REVIEW: What Once We Feared by: Carrie Ryan

Title: What Once We Feared
Author: Carrie Ryan
Publisher:Random House Children's Book
Release Date: May 14, 2013

Synopsis:

When the zombie apocalypse hits and the dead begin to rise, Jonah and his friends are on a class field trip downtown. Panicked they make a split second decision to seek shelter in the Overlook, an apartment complex built like a fortress on the edge of town. But as the begin to face the realities of what it will take to survive, the realize that while making the decision of where to run was easy, living out the consequences of that decision may be impossible. From Carrie Ryan, the New York bestselling author of the Forest of Hands and Teeth books, What Once We Feared is an original digital short story about facing a world that is forever changed and in which survival means more than merely escaping the undead.  

Review:

Carrie Ryan has given us a small glimpse into the world when the zombie apocalypse first started, when the use of the word zombie to describe actual people seems almost absurd. What Once We Feared is a short story that goes along with the Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy, but Carrie Ryan has managed to pack so much information and detail into it. She made me want to know more about what is was like for the people of that time. 

The story is told through Jonah's POV. Jonah, Nicky, Gregor, Felipe, and Beatrice are all friends that are on a school trip to Discovery Place when the zombie apocalypse hits their east coast town. Before they even know what's going on they're smack in the middle of all the mayhem, and they have to make a quick decision. 

I really would love to see this short story be developed into a larger work of art, because Carrie Ryan , like always, has managed to grab my attention with her ability to tell a story with such clarity, detail, and amazing imagination. I want to know in a more detailed and lengthier book the different situations and obstacles Jonah and the rest of his friends had to overcome, and what triumphs they were able to accomplish.

I recommend this short story for anyone who likes zombies, post-apocalyptic worlds or situations, and the Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy. What Once We Feared will have you begging for more. 

(c) 2015 Andrea Hatfield All Rights Reserved

REVIEW: The Dark and Hollow Places by: Carrie Ryan

Title: The Dark and Hollow Places

Author: Carrie Ryan

Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Release Date: March 22, 2011

Synopsis:

There are 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 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 its 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? 

Review:

The Dark and Hollow Places starts off almost exactly where The Dead-Tossed waves stopped except in this installment the story is told from Annah's POV.  Annah has spent the last three years waiting for Elias to come home from the Recruiters and the last decade blaming herself for leaving her twin sister Abigail (Gabry) in the Forest of Hands and Teeth. 

Annah has built walls around herself and wears her physical and emotional scars like a shroud as a way to protect herself and is so used to depending on only herself to get by that she has a hard time at letting anyone get close to her. Although she is quite broken in some areas she is such a strong, fierce, and loyal character.

Catcher is just a guarded in The Dark and Hollow Places as what he was in The Dead-Tossed Waves but you get to see a couple different sides to him. Not only is he sweet, caring, loyal and fierce but he is also at times down right scary. He becomes more vulnerable in this installment than he was in the previous one.

Elias and Gabry are both in The Dark and Hollow places but you don't get to see them as much as what you were able to in the previous installment. Gabry seems to be in more control of her emotions and whining tendencies now that she has Elias, Annah and Catcher around her. She comes off a lot stronger and able to handle more things being tossed at her at once. Elias is seen a lot less than he was in The Dead-Tossed Waves but he plays a huge part in everything that happens.

Carrie Ryan has a unique ability to grab your attention and not let go, she'll have you not wanting to let go. The action starts from the very beginning and never slows, with obstacles being thrown at the Annah and the rest of the characters left and right. 

It's an emotional roller coaster for Annah and the reader from the very first page. I found myself feeling angry, sad, and happy when she was. I was enthralled with the world that Carrie Ryan created. She was able to depict the scenes, characters, and emotions with such detail and clarity. And the character growth and development for both Annah and Catcher was phenomenal. They both went from not being able to let others love them and loving others to fiercely loving one another. 

Carrie was able to make the zombies even more menacing and terrifying.  For a gal that was unable to watch zombie films from the time she was a child up until she met her husband, you would never know it with the way she is able to describe the zombies. The passion she now has for them clearly resonates through her writing of the zombies (Unconsecrated, Mudo, Plague Rats). 

If you're into zombies and/or post apocalyptic novels then I highly recommend that you go out and get a copy of each book in this trilogy. The Forest of Hands and Teeth, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Dark and Hollow Places will take you on an exciting journey filled with love, loss, helplessness, and hope. This is definitely a series that I highly recommend and give it 4 out of 5 stars.




(c) 2015 Andrea Hatfield All Rights Reserved

REVIEW: The Dead-Tossed Waves by: Carrie Ryan

Title: The Dead-Tossed Waves
Author: Carrie Ryan
Release Date: March 9, 2010
Publisher: Random House Children's Books


Synopsis:

Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as 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.

Review: 

The Dead-Tossed Waves, the second installment of The Forest of Hands and Teeth Series, doesn't start off where the first book left off. I was a little disappointed at first because I wanted to find out what happened with Mary, Harry, Jacob and Cass, but instead it begins several years down the road. The main character is Gabry (Gabrielle), Mary's daughter, and we get to see things through her POV.

Gabry and her mother live in the lighthouse of the small post-Return town of Vista. Their only job is to maintain the lighthouse and to dispatch the Mudo that wash up onto the beach surrounding Vista on one side. Gabry has lived her whole life always following the rules, the very thought of  disobeying them terrifying to her. 

Cira is Gabry's best friend, who lives in an orphanage with her older brother. She has always been the confident one out of the two friends, the one who always talked Gabry into doing the things she was too scared to do. The relationship she has with her brother is a special one where they have grown up in the orphanage with only having each other as family. I really wish that Carrie Ryan would have gone deeper into Cira's character. She seemed like from the glimpses you get to see that she would have been a very interesting character.

