Review: The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

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Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (March 22, 2011)
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages (Hardcover): 407
Series: The Forest of Hands & Teeth (Book 3)
Source: Library
ISBN-13: 9780385736848
Genre: Dystopia/Survival Horror
Series Reviews: Book 1 (2.5★) Book 2 (5★)

There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister's face before Annah left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the Horde as they swarmed the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters.
Annah's world stopped that day, and she's been waiting for Elias to come home ever since. Somehow, without him, her life doesn't feel much different than the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Until she meets Catcher, and everything feels alive again. 

But Catcher has his own secrets. Dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah has longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it's up to Annah: can she continue to live in a world covered in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return's destruction?

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Overview:

The female protagonist, Annah, did not connect to me at all. I understand her pain and her insecurities but she came across as very shallow from her scars to blaming her sister for her mistakes. I felt that until the very end, the plot volleyed back and forth with the same message over and over that Annah would get in trouble, Catcher would withdraw, she would feel ugly. Then the end of the book just ended. It wasn't a tragic ending like you would expect from this series, but was rushed and simple.

Review:

This series has been a roller coaster of instability; I didn't enjoy the first book, it didn't grasp me and I had no empathy for Mary. But then, the second book suprised me and I loved it. I thought that the series was going to take an upturn and that the remaining book(s) would be just as spectacular. Then I read The Dark and Hollow Places and my book high was over. That isn't to say this book was terrible, in fact I did like it, but it let me down in some ways.

Annah, for one, was not a character that I seemed to have any connection to or empathy for. Regardless of the situation, she found away to turn the emotions negative, therefore dampening the entire idea of hope that Gabry is still trying to instill. Whether it was her twisting Catcher's words and going back to her scars and her brutal looks or she was taking the time to blame Gabry for her mistakes, her thought processes kept reverting to redundant remarks and she never grew past them.

This book hints at betrayal and character assassination, but aside from Annah, I still had a very warm spot in my heart for all of the remaining characters: Gabry, Elias, and Catcher. They were all still very integral to the story in their own way, and I was happy at the continuation between the two books.

The remaining aspects of the book kind of tainted my hopefulness a little bit. In survival horror, the aspect of hope is a very fragile being, and there is hope that these teens can survive and that we won't have to suffer any more tragedy, but the more we find out about the infection (and we find out quite a bit) the less we feel we can believe. But all hope is not lost yet...

If this is the conclusion to the series, it doesn't leave any sense of resolution for a happy ending, tragic, or even just surviving.

Rating out of 5:

Review: The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

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Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (March 9, 2010)
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages (Hardcover): 407
Series: The Forest of Hands & Teeth (Book 2)
Source: Library
ISBN-13: 9780385736848
Genre: Dystopia/Survival Horror
Series Reviews: Book 1 (2.5★)

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.

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Overview:

Unlike the first book in The Forest of Hands and Teeth, this book was astounding. It had a combination of lies, cults, action, mystery, tragedy, danger...it had it ALL! The writing was stronger and the voice behind Gabry was stronger and more resolute, allowing more of a connection to her than Mary. This book also provided enough information on the Infection that I was left wondering but not questioning.

Review:

In a simple comparison, this book is the complete opposite of its companion, The Forest of Hands and Teeth. The most profound change is the character construction; all of the characters were created differently in this selection than before. Each character has a better connection, a deeper story, and more intriguing mysteries and destinies.

Gabry's story is intricately woven throughout the entire book. The connections that this book has to the first are so well written and important to who Gabry is; we begin to unravel the secrets of time along with her, and it is an intimate discovery of self. Gabry is such a timid character, a welcome relief from the standard rebel who is strong and can defy odds.

This book has a delicately crafted love triangle but, unlike its companion, doesn't centralize its importance; it is developed and featured as part of her journey as she survives with Elias and Catcher. This book is full of lies, confusion, mysterious cults, secrets, growing up, survival and so much more wrapped securely in the blanket of wonderful writing. Carrie Ryan uses this book to provide more insight into the infection which helps us understand more of the world that Gabry, Mary, and the others are living in. That was something that was absent from the first book, and now we have the opportunity to see and construct the timeline, the world, and its inhabitants.

In a dystopian novel, the why is the most important question and having that answered somewhat was a relief. Then to have that paired with beautiful character creation, this novel opened up with propelling action and ended in the same context. It was an edge-of-the-seat read from start to finish; I recommend having Dark and Hollow Places (Book 3) on standby.

This book didn't leave me with the sense of hopelessness that I was expecting. Unlike Mary, Gabry wasn't fighting for her selfish reasons to find something, she was fighting for others. Fighting the unknown, the mudo, and fighting for her life in the sheer hope that she could save them all...even...Annah.

Rating out of 5:

Review: The Forest of Hands & Teeth by Carrie Ryan

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

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Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (March 10, 2009)

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages (Hardback): 478

Series: Forest of Hands and Teeth (Book 1)

Source: Library

ISBN-13: 9780385736817

Genre: Dystopia

In Mary's world there are simple truths.

The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

But, slowly, Mary's truths are failing her. She's learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future-between the one she loves and the one who loves her.

And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

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I can't say that I didn't like this book because there were things that made me like it overall but I had to much of a blaze feeling about reading this.Overall, though I did like the story, this book has left me feeling too disconnected to say that I legitimately enjoyed it.

The setting for the book is a world consumed by death, America unknown years into the future, where only the fence protects Mary's village from The Unconsecrated. The survival aspect of this book was considerably well written; if you take but one step too close to the fence, you are forfeit if you are bitten. The religion, The Scripture, upheld by The Sisters is overwhelming in Mary's town; the connotations are that God chose them to be the only humans, to save humanity. The religious weight was just as heavy as trying to survive, The Scripture is all they have ever known for truth; but Mary heard stories that drove her to question these truths.

But even in her not-so-quiet determination to find the world outside the fence, the world untouched by death; I felt so far away from Mary. I thought she was selfish in her determination. Her connections to both Harry and Travis put too much emphasis on love and I felt like this was a romance novel with a terrible setting; it was always about Travis, the one she loved but she couldn't have.

I was also disappointed in the lack of information provided by this book. I am a strong lover of zombies (and vampires!) but my favorite part of it all is learning how they came to be. We find out what happens in some of the favorites like Resident Evil (T-Virus) & I Am Legend (virus but I won't spoil it!) but in The Forest of Hands and Teeth we get nothing except for it was a great Return of the dead. There is no known cause, there is no history of the world before or how this village came to be.

Why were outsiders forbidden? What was the significance of Gabrielle? I had too many questions unanswered even for this to be the first book in the series.

In the end, this book was very well written even though I feel it was undeveloped in terms of content; I will continue to read the rest of the series, in the hopes that I find the answers (as I hope Mary does) that I am looking for.