DOUBLE FEATURE

This is a monthly feature I'm going to try out, where I'll review two books together. Most likely, it'll be the first two books in a series I just started, or two books by an author that go logically together.

This month, The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan.

Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan.

Source: Bought

Mary grows up knowing three truths: the Sisters know the truth, the Guardians protect us, and the Unconsecrated will always be there to infect, always. Plus, their tiny village is all that is left; they are the only humans who have lasted since the Return. Still, this isn't enough for Mary. Her mother told her stories about the ocean, about huge cities that once existed. Surely, someone is still out there.

Then, Mary's world is shattered when her mother is bitten and thrown into the Forest of Hands and Teeth once she returns as one of the Unconsecrated. Her only choice is to become a Sister, since no male seems to want her. Now that she's seen more of the Cathedral, she begins to understand that maybe the Sisters know more than they're telling. Then, she sees footprints in the snow that lead from the gate and path to nowhere (which are forbidden) to the Cathedral: the Sisters were wrong, there are others, and they've been lying!

But then the strange girl disappears, and suddenly Mary and her friends are left of the paths leading to nowhere. They are left with no information, other than the rumors of oceans and other villages, and only one option: move on.

This book might have started out a little slow for me, but once the action picked up, it was nonstop tension, mainly created by the fact that, no matter where they go, there are always Unconsecrated. The main reason the beginning bothered me was because it was mainly Mary talking: questioning the truths she feels she should accept, questioning her feelings for the boys she grew up with, questioning her place in the village. She feels like an outsider. Once the action picked up and I realized the entire book wasn't going to focus on Mary telling us about everything happening around her, it was just setting up the world, which is fine.

I liked Mary's character, particularly her relentless drive for truth. She suspects the Sisters are lying, and she wants to know why. A particularly cool scene involves her sneaking downstairs to the catacombs to find where they took the strange girl, and but once she gets through an ancient door, her candle blows out (a lovely traditional Gothic element, I must say). She's really independent and strong, but she's more aware of her weaknesses than anything else. Sometimes YA heroines/main female characters are too, well, bad-ass. Not that it's a bad thing, but it's refreshing to find a female character who is strong, but also very aware of her failings, and questions her own abilities, but is able to overcome that, as well.

What got a little tiresome was the love triangle between her and Travis and his brother, Harry-basically, both love her, she wants Travis, but is Harry's betrothed…basically, it carries through most of the book, and they're always skirting around the issue. I got frustrated that they couldn't all just sit down and talk about it. Now, it's true, they grew up in a village where the only way things went was that marriage isn't about love, it's about commitment, but Mary's the only one to question it, and she doesn't really push the others into questioning it, either. It seems, under the circumstances, they could just agree that maybe making their own rules could work. Now, it does kind of happen that way, but it's more an accident than anything else, and it's not until well past the halfway point of the book. So, once we got over that point, again, it was fine, but I felt like the love triangle, and Mary worrying over it, really slowed down the story at a few points…on a path, hungry, constantly surrounded by moaning zombies, would you really have that much time to focus on your love life more than anything else?

Still, other than the few dragging moments (which were few, I promise), the pacing was excellent. There were some absolutely awesome moments where they have to get out of really sticky situations that had me biting my nails. Ms. Ryan did an excellent job of highlighting how completely impossible it seemed to get out. Her descriptions of the Unconsecrated were very spooky, and there were some moments when it's also heartbreaking, since it's a reality for them to perhaps find a family member or friend turned and be forced to kill them. The prose was wonderful, although adjusting to present tense, which is used throughout most of the novel, took a moment, but it worked for me, since it really sounded like Mary was just telling us the story as it happened.

Although there were a few dull moments, there was enough action  that I was able to thoroughly enjoy this story. It was spooky, heartbreaking, complex, and a very fun read, leaving me with plenty of questions about what discoveries in this world were left.

Grade: 4/5

Review: The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
Source: Christmas present

****WARNING: There are spoilers for the first book, so avert your eyes if necessary!*****

Gabry is not like her mother, who escaped from the Forest and the hordes of Mudo to reach the ocean. Still, she's sure that there's nothing back there, and the thought of leaving her home in the lighthouse, of going past the safety of the fences, absolutely terrifies her. Still, her best friends Catcher and Cira convince her to pass the Barrier to the ruins of the old city for a bit of fun. When they realize the ugly truth, that Mudo can breach the old fences, her entire world is turned upside down. Catcher, her one true love, has been bitten, and she runs home, leaving her friends, to escape the punishment of breaking one of the biggest rules: never go past the Barrier.