Catcher is Cira's older brother and another one of Gabry's friends. He's always tried to look after Cira and Gabry and always caves, giving into whatever Cira wants. He is fiercely loyal to his younger sister and you can see the love he has for her. As the book goes on Catcher gets quite moody and tries to push Gabry away but with all that goes on I really don't blame him. 

Elias is a Souler and comes into Gabry's life at a time when she really needs someone, but she is not sure whether or not she can trust him. Elias acts weirdly around her at times and she can tell that he is hiding something big from her, and boy is it big. 

Carrie Ryan is just a descriptive in The Dead-Tossed Waves as she was in The Forest of Hands and Teeth. She has a unique ability to capture the scenes, characters, and emotions exceptionally well. I was able to clearly picture myself walking through everything as the story progressed and the plot deepened. 

The Mudo, zombies, Unconsecrated or whatever you want to call them, are just as impressive in this installment of Carrie Ryan's series The Forest of Hand and Teeth. She was able to capture their complete gory grossness in such vivid detail. 

I recommend The Dead-Tossed Waves to anyone who loves zombies, post-apocalyptic, dystopian, and sci-fi genres. I do feel this is a book that should not be read by anyone under the age of 9  just for the simple fact that the child might have issues with the blood and guts, and the zombie gore. I do suggest that parents read the book first and make your own judgement on letting your children read it. I was highly entertained through out the whole book and at times sitting on the edge of my seat, gripping my tablet so hard that my knuckles were turning white. I do feel that you should give this series a chance because you may find a new genre to love.


(c) 2015 Andrea Hatfield All Rights Reserved

REVIEW: The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Author: Carrie Ryan
Publisher: Random House Children's Book's
Published: March 10, 2009


Synopsis:

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 it's secrets, and the Guardians and their power. And, when the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. Now, she must choose between her village and her future, 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?

Review:

I wasn't sure what to expect with The Forest of Hands and Teeth because this is the first zombie book I've ever read. Sure I've watched TV shows and movies about them, and really enjoyed them, but have never read one. I didn't know if reading about zombies would be as good as watching them because I wasn't sure if the writer could capture the grotesque image of one properly. Carrie Ryan has surpassed my expectations and snuffed out any doubts I may of had. Her descriptions of the characters, setting, and zombies are so vividly clear that I was instantly transported to a ''new world''. 

Mary is the main character and the story is told through her POV. Mary has lived her whole life in a village surrounded by fences to keep them all safe from the Unconsecrated who wander in the Forest of Hand and Teeth. She has been taught her whole life, by the Sisterhood, that there is nothing left of the world beyond the fence, they are the only ones left in the world. 

From as far back as Mary can remember, her mother has told her stories that have been passed down through their family, for countless generations, of what the world used to be like before the Return. Her mother even had proof until a tragic fire erased everything except the stories. Mary has always dreamed of going to the places in her mother's stories, especially the ocean. 

 Jed is Mary's older brother and part of the Guardians. I really didn't like him until close to the end of the book. He was so cold hearted towards his sister for something that she really had no control over. Then he casts her off and doesn't see or speak to her for months until they're thrown into a situation where he has to. He later redeems himself but for the longest time I hated him.

Cass is Mary's best friend and kind of comes off as a ''dumb blonde'' who is bipolar. At first she's good and tries to console Mary when she looses her mother but then when Cass feels like she is loosing Harry to Mary, she changes and gets mean. You really don't get to learn much about Cass except she whines and cries alot if things aren't going her way.

Harry is another one of Mary's friends and he has had a huge crush on her for a long time. He really does seem to care for Mary an awful lot. He is sweet and caring but kind of comes off as one dimensional in the beginning but then he gets a little bit of depth as the story progresses but not much. 

Travis is also another one of Mary's friends and the guy that she has a crush on. The first time you get to meet him is when he has been brought to the ''hospital'' part of the Cathedral where the Sisterhood is stationed. You really can't get any type of handle on what kind of person he is because for a good bit of the time he's in the ''hospital'' he is either delirious with fever or unconscious. Once you get a chance to actually see what he's like it's hard to tell what his feelings for Mary are at first because he runs hot then cold then hot again, but eventually you discover what his true feelings are.

This is one of those books where I was freaked out completely but still unable to put it down. I just had to know what was going to happen and who was going to be the next person to be infected. With all that was going on and all that had happened to Mary I can totally see how she would start to loose her grip on her mental stability. I think any person put in those types of situations would loose it at least a little bit. 

I also learned a few things not to do in the event of a zombie apocalypse: 1.) Absolutely for no reason should you let other people willingly choose to remain a zombie if they are infected. That only adds to the numbers of the nasty little boogers you have to deal with later. 2.) Do not throw people to the zombies for any reason. They will in turn become a zombie and once again that's one more you have to deal with. 3.) Do not waste your arrows by passing notes back and forth. You need them to kill zombies.  

I did learn that I need to start training my dog to smell and fight the zombies. I thought that was cool and smart. And also that I would probably last a lot longer during a zombie apocalypse than some of the people in this book.

I really enjoyed reading The Forest of Hands and Teeth, even though at times it scared the crap out of me, and feel that Carrie Ryan did an exceptional job writing it. I highly recommend reading this book but feel it is geared for a more mature crowd because of all the guts and gore and zombies. I gave The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan 4 out of 5 stars on my Goodreads page. 


(c) 2015 Andrea Hatfield All Rights Reserved