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3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
I'm going to preface this review by saying I might have reached my limit on YA books for the year. If there had been a little more time between this and the last YA book I read, I might not feel so harshly about it.
That being said, The Forest of Hands and Teeth had a premise that I was really into. An isolated community of survivors in a world of zombies run by a religious order of women is hitting all the right dystopian notes. I wanted to know about the religion, I wanted to delve into how it is that women came to be the leaders of the religion and the community, and I was definitely looking forward to finding out more about why there was a giant fence around the community and who built it.
Unfortunately, most of the book is spent as so many YA books are spent, and that is focusing on a ridiculous love triangle. Waaaahhh. Mary is the main character here, and she is torn between two brothers who both love her
Some really interesting things happen in this book - But the interesting things are always bogged down by nonsense relationship stuff. Characters are very fluid. Mary's brother is a homicidal maniac in one scene, and a loving caretaker the next. Mary herself is... basically an unknown. She's curious about seeing the ocean, reckless in regards to her own safety, and not much else. But we are supposed to believe she is totally irresistible to the two brothers. Okay?
I've heard the subsequent books are about totally different characters. If that's true, I may be willing to finish the series. Like I said, there are bones of a good story here. Maybe the author just needed to get all her romance yayas out and now she can tell the actual story waiting to be told in this world.
That being said, The Forest of Hands and Teeth had a premise that I was really into. An isolated community of survivors in a world of zombies run by a religious order of women is hitting all the right dystopian notes. I wanted to know about the religion, I wanted to delve into how it is that women came to be the leaders of the religion and the community, and I was definitely looking forward to finding out more about why there was a giant fence around the community and who built it.
Unfortunately, most of the book is spent as so many YA books are spent, and that is focusing on a ridiculous love triangle. Waaaahhh. Mary is the main character here, and she is torn between two brothers who both love her
Spoiler
(even though at the beginning of the book it seems pretty clear that neither love her and she is destined to join the religious order. In fact, for a minute she does! And the book is almost an interesting story focused on a female protagonist independent of weepy love stories!).Some really interesting things happen in this book -
Spoiler
they are forced to leave and find that the gates go on for many miles and lead to other communities. Cool!I've heard the subsequent books are about totally different characters. If that's true, I may be willing to finish the series. Like I said, there are bones of a good story here. Maybe the author just needed to get all her romance yayas out and now she can tell the actual story waiting to be told in this world.
Myself, looking at this book: "Oh! Cool title!" **reads back of book** "Interesting! Sounds a little like a dystopia in the style of The Giver, but with zombies, let's give it a shot!"
Myself, finishing this book: "Well, THAT was a wast of 9+ hours." **toss**
Call my review harsh, but there is simply no care given to character or world building. Possibly interesting things are mentioned about how the world works, but then never explored or explained. I found myself wanting to grab every.single.character. by the collar and drag them off to a communications class, because really, why do the main characters not talk to each other about ANYTHING?! Every character we meet seems to suffer from depression, which might garner some sympathy, except since EVERY character is like that and the only thing we have to go on that they might have once possessed a personality is when Mary mentions "how things *used* to be." These things are never *shown* though. That's just a horrible pet peeve of mine. Don't tell. SHOW ME.
Given the lack of development for the background of this book, the plot flounders. Characters move from one place to the next without purpose, only continuing as they are chased by zombies on and on.
Notes on the audio book: Vane Millon does an all right job with the narration, but I never figured out one thing. Why does Sister Tabitha have an accent? Why would one person have an accent in a completely isolated village?!
IF for some reason you are undeterred from giving this book a shot, then sensitive readers should note, it's a zombie book. There's plenty of biting people and killing zombies with axes and arrows. There's some major pining, and our main character can't tell the difference between love and lust but never goes farther than some passionate kisses.
Myself, finishing this book: "Well, THAT was a wast of 9+ hours." **toss**
Call my review harsh, but there is simply no care given to character or world building. Possibly interesting things are mentioned about how the world works, but then never explored or explained. I found myself wanting to grab every.single.character. by the collar and drag them off to a communications class, because really, why do the main characters not talk to each other about ANYTHING?! Every character we meet seems to suffer from depression, which might garner some sympathy, except since EVERY character is like that and the only thing we have to go on that they might have once possessed a personality is when Mary mentions "how things *used* to be." These things are never *shown* though. That's just a horrible pet peeve of mine. Don't tell. SHOW ME.
Given the lack of development for the background of this book, the plot flounders. Characters move from one place to the next without purpose, only continuing as they are chased by zombies on and on.
Notes on the audio book: Vane Millon does an all right job with the narration, but I never figured out one thing. Why does Sister Tabitha have an accent? Why would one person have an accent in a completely isolated village?!
IF for some reason you are undeterred from giving this book a shot, then sensitive readers should note, it's a zombie book. There's plenty of biting people and killing zombies with axes and arrows. There's some major pining, and our main character can't tell the difference between love and lust but never goes farther than some passionate kisses.
The central characters in this young adult zombie/romance novel are: Mary, Cass, Travis and Harry. What a terrible beauty this book was.
The Return is the cause of the Unconsecrated [the zombies:]. Mary has lived her life surrounded by he Forest of Hands and Teeth. Enclosed by the safety of fences, Guardians and the strict ruling of the Sisterhood. The Sisterhood control the village's knowledge of the world, before and after, The Return. They are the backbone of faith and hope.
