Book Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Carrie Ryan

310 Pages

Published March 10th, 2009

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?

Some books give off many vibes, have many intricate strings of plot that make up the composition of the words that are crammed onto the page. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is one such read, leaving me breathless at the end, after turning the very last page I still have so many thoughts racing around in my head. I loved that this book fit in perfectly for Halloween with the zombies and extreme feeling of desolation and despair that blankets the village in which Mary resides in. Another great aspect of the book was the historical vibe that I got, though it seems the book is actually set in the future.

Mary is your average girl, just trying to make it by in life. She lives in a small village in the middle of a large forest, residing in a village among other like-minded individuals. Though her village is unlike ours, surrounding by fences to keep the unconsecrated, otherwise known in my book as zombies, out, she is still a teen girl with regular teen problems. She worries about her mother and spends a lot of time thinking about love, about a boy named Travis she has always fancied, though he tends not to notice her, at least in her eyes. In a split second everything changes as her mother is ripped from her life forever. Eventually she becomes part of the sisterhood, a religious group that controls the ruling of the village.

Character development in The Forest of Hands and Teeth was superb and I enjoyed reading about Mary and the rest of the crew. Though she has her squabbles with her best friend, Cass, their friendship still survived everything they had to go through. Though there was a love triangle, it was obvious who needed to be together from the start.

The plot was fast paced, moving me along at supersonic speeds. Danger abound in every corner and I really felt for Mary who could never truly be safe. All she wanted was to see the ocean, to know there was a life beyond hers, but she experiences so much more. The Forest of Hands and Teeth was a book I won't soon forget - I'm glad I have the rest of the series on my shelves, and I'll be sure to pick it up soon.