Book Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Title: The Forest of Hands of Teeth (The Forest of Hands and Teeth #1)
Author: Carrie Ryan
Genre: Young Adult | Dystopia | Zombies
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: March 10, 2009
Format: Physical
Source: ALA
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, 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, 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 by so much death (goodreads)?


The Forest of Hands and Teeth was atmospheric albeit a bit slow at times. 
Plot: A few years ago I was obsessed with zombies. I read all the zombie books, watched all the zombie shows/movies, and was gifted a few zombie funkos from my old students. The zombie love went deep. If I were to have read The Forest of Hands and Teeth eight years ago, I would have fallen head over heels in love and written a glowing five-star read. Except I read it in 2018 and I've changed as a reader since then. 

I appreciated how easy it was to read The Forest of Hands and Teeth and how simple the plot was, but I was also frustrated by the pace at times. There were a lot of moments when nothing seemed to happen, instead, the author focused on Alice's monologue, and there came a point where I started skipping paragraphs and didn't miss anything. Despite that, I enjoyed the overall mystery of The Forest of Hands and Teeth. 

Characters: The Forest of Hands and Teeth was told from Alice's perspective and I enjoyed her view of the world. As I mentioned earlier, her running thoughts became tiring after a while and I was surprised by how little was given to the secondary characters given how important they were to Alice's survival. 

Worldbuilding: The world of The Forest of Hands and Teeth was everything! It had an atmosphere similar to The Village and I loved how closed off everyone was from the rest of the world. There were small clues throughout the novel about how the zombie apocalypse happened and I desperately wanted to learn more about the state of the world. Unfortunately, Ryan revealed close to nothing in The Forest of Hands and Teeth so I'll have to pick up the rest of the series to get some answers. 

Short N Sweet: The Forest of Hands and Teeth could use more time dedicated to the secondary characters, but it is a good story to lose yourself in.

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