With her friends either dead, turned, or imprisoned, Gabry is miserable. She betrayed her friends, and it's obvious that she's a coward. Still, when Cira tells her to find Catcher, that he must be alive, Gabry reluctantly leaves safety to find him. There, she finds an entire bizarre world of its own, and a new boy, Elias, who lives outside the safety of a village and rules. Then, her mother reveals a truth even more shattering, and Gabry finds herself on the same road her mother once tread, facing the same dangers and questions.

OK, I really liked the first book, and the things that bugged me about it (a drawn-out love triangle and a really long opening involving a teenage girl telling us about her problems) were so drawn-out in the sequel. Which is really unfortunate. Now, it's true that Gabry's relationships with Catcher and Elias are much more complicated by factors beyond her control, but I felt like I was watching New Moon, and Bella's constantly oscillating between Jacob and Edward (and I suppose I'm Team Elias, here). And again, her choice is more out of her hands, but it becomes more than obvious that Catcher realizes he can't really be with her, and yet she insists on going back to him, since she's desperate to restore as much of her old life as possible. OK, understandable, she's been through hell, and a lot of things she thought were constant have changed…but, really, at the two-thirds mark, and she's still after him, when Elias is clearly interested…come on. Again, the Mudo are all around, Cira's really  sick, why  is there so much time for you to think about this?

Now, as for the really slow beginning…Mary's opening might have been slow, but I needed the explanations, and she was questioning her world as much as telling us about her life, so that was fine, but, I'm sorry, Gabry just…well, whined. Her being afraid of leaving safety wasn't a bad thing at all (seriously, it's a pretty well-known fact that there's Mudo in the ruins, I'd be scared as hell to go out there, totally understandable), but then it turns into her telling us over and over and comparing herself to her brave, strong mother. Then, later, even after she's done all these pretty brave things, she's still telling us what a coward she is, and Elias literally has to spell out why she's not a total coward and failure as a human being, and her mother later does the same. Basically, something happens, she's questioning herself, and her mother or Elias tells her why she was awesome, and she then has this aha moment, and everything's OK. Jeez, are you really so slow you couldn't figure a single thing out for yourself? She's was completely self-involved at points, and constantly going over everything that happened, and she still couldn't figure any of this out? Plus, it was right after they said something to her that she got it…at least a little pondering would have made it realistic. I just didn't like Gabry all that much, and that really killed my enjoyment of the story.

Plus, there was very little action as compared to the first book, except at the end (which was totally awesome, I was freaking out!), and I was, at times, incredibly bored and questioning if this story was going to ever come to a climax. I absolutely hate to say that, especially considering the fact that I liked the first book so much, but, really, I was starting to question whether I could finish the book. I'm really glad I did, since I want to read the third book (which I really hope is a strong finish), and I really wanted to know more about the world. That we did was great, and questions that her mother Mary raised in the first book were answered, so I really felt like I was beginning to flesh out their world more. But, still, it was way too much of Gabry talking. It's true that she had a lot to think about, and that's fine, she was thinking over things she needed to, but much of it was the same thing over and over. The unevenness is what bugged me the most-she would go over something a thousand times, then her mother would say one thing, and the entire thing was resolved. I saw very little of Gabry thinking critically and coming to her own conclusions. I don't mind a character with flaws, and some of her flaws were fine (being scared, running and leaving her friends, not being strong enough to save them), but I had a huge problem with her lack of perception, because she didn't seem aware of it. She wasn't stupid, necessarily, but a lot of what she figured out seemed so obvious, and everything she said just started grating on my nerves.

Still, the writing was just as lovely. The story arc reflected the story of the first story, but in reverse (not exactly), which was a very cool effect. The world began to take more shape, and the Unconsecrated/Mudo scenes were just as harrowing. The thing that really saved the book was the ending, which was AMAZING! I still can't wait for the final novel, which will definitely introduce a character I can't wait to meet, and hopefully explain even more about what the world looks like. I just hope it's as strong as the first novel.

Grade: 3/5