The basis of Mary's urge to want more from life than to perpetuate the survival of the village, is her mother's stories about the ocean. Events that take place force Mary to decide. Reach for childhood dreams or grow up and serve as wife/mother.
The constanst threat of the Unconstecrated, Mary's struggle with her feelings for someone she cannot have. Each time you think one issue is resolved, it gets worse, and something is added to it. I know there is a literary term for this action.
Carrie Ryan does a fine job of immediately developing her characters [as seen through Mary's POV:]. The world after the Return shrinks down to the safety of the fences surroundng the village, in the middle of the Forest of Hands and Teeth. There will always be someone that doesn't conform to the society around them. That wants more than the rules say they can have and are willing to face the Forest of Hands and Teeth and see a way out.
The Return is the cause of the Unconsecrated [the zombies:]. Mary has lived her life surrounded by he Forest of Hands and Teeth. Enclosed by the safety of fences, Guardians and the strict ruling of the Sisterhood. The Sisterhood control the village's knowledge of the world, before and after, The Return. They are the backbone of faith and hope.
The basis of Mary's urge to want more from life than to perpetuate the survival of the village, is her mother's stories about the ocean. Events that take place force Mary to decide. Reach for childhood dreams or grow up and serve as wife/mother.
The constanst threat of the Unconstecrated, Mary's struggle with her feelings for someone she cannot have. Each time you think one issue is resolved, it gets worse, and something is added to it. I know there is a literary term for this action.
Carrie Ryan does a fine job of immediately developing her characters [as seen through Mary's POV:]. The world after the Return shrinks down to the safety of the fences surroundng the village, in the middle of the Forest of Hands and Teeth. There will always be someone that doesn't conform to the society around them. That wants more than the rules say they can have and are willing to face the Forest of Hands and Teeth and see a way out.
Mary is the post apocalyptic version of Elena Gilbert from the CW's The Vampire Diaries. She ends up getting everyone killed around her because of her own stupidity. When she isn't obsessing over Gabrielle, the ocean, and figuring out how to read roman numerals, she contemplates her feelings for Travis. It isn't until he dies, saving Mary of course, that she realizes she loves him. Her brother dies saving her as well and when she leaves her mother unattended her mother ends up dying. Anyway, the story was wicked slow until the halfway point where it picked up pace just to slow back down after sixty pages or so. It sped back up for about twenty pages then ended with the all the reader's questions left unanswered. I only picked up this book because it seemed similar to The Village and even though it has a few similarities, The Forest of Hands and Teeth is nothing like the movie.
Una protagonista inapropiada para una historia que no termina de definir si es de supervivencia o del típico triángulo amoroso en el que el romance no es otra cosa que un obstáculo, para un trama definida por aquello a lo que se sobrevive pero que no tiene protagonismo, ella cree que todo es por su culpa, pero no es el mundo el que gira en torno a ella.
Siguiendo un anhelo/sueno que solo ella atiende pero que desespera a cualquiera que lo conozca porque es la única capaz de ver el mundo como ella lo ve.
Siguiendo un anhelo/sueno que solo ella atiende pero que desespera a cualquiera que lo conozca porque es la única capaz de ver el mundo como ella lo ve.
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Story and plot were interesting, but...gosh I could not get myself to like the main character. So selfish! If it had been written differently, but it was written like a list of facts. Also, it was written in present tense, for some reason, but then was written like she knew future info. Still, I read it all the way through, so the plot was good enough for me to finish it.
This would really be more like 2.5 stars. I really liked the premise and the world but I REALLY disliked Mary. It's never good when you keep hoping the narrator will die at some point and you get someone else to pick up the thread.
If Mary had died and became one of the Returned, instead of moaning she would just whine, "Traaaaaaaaaaaaviiiiiiiiiisssss....."
And Harry. Man, he deserved better.
If Mary had died and became one of the Returned, instead of moaning she would just whine, "Traaaaaaaaaaaaviiiiiiiiiisssss....."
And Harry. Man, he deserved better.
This book is probably for middle school and up. I would be hesitant to give it to a sixth grader because of how creepy it is but it is not inappropriate either (sexual content and language). And I would give it to a sixth grader if that is the kinds of books they like. I am totally surprised by how much I liked this book. So let me begin by saying that I thought the author could have fleshed out the mystery with the Sisters a little more. And this by no means that this book is without other flaws as well. I just thought it was an exciting page turner. Mary is living somewhere in the U.S. post zombie apocalypse. She lives in a village that is surrounded by the Unconsecrated. They do not know if they are the only humans that have survived. Mary is supposed to be watching her mother who has gone a little crazy with grief over Mary's missing father. She is letting the Unconsecrated come to close. (If you are scratched you still have hope of not becoming an Unconsecrated yourself, but if you are bitten you become and Unconsecrated unless you are killed dead like by decapitation. I imagine this village surrounded by chain link fence). Mary's mother does end up becoming infected. And so Mary is sent to live with the sisters because her only remaining family member her brother, does not want her and she has not been asked for (she is of marrying age). It is while living with the sisters that Mary uncovers many mysteries. It makes her question the Sisters devotion to their village as well as if they are the last people in the U.S. Her mother had told her stories as a child that she and others assumed were fairy tales. But living with the sisters opens up many new realms to her. There is also a love triangle going on as well.