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: Married with Zombies by Jesse Petersen

Title: Marrried with Zombies
Author: Jesse Petersen
Series: Living With The Dead #1
Pages: 259
Genre: Zombie/ Post-Apocalypse
Publisher: Orbit Books
Source: Bought (Borders) 

Goodreads Description:
Meet Sarah and David.Once upon a time they met and fell in love. But now they're on the verge of divorce and going to couples' counseling. On a routine trip to their counselor, they notice a few odd things - the lack of cars on the highway, the missing security guard, and the fact that their counselor, Dr. Kelly, is ripping out her previous client's throat. Now, Sarah and David are fighting for survival in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. But, just because there are zombies, doesn't mean your other problems go away. If the zombies don't eat their brains, they might just kill each other.

My Review:
Holy Awesome. I seriously can't remember the last time I laughed that hard at death and cannibalism. Ever. I've read quite a few zombie books...to the point where I studied them for most of an entire semester. For the most part, they are a bleak and desolate reflection of consumerist society, or just the greed and arrogance of humanity. There's always a sense of desperation and terror underlined by this ever present beacon of hope for the human race. That was SO not this book. The imagery of children devouring cops, and grandma zombie biting off grandpa's face was paired with these witty and sarcastic remarks about life in general that had me literally laughing out loud (much to the disdain of my roommates who were watching a rather sad episode of Grey's Anatomy)  This book was a definite satire that revolved not so much around the zombie apocalypse...but rather the even more impossible challenge that is...dun dun dun....couple's therapy...My favorite parts were the advice quotes at the beginning of each chapter which mixed cliched relationship advice with helpful hints of how to deal with the apocalypse.

"Make requests, not demands: Please kill that zombie, honey, I'm out of bullets."

It was less of a terrifying account of THE Zombie Apocalypse and more of a Romantic Zombedy about poor Sarah and Dave. A couple who reconnect and reaffirm their decision to stay together through the good times and the dead,  through infection and health, sub-machine guns or bare handed, as long as they both shall live...or un-live as it may very well come to. I found myself cracking up way more than crying in fear, though there were some extremely tense and scary moments involved as well. I really liked that there was a humorous edge throughout to take away some of the tension of what was going on in a dying world. For example. Sarah has to kill a zombie in her bathroom...as she is bashing his head in with the toilet seat, she can't seem to restrain herself from saying. "And THAT'S why we put the F*****G toilet seat DOWN David..." and things like that. The comments just come out of nowhere and catch you off guard. It was nice to see how the couple grew closer by using a combination of marriage advice and bonding over killing undead friends and neighbors.

"Find creative ways to have fun together. Looting is really underrated."

With all the good that Married to Zombies brought to the table, I do feel like I have to mention some of the things that brought my rating down. I liked it so much! But there were quite a few things that bugged me as I was going through, so despite having very good feelings towards the book I can't justify a really high rating. Sarah and David's dialogue is rather childish and forced at times. I understand that sometimes married couples really can act and talk like children, but it was less of the actual words that I disliked and more of how short and choppy the conversations were that made me hate on them. I found myself thinking out ways they could have phrased a sentence better, or a different word that could have been used and it was pretty distracting at times. Also, sometimes my wealth of zombie knowledge goes against me. There wasn't very much originality in the plot of Married with Zombies. Virtually every event that took place in the book has taken place in some way in either a previous zombie book or zombie movie, so I wasn't as enthralled with the action as I could have been.

"Put the small stuff in perspective. It's better to be wrong and alive than right and eating brains."

1/2

I give this book 3 1/2 Keys out of 5. The dialogue and originality just weren't there for me. However, unlike most of the 3 level ratings that come my way,  I will most definitely be getting the sequel to this book, Flip this Zombie. Sometimes life is dark and desolate enough without your reading material reflecting that. Jesse Petersen writes fantastic, hilarious, quick, light zombie books that leave you feeling cheery and happy...as weird as that sounds. Plus, I seriously can't get over how awesome all of the relationship advice was. It was SO great. I'm laughing right now just thinking about it...fabulous.

So Now You're a Zombie: A Handbook for the Newly Undead by John Austin

3.5 out of 5 Stars!

GoodReads Description:

Being undead can be disorienting. Your arms and other appendages tend to rot and fall off. It’s difficult to communicate with a vocabulary limited to moans and gurgles. And that smell! (Yes, it’s you.) But most of all, you must constantly find and ingest human brains. Braaaains!! What’s a zombie to do?This handbook also explores the upside of being a zombie. Gone are the burdens of employment, taxes, social networks, even basic hygiene, allowing you to focus on simple necessities in “life”: the juicy gray matter found in the skulls of the living.

My Review:

Even though it took me a little over an hour to complete the it, I really enjoyed this book. It was pretty hilarious. Of all of the zombie survival guides out there or even most novels with zombies in them, no one ever bothers to show the zombie perspective of an attack/infection. The newly dead are people too, even if they are shambling corpses. There are TONS of books trying to help humans survive zombies, yet there are no books to help guide the poor unfortunates who were infected how to live in their new undead lives. Well all that has changed with this book. The only problem, is that I am not sure if zombies can read…or even if they have the mental capabilities to remember what a book is…and if they can read and know what a book is, can they actually remember what is in the hand book and put it to use? Lol 

The zombie lore was interesting in this book. Like a lot of zombie plauges, this one was caused by a virus. In this case, the virus not only causes reanimation, but also causes the desire to seek out and devour human flesh…that is pretty much standard for many of the other books/movies in the zombie cannon. (Noted exception…in the 28 Days franchise, the virus doesn’t actually kill the people…only make them animalistic and full of rage) One thing that was different than most traditional zombies is that their insides still worked in order to feed the virus…I don’t know about you , but when I picture my zombies, I picture intestines falling out, maybe a limb or two missing. Lol The last page of the book was freaking hilarious. I laughed out loud. Overall it was a very enjoyable book. 

Any fan of zombies, infections, etc would love to get their hands on this book. The drawings and cartoons in the book are hilarious and just as descriptive and relevant as the text. There was lots of blood and gore without it being too graphic, so I think younger teens could enjoy it as well as older people like me :P It is kind of just good for a laugh however, so I would imagine that it would be best to borrow from friends or to get it from the library like I did. Even though I enjoyed it, I probably won’t ever read it again.

Thanks for Reading!

Andra