Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Author: Carrie Ryan

Series: The Forest of Hands and Teeth #1

Publisher: Orion

Publication date: 01 Mar 2010

Format: Paperback | 336 pages

Genre: YA | Horror | Zombies

Goodreads

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 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 about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, 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 of Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?

My thoughts:

The Forest of Hands and Teeth follows Mary as she dreams a way to escape living like cattle in a fenced in village to avoid being eaten alive by the 'Unconsecrated'. Mary is one of the only residents who dares to dream about whether or not there's a life outside the fences and if it could possibly be any worse than the way she's living trapped on the inside.

I might as well come out with it straight off and say I really didn't get on with this read. Actually, I regret finishing it. The biggest problem I had was the characters. All of them. I hated every single one. I thought Mary was a brat that couldn't focus on anything but herself and that the rest of the characters were completely spineless. It made it so hard to carry on reading even just a couple of chapters in, there wasn't much action in the beginning which didn't help, but my hate for the characters was always at the forefront of my mind which made the read a chore. 

The one aspect of this book that kept me going was the action. When it got going, this read has tons of suspense. It really was its saving grace - after the halfway point of the read I actually couldn't put it down just to find out what direction the author was going to take things.

Aside from that, everything seemed to frustrate me. Not just the characters, but the plot seemed incredibly all over the place and the love interest completely over dramatic and unrealistic. I thought there were a lot of loose ends that weren't cleared up, especially from the beginning of the book, I carried on thinking eventually it would be brought back up and explained but it never was. 

Overall I wouldn't recommend this book. There wasn't enough action or suspense that could make up for all of the characters I didn't like and all of the inconsistencies in the plot. 

My rating: 3/10

Carrie Ryan:

Goodreads | Website | Twitter

The Forest of Hands and Teeth:

1. The Forest of Hands and Teeth
2. The Dead-Tossed Waves
3. The Dark and Hollow Places

Review: Shadows by Ilsa J. Bick

Title: Shadows

Author: Ilsa J. Bick

Series: Ashes Trilogy #2

Publisher: Quercus

Publication date: 27th September 2012

Format: Paperback | 518 pages

Genre: Horror | YA | Zombies

Goodreads

Alex and Tom, un-Changed, face unthinkable horror in their desperate struggle to find each other.

But the biggest terror of all is the monster within. Because no one yet knows which young people Change, or why.

And no one knows who will be next…

My thoughts:

Wow. This book is intense!

I pretty much went into this read with an open mind and no expectations. It wasn't anything to do with the first book in the trilogy, I just hadn't had the best of luck with the books I'd read beforehand. Of course, that meant that pretty much anything would have impressed me at that point. But this book really did blow me away.

The first thing that surprised me was that it's totally different to the first book. It has a completely different layout with different characters and their point of views. The writing gave off a different vibe and the action was just ongoing throughout the entire book. I've seriously never read a book with that much action. Not ever. 

The plot was great. It was so exciting the whole way through and it had me biting my nails at points. This author definitely loves teasing her readers with little cliffhangers at the end of chapters - sometimes they would drive me crazy (in a good way) but it would only get me reading faster. I loved how high the levels of suspense got in various points of the story. Definitely the polar opposite to a dull read.

There were a lot of new characters introduced which made me a little apprehensive. The main problem, or honestly, the thing I'm not sure about, is the fact that at times I felt like the focus was being taken away from Tom, Alex and Ellie. Ellie basically disappeared and even though there's a reason for that, I felt that the new characters took too much of the focus. I really liked getting to know the new characters and I'm so anxious to find out what happened to them, but I definitely wanted more of Alex especially.

Overall I thought this was a fantastic read. Ilsa did what any author should do when it comes to a sequel, she kicked it up a notch, making this one brilliant book.

My rating: 8/10

Ilsa J. Bick:

Goodreads | Website | Facebook | Twitter

Ashes trilogy:

1. Ashes (review)
2. Shadows
3. Monsters - published Sep 2013

Review: White Horse by Alex Adams

Title: White Horse

Author: Alex Adams

Series: White Horse #1

Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books

Publication date: April 2012

Format: ebook (NetGalley)

Genre: Horror - Post Apocalyptic

 

 

THE WORLD HAS ENDED, BUT HER JOURNEY HAS JUST BEGUN.

Thirty-year-old Zoe leads an ordinary life until the end of the world arrives. She is cleaning cages and floors at Pope Pharmaceuticals when the president of the United States announces that human beings are no longer a viable species. When Zoe realises that everyone she loves is disappearing, she starts running. Scared and alone in a shockingly changed world, she embarks on a remarkable journey of survival and redemption. Along the way, Zoe comes to see that humans are defined not by their genetic code, but rather by their actions and choices. White Horse offers hope for a broken world, where love can lead to the most unexpected places.

My thoughts:

My first thought about this read was that it really did pleasantly surprise me - in the spine tingly, horrifying way. It was definitely more towards the creepy side than I expected which made it that much better since I love a good scary read.

 

What I loved most about this book was how intense it was. I loved how I couldn't stop reading and I got little adrenaline rushes at moments where characters were trying to beat the odds. It was an incredibly suspenseful read which had me on the edge of my seat -  always a good thing.

 

The plot was great. It was realistic to an extent too which gave the story a little more depth. The settings of the book and the apocalypse was explained in detail which was great. There's so many zombie-like novels where the settings just start off with loads of zombies and there's no given reason for it - it just happened. This one gives a lot of backstory throughout the whole book which gave a lot of a sense of how desperate the world got at some points.

