The Forest of Hands and Teeth

by Carrie Ryan

Mary lives in a village where survival is a daily struggle. The only thing separating the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth, where the Unconsecrated zombie-like undead people roam the forest craving human flesh. People from the village can be infected if they get too close to the fence and are attacked by one of the Unconsecrated.  Life is pretty miserable, but Mary remembers stories about the ocean that her mother told her. It’s a far off dream for her to find the ocean and it becomes her driving force in the novel.

There was very little in this book that I liked. I kind of wanted to know how it ended but the characters were just not all that interesting to me. Neither was the plot. I found myself terribly indifferent about the outcome of the book.  The characters’ interactions were confusing to me, especially Mary’s relationship with her brother. Mary’s character lacked depth, intelligence, and compassion.  I don’t think I would recommend this book.

I’m not sure what it was about this book that I had such a hard time with. I wasn’t particularly attached to any of the characters and the singular goal of Mary to find the ocean, even with death surrounding her every moment, made the plot a little tough for me to embrace.  I think the author did a good job of creating a world of darkness and despair, but the romance element of the book fell flat.