This is a slightly different one for me, but a series I really enjoyed. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is the first book in a three book series and I’ll admit that I was drawn to it initially because of the amazing title and cover (see the original cover down below). Then I read the description and clicked “Buy” immediately. I devoured the first book, and then the next two, in record time.
So what’s it about?
Zombies! But YA Zombies with a teen main character and a really original setting. It’s no secret that I love zombie literature, but am sick to death of the endless head-bashing/shooting/chopping of the typical zombie novel. I want a story! It’s not about the zombies, it’s about the people. (Yeah, I wrote a series with zombies, so my partiality is obvious.)
Mary is a teenager in an isolated village surrounded by tall fences. Beyond those fences, often in plain view, are the unconsecrated, which are the zombies. The difference here is that Mary’s village believes this is just the way things are. It’s not a sudden zombie plague or anything like that. This is just what life is like.
A mysterious Sisterhood sort of controls the village and the general belief is that they are the only people left in the world. Beyond their fences is nothing but an endless forest filled with unconsecrated. Sounds pretty grim, doesn’t it? Yeah, I thought so as well, so I immediately loved it.
Mary is at the cusp of her transition into adulthood and all that will come with it. Pairing up with someone appropriate, her serious crush on a different guy than the intended and general anxiety as she grows up are all piled in with something a little different; a dream of something more. Her mother’s tales of a faraway place where there is water to the horizon and no dangerous unconsecrated at all. A place called the ocean. It is these dreams that make her different from everyone else in her village.
When the worst happens, it is both a tragedy and an opportunity. And the ocean beckons.
No spoilers here! Let’s leave my description there, shall we?
What I thought:
While this employs zombies…a well-used foe as we all know…this setting and story are entirely original. Rather than dealing with the immediacy of the apocalypse, this is a story that takes place long after the worst has happened. It is also a very internal novel, which is a style I really love. I like to be in the character’s head and heart and this is precisely that sort of story. It’s also very vivid and “colorful”. By colorful, I mean that intensity with the main character that allows the reader to almost see and hear the world around the character. Again, I’m very fond of that style.
Caveats:
This is very much a YA/YAFA novel. The nuances of adult reasoning brought on by long experiences are absent. This is a teen who is tugged by their emotions, physical state and less subtle thoughts. In that way, it’s very classic YA. Some of the choices and decisions are not the same ones you and I would make as adults, but I can clearly see my 14 year-old self behaving that way!
The world complexity and the journey of the main characters brings it into YAFA (Young Adult for Adults) territory. And the beauty of the world around them (even as it’s horrible) will appeal to the adult reader.
Overall, I really enjoyed this series because it was fun, different and super engaging. Be sure to read the “Look Inside” feature on Amazon before you click buy if you’re not entirely sure because this is not Indie Fiction and priced accordingly!
NOTE: As always, any book featured in Read and Loved is written by someone I don’t know. I’m reviewing entirely as a reader.
