It’s been several generations since the Return, a plague of undead that destroyed the world as we knew it. Mary lives in a village that is surrounded by a fence, the only thing separating their world from that of the Unconsecrated. Beyond the fence is a vast, uncharted land-the Forest of Hands and teeth. In this forest, the turned roam freely. No one has ever left the barrier of this fence. If they dare to leave, or even get too close to the fence, they run the chance of being attacked by the undead. Mary’s father has met this fate, and soon so does her mother.
The village is governed by a religious order called the Sisterhood. The sisterhood controls every aspect of the villagers life, including marriages, births, and they even control the fate of those that are bitten by one of the unconsecrated. In some cases, they are immediately rolled out into the forest. In the case of Mary’s mother, they allow her to stay with her daughter until she Returns.
Mary is constantly dreaming of what the world was like before the Return. Her mother tells her stories of the ocean, a sight unseen by any of the villagers. She has hope of a world beyond the forest, one free from the threat of the Unconsecrated. When there is a breach in the fence, and the village is under the attack of zombies, it is Mary who attempts to explore the possibility of another world, and face the danger of the forest.
THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH is an intense, haunting tale. In some aspects, it is the journey of self discovery for a teen living in a post apocalyptic world. Readers who assume this is simply a book about zombies and hope for a happy resolution will be disappointed, for it’s much more than that. It forces the reader to evaluate humanity and the world as we know it. Each individual that reads this will have a different perspective, a trait that makes this book even more compelling and enticing. Apparently a sequel is in the works and I impatiently await its release!
Love your review Jenn. I just find it amazing.. I don't read many books on the "undead" but this sounds hauntingly good. I also give kuddos to the title and cover.
Great review. The launch party for that book was held here and I meant to go and totally forgot about it. I could kick myself.
Oh great review!
I'm waiting to read this one, it looks absolutely like my kind of things!
thanks so much for the review…I have this on my list to read.
Wow — this sounds like an intense read. Great review.
This sounds like a good one that I will wait for the sequel to come out before I read. There is only so much anticipation that I can take.
Every review I see of this one, just makes me want to read it more! I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and source a copy here in the UK
Your desciption and thoughts make this sound like an intriguing read.
Jenn I enjoyed this book a great deal.
Though the themes were dark I too felt like the zombie aspect took a back seat to the character development and focus on Mary's life in particular. The zombies brought the creepy for sure and certainly that element of doom but they weren't the central focus which really made Mary's quest for something more out of life more intense.
Fabulous review.
Nice review Jenn. I'd love to read this novel one of these days.
I have this from the library and this is making me really want to get to it soon.
Great review! I loved reading TFOHAT, it was profound and pretty hard hitting in ways. The fact that they'd never seen the ocean was like "Whoa, wth!". It's very astounding.