Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth.
Author: Carrie Ryan
Genre: YA
Source: Library
Rating: 5/5
My thoughts:
I was thinking of doing a mini review for this one along with 2 other books, but then this book deserves a post of it’s own. I knew I would like this book but I didn’t think I would like it this much, love it actually.
Mary lives in a secluded world, a village which is surrounded by forests on all sides, forests that are infested with zombies and hence make it impossible for anyone to travel to and from the forest. Apparently the whole world is infected by zombies and Mary and her village believe that theirs is the only place that still has people, all because of the fences that guard the forest.
The sisterhood and the church has a very strong control over the village, so much that the villagers believe and follow everything that is said by the sisterhood. But Mary has different dreams. She dreams of a world outside her village, a world where there is an ocean and a world where there is no sisterhood to control every aspect of her life. But she is trapped in her village because of the zombies.
But one day, everything changes, the zombie defenses are broken and the zombies enter the village. What ensues is a journey to find a safe heaven and another village like her own, to look for her dream and find out if it exists.
I have one word for The Forest of Hands and Teeth – Intense. Other words I can use are dark, creepy, thrilling and beautiful. I would never have thought I would call a book that has Zombies in it beautiful, but trust me it is. The sheer beauty of Carrie Ryan’s writing and her ability to induce such emotions in a zombie story is what gives the story a different level altogether.
Although it’s YA, I would recommend it to everybody. The next book is called Dead Tossed Waves and I’ll definitely be reading it.
Book-Shelved 
I’m intimidated by the thought of zombies…I can’t explain why but I’ve seen a lot of good reviews on this book so I might want to give it a try.
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I have this book in my TBR and hope to read it soon. Thanks for the review. You gave it a rating of 5/5. This must be really good…
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Not my normal genre, but your review makes me want to give it a try!
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Exactly same feelings. I must have read it at a killer speed. Awesome would be my word of choice. Creepy in some parts it made me rethink about my zombie prejudices 🙂
Can’t wait to read the next installment. Looks like it’s her daughter’s story . Did u see the author’s blog?
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yes, I did 🙂 I really love the cover of the book too.
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I can’t wait for the next one in this series. I thought the book covered wider issues dealing with women and religion and free will.
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Absolutely, I really liked the way the author used religion and the sisterhood to make the atmosphere more closed than it would otherwise have been.
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I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it so much! I didn’t like it as much as you, but there were definitely aspects to the book I enjoyed a lot.
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I’m not into zombies, but I really want to read this one. Everyone seems to love it and the author’s originally from the area I live in.
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I avoid zombies and vampires, but everyone is raving about this one, so I may have to break doiwn and read it!
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I really liked the way she portrayed the zombies– I think it’s a fine line between terrifying and comical. I definitely got the terrifying part from these zombies ;p. I liked reading this and finished it in one sitting, but I felt like something was missing (what it was I don’t know). I am looking forward to the sequel, but I don’t know if it will be top on my list. I’m glad you loved it though! ! !
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I found it really refreshing for a YA book-different. And I’m totally with you on the terrifying part 🙂
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I kind of had forgotten how badly I want to read this. Thanks for reminding me!
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I think you liked this one a bit more than me, but it is intense. 😉
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This is still waiting on my TBR list, and has been since the summer. I’ll get to it eventually. 🙂
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OK, I’m putting your link in my tbr notes so I remember why I want to read this!
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Great review! Glad to know you enjoyed this one; I did too, and I can’t wait to read the next one!
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Definitely sounds interesting and a little scary — but that can be good! 🙂 I’ve never heard of this one, but I’ll add it to my TBR list.
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For some reason, even though this book gets such great reviews, I still can’t seem to drum up any interest for it myself! I don’t know why. Zombies, maybe?
Your picture of you & hubby looks great in your previous post!
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