Review: THE DARK AND HOLLOW PLACES by Carrie Ryan

THE DARK AND HOLLOW PLACES
by Carrie Ryan

Hardcover, 374 pages
Published March 22nd 2011 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Placement in the Pile: Top Picks!

Summary:
There 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 that 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 it's 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:
This is the third and final book in the FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH series by the fabulous Carrie Ryan. The whole series has captured me. My review for FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH was done on an old blog that there isn't access to anymore. But my review for THE DEAD TOSSED WAVES can be found HERE.

Each installment of this series gets more and more serious, and more and more dark. But in a good way. Of course as you get deeper into the Return, deeper into the infection and how it affects us as mankind you will find darkness and despair. But just as the books hold despair for humankind, they hold hope and romance that flourishes despite the dire circumstances all around.

What shocked me most about this book was the intense life that Annah has to survive. Just when I think her circumstances can't possibly get harder, they do. She is thrown around and beaten up in this book, but in the end there is hope!

I enjoyed the whole series so, so much. I hope you all give it a chance if you haven't already.

Review THE DEAD TOSSED WAVES by Carrie Ryan

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan


Published March 9th 2010 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Hardcover, 407 pages

Placement in the Pile: Top Picks

Summary:
Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is 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:
This is one of those books that is so frightening and captivating that I could not put it down.

Dead Tossed Waves is narrated from Gabry's perspecitve, the daughter of Mary from the first book. They live by the sea that Mary was so desperate to get to. The ocean is not what Mary hoped it would be though. It is full of Unconsecrated (called Mudo in this book) that wash up on the shore daily.

Mary has raised Gabry in this small town trying to keep her protected from the horrors she lived in the Forest. But Gabry feels lost and affraid of the outside world mroe than safe.

Fairly early in the book there is a big heartbreak moment that sets Gabry on a path that throws her into hers and her mother's past.

As with Forest of Hands and Teeth, The Dead-Tossed Waves is a beautifully written novel that deals with some really hard things. Even more heartbreaking and terrifying than the first, The Dead-Tossed Waves is more of an emotional journey than Mary's.

I felt that Mary's entire purpose was to get to the sea. Gabry on the other hand just wants to find out who she is, answer questions about her world, and when she is faced with the frightening realities of the infected Mudo she has to learn what is left in the world left living for.

In many ways I felt it was more satisfying than the first, in others more frustrating in Gabry's repetative thoughts.

All in all I could not put it down and I am very much looking forward to more!

On Carrie Ryan's website she has announced three short stories being published in some story anthologies and she also announced "there's a third book in the series and it should be coming out in Spring 2011. It's already written and the title is The Dark and Hollow Places." For more information go to Carrie's Website http://carrie-me.blogspot.com/

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