The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Not a very pretty name, eh? It almost turned me off with visions of teeth and bones sticking out of a forest floor. But, I felt like I needed to continue by Zombie run.

The main character is Mary and she lives in a village that is enclosed by a fence to protect it from the "unconsecrated" zombies that live in the forest. The village is protected by the Guardians and controlled by they Sisterhood. Early in the story, Mary's mother is bitten and becomes a zombie. Mary spends a brief time with the Sisterhood, even taking some of the vows, but then a childhood friend speaks for her and she is not engaged to be married. The story takes off from there.

While living with the Sisterhood, Mary finds that they are not as pure and honest as they town thinks they are. Mary soon learns that there is an inner circle who knows all the secrets of the town. They lead the town to believe that they are the only survivors of the Zombie apocalypse. But one night Mary sees tracks coming from outside the gates, a place no one goes. Then she does some digging and ends up with more questions than answers.

That is the premise that got me. A dystopian society with a group that was lying to everyone with a main character close to discovering those secrets.

***If you want to read this book, don't continue. I will ruin it for you.***








However, the book was disappointing. Mary doesn't find any answers to her questions! And she is a bit annoying always changing her mind. Whenever she gets what she wants, she always thinks there is something better. It is only when she can't have something that she regrets her decisions. Oh, the life of a teenager.

What bothered me the most is that I have no idea what this Sisterhood was up to. Obviously they were lying about them being the only ones alive, but that is all I know.

This book is one reason why I am giving up on Young Adult Literature for a while. But, it is a recommendation for Relief Society book club. As in, there isn't anything bad about it. It does describe what some of the Zombies look like, but not in too much detail.