The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
This book was a bit of a roller coaster for me. At first, I hated it. Everything about this book was upsetting me. From the main character to their beliefs to the stupid boy drama. But the more I read and I became more involved in this world, it didn't turn out so bad. Mind you, I still hate the characters and the pointless love triangle, but the world itself and the Unconsecrated were interesting enough to save the book for me.
Carrie Ryan is an excellent world builder. I believe she has wonderful ideas about the world she wants to create and has the skills to execute them flawlessly. However, I don't think she is very good at creating characters or having decent character development. All the characters were bland and pretty forgettable. The only character I found myself liking was Argos and he's a dog. She also included that tedious love-triangle which only served to drag down the story. I was never one to get involved in romance stories that teeters back forth between two guys and one girl. It's boring and has absolutely nothing to do with the plot. I wished Ryan concentrated on the world and plot itself a bit more than taking up huge chunks of the book with this romance.
Mary, the main character, is selfish and an idiot. There were moments in the book where I questioned her actions because they made absolutely no sense to me. If you are surrounding by hundreds of zombies threatening to kill you and your family, why would you think about being in bed with some dude? Then there are the times where she didn't know which guy she wanted to be with. And THEN there are the times where she is not even happy with the one guy she wanted to be with. *Groans* She was never satisfied. All she thought about was herself and her happiness. To hell with everyone else! No matter how much I tried, I just couldn't bring myself to like her as a character.
Travis and Harry, Mary's two love interests, were okay but a bit boring. Cass was forgettable and Jed, Mary's brother, is a douche. Argos, the dog I mentioned earlier, and Jacob were really the only two I liked. Sister Tabitha was... interesting. She was insane but I found her to be entertaining. I was curious to know more about her but, as the reader, we don't get that. (Maybe I should read that short story to find out more about her. I'll have to track it down at some point.) So... the characters weren't that great except for the few that I mentioned, but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't finish the book or enjoy the world.
I love the atmosphere of the book and it is for this reason I think you should give it a try. You need to push through the first half of the book, though. It may start off rocky but I feel it gets better once the Unconsecrated are focused on more. The writing is pretty good and the mysteries behind these zombies are well worth the read. Give it a try. You may like it.
