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kiiouex 's review for:
The Forest of Hands and Teeth
by Carrie Ryan
I'm just disappointed, really. Also irritated. Intensely irritated.
I was expecting a unique, original, compelling book. Instead I got a B- zombie story with absolutely no new ideas, and the worst sock puppet romance I have ever read. It is pretentious, and worse, it is dull. But what really killed it was the writing style - I don't know if it was the lack of contractions, the terseness, or whatever elements built it up, but the style and tone crushed the emotion in this book flat. I mean it - it was impossible to feel a thing through the dense, expressionless wall that the style built up. 'I'm so in love,' the main character declares, 'I am in pain. I am dying.' I believed none of it. At times it almost felt sarcastic, how overwrought the narration was and how flat it all fell.
So other than the tone the problems with the book - of which there were many - begin with the fact that the book tries to pretend it isn't a zombie story, and adds not a single new idea to the zombie mythos. I have read better versions of this before. There's nothing new here. The romance steps in pretty early on and then eclipses most of the zombies, which is absolutely mind boggling when you realise that none of the characters have a drop of personality. I'm not exaggerating - Mary loves Travis, not Harry, and is willing to tear herself apart over her situation. What is the difference between Travis and Harry? What is so special about Travis? I have absolutely no idea. Please don't assume I'm exaggerating to be more negative, their romance feels based on nothing and never picks up. There is a long period when they're alone together and apparently they have 'conversations' and I really can't imagine what they talk about. Does Mary tell stories about the ocean? How can she actually tell stories, multiple, about the ocean, when all she actually seems to know is that it's big and full of salt?
Actually Mary can get her own paragraph because dear god, what an unlikeable character. She is selfish - and other characters call her out on this, and she agrees, and then is not affected at all - and impulsive, flitting from whim to overdramatic whim every couple of pages. She is an awful perspective to be in, since the best side of her is simply 'bland'. And yet she also manages the special snowflake trick of having all the boys interested in her blandness! (Did I mention that the book actually introduces a love square. Can I tell you how badly done it was.)
I think the part that really, really got me was, after a hundred pages of thinking how she'll die without Travis - her unrequited-ish crush, who she's properly talked to maybe once, and a whole lot of 'damn the rules and the entire world, I'll do what I want to be with him and fuck everyone else', And I just. I can't. That level of inconsistency, it's just bizarre. I couldn't believe it when I was reading it. Either the book really revolves around Mary that much, or Mary may just be the worst character ever conceived. (It could be both!)
And then the killer is
Anyway. I read the whole thing because it was short and I didn't want to DNF. It gets worse at the end. There are somehow two sequals. But the thing is, there was nothing I enjoyed in this book. No compelling scene. No interesting idea. No likable character. Maybe the dog? The dog was alright. There are better books about dogs.
Do not waste your time on this unless you are morbidly curious to see how style can flatten a narrative.
I was expecting a unique, original, compelling book. Instead I got a B- zombie story with absolutely no new ideas, and the worst sock puppet romance I have ever read. It is pretentious, and worse, it is dull. But what really killed it was the writing style - I don't know if it was the lack of contractions, the terseness, or whatever elements built it up, but the style and tone crushed the emotion in this book flat. I mean it - it was impossible to feel a thing through the dense, expressionless wall that the style built up. 'I'm so in love,' the main character declares, 'I am in pain. I am dying.' I believed none of it. At times it almost felt sarcastic, how overwrought the narration was and how flat it all fell.
So other than the tone the problems with the book - of which there were many - begin with the fact that the book tries to pretend it isn't a zombie story, and adds not a single new idea to the zombie mythos. I have read better versions of this before. There's nothing new here. The romance steps in pretty early on and then eclipses most of the zombies, which is absolutely mind boggling when you realise that none of the characters have a drop of personality. I'm not exaggerating - Mary loves Travis, not Harry, and is willing to tear herself apart over her situation. What is the difference between Travis and Harry? What is so special about Travis? I have absolutely no idea. Please don't assume I'm exaggerating to be more negative, their romance feels based on nothing and never picks up. There is a long period when they're alone together and apparently they have 'conversations' and I really can't imagine what they talk about. Does Mary tell stories about the ocean? How can she actually tell stories, multiple, about the ocean, when all she actually seems to know is that it's big and full of salt?
Actually Mary can get her own paragraph because dear god, what an unlikeable character. She is selfish - and other characters call her out on this, and she agrees, and then is not affected at all - and impulsive, flitting from whim to overdramatic whim every couple of pages. She is an awful perspective to be in, since the best side of her is simply 'bland'. And yet she also manages the special snowflake trick of having all the boys interested in her blandness! (Did I mention that the book actually introduces a love square. Can I tell you how badly done it was.)
I think the part that really, really got me was, after a hundred pages of thinking how she'll die without Travis - her unrequited-ish crush, who she's properly talked to maybe once, and a whole lot of 'damn the rules and the entire world, I'll do what I want to be with him and fuck everyone else',
Spoiler
her brother's wife gets infected. Her brother has been married over one year and has been shown actually loving his wife aka they actually have a relationship unlike Mary and Travis. And Mary has no sympathy! She is ready to kill Beth instantly, and is furious at her brother for not feeling the same. She cannot believe her brother will not follow the rules just because he's in love.And then the killer is
Spoiler
after two hundred pages of mooning, Mary gets Travis... and realises he's not enough for her.Anyway. I read the whole thing because it was short and I didn't want to DNF. It gets worse at the end. There are somehow two sequals. But the thing is, there was nothing I enjoyed in this book. No compelling scene. No interesting idea. No likable character. Maybe the dog? The dog was alright. There are better books about dogs.
Do not waste your time on this unless you are morbidly curious to see how style can flatten a narrative.