw, and I really liked it. I also loved how you simultaneously hated and loved all of the other characters. Jed makes you hate him when he turns Mary away in the beginning , but you can't help but feel his pain and heartbreak later in the book. Sister Tabitha was a cold, calculating b***h...but then she sacrificed her own life to save the other Sisters. I thought it was remarkable how Ryan could make you feel so many emotions for each character. 

This book was right up there for my favorite reads this year. I give it 5 KEYS! And coming from me, that means a lot. I know many fantastic books that I just wasn't willing to bump from the 4 1/2 star to the 5 star rating, but this was just too great of a read to ignore. It was a heartbreaking and terrifying account of survival, love, loss, and memories.  If you like zombies, paranormal fiction, distopian fiction, truly compelling books, or ANY of the above, I seriously recommend you go get your grubby little hands on a copy of The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I REALLY hope the next two are as amazing as this one, and I will be going to the library/store to buy them immediately...that is if I don't just go download them to my nook because I can't wait to read more Carrie Ryan...