 

The chapters are split between what happens to the main character in the past (before the apocalypse) and what's happening in the present. It's what gives the plot some backstory which I already said is a good thing but sometimes it got a little frustrating. It made for a lot of suspense when a character is about to die or something just as extreme and then the chapter jumps right back into the past again. It was great in that sense, it made me want to read on to find out what happens as soon as possible. But sometimes, it confused me, especially at the beginning, Something would be mentioned in the present in a way that I thought I should have known about it already - I thought, at times, that I had missed out on something important. Said event would only be explained about three quarters of the way through the book which I didn't really like. 

 

The characters were great. The main character, Zoe, was really relatable. I thought she was written perfectly - she was flawed and she knew it, she was strong and yet had her vulnerable moments and she had these great loveable moments in the story that made me root for her the entire book. I thought the other characters in the book weren't so great though. They were introduced too late in my opinion. It takes a little bit of time to get to know a character, so when the others were introduced halfway through, I pretty much didn't really care what happened to them.

 

The writing was good. I didn't love it, it wasn't the most amazing book ever that blew my mind but it was a good read. I liked how the author made the book to be so intense and full of desperation but I was confused by the writing sometimes. I had those moments where I had to go back and read over a couple of paragraphs because something about them made me feel that it wasn't worded right. Other than that though, it was good.

 

Overall, I like this read and I want to find out what happens next. For those of you who are a fan of creepy novels or zombies, I recommend it. It has an edge to it that I really liked.

 

My rating: 7/10

 

Alex Adams:

Goodreads | Website | Facebook | Twitter

 

Review: Dead of Night

Title: Dead of Night

Author: Jonathan Maberry

Series: Dead of Night #1

Publisher: St. Martin's Press 

Publication date: October 2011 

Format: Paperback - 368 pages

Genre: Horror 

 

 

A prison doctor injects a condemned serial killer with a formula designed to keep his consciousness awake while his body rots in the grave. But all drugs have unforeseen side effects. Before he can be buried, the killer wakes up. Hungry. Infected. Contagious. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang...but a bite.

My thoughts:

I cannot even put how much I love this book into words - I don't think a review could do it justice. Safe to say - Jonathan Maberry is fast becoming one of my all-time favourite authors.

 

After a serial killer, Homer Gibbons, who happens to be infected with deadly parasites, is let loose in the county of Stebbins, all hell breaks loose. Dez, JT and Billy Trout soon find themselves fighting to keep themselves alive as well as most of the children of Stebbins.

 

This is basically everything that makes a good read, horror book and zombie thriller. To me it really is faultless. For a start the characters are really fun to read about. Dez is a right character - she's incredibly feisty and has a mouth on her. She was by far my favourite - really strong and yet had really bad abandonment issues that made her a 'real' person instead of your average 'do no wrong' heroine.

 

JT was just a sweetheart. He was the father figure to Dez and an all round great guy. Trout was also a darling. He was kind of the 'smart guy' of the book. Being a journalist with a best friend who knew social media inside and out really came in handy in the end.

 

As for the plot it was fantastic. The storyline was perfect, the settings were spot on and the build up of fear and suspense was nail-biting. One thing I do like about Maberry is that he's not afraid to make the book that extra bit detailed with the gore involved. This read is definitely not for readers who aren't fans of horror in general. 

 

Overall this was a fantastic read that I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of horror.

 

My rating: 10/10

 

 

Jonathan Maberry:

Goodreads | Website | Facebook | Twitter 

 

Books in the series:

1. Dead of Night
2. Fall of Night

Review: Rot and Ruin

 

Title: Rot and Ruin

Author: Jonathan Maberry

Series: Benny Imura #1

Publisher: Simon and Schuster (UK & US)

Publication: March 2011 (UK) | May 2011(US)

Format: Paperback | 464 pages

Genre: Horror | Zombies

Young Adult

Nearly fourteen years ago, a freak virus swept across the world turning the living into the undead. Benny Imura was only a toddler, but his last memory of his parents is tainted by the image of them becoming zombies, and he blames his older brother, Tom, for not saving them.

 

Now Benny is fifteen, and Tom wants them to put their difficult relationship behind them and work together in the "family business" : as zombie killers. It's the last thing Benny wants to do, but he needs a job and he thinks it'll be an easy ride.

 

But when they head into the Rot and Ruin, an area full of wandering zombies, Benny soon realises that there's more to the job than just whacking zombies. And, as he's confronted with the truth about the world around him, Benny makes the most terrifying discovery of all, that the worst monsters you can imagine might actually be human ...

 

 

My thoughts:

 

 Rot and Ruin is about Benny Imura, his friends and what remains of his family. After 'First Night' most of the world's population were infected with a freak virus causing anyone who dies or is bitten to rise from the dead as a freaky flesh-eating zombie. Those who managed to escape, including Benny's brother Tom, chanced upon a small community in the mountains who have salvaged what they could to survive and do their best to fend off any 'walkers' in the area.

 

This book took me no time at all to finish purely because it was so gripping that I didn't want to do anything related to real life until I was done. Admittedly, I did think it was incredibly dull in the beginning where Benny was deciding which career he was going to settle into. It literally picked up after 20 pages though after which I was racing through pages.

 

I loved the fact that although this book is based on zombies, the author hasn't taken any spotlight off of the relationship between Benny and his brother Tom. Straight from the introduction of the protagonist, the difficulty Benny has with forgiving his brother for running away on 'First Night' is highlighted and Tom's reactions to Benny thinking him a coward are really apparent. It keeps the story getting repetitive with zombie after zombie shuffling towards somebody - that gets old really quickly. Instead the zombies become an extra problem hidden in the background, the primary problem being Benny seeing his brother the way everybody else sees him.

 

There are so many elements to this story that it stays captivating the whole way through until it gets to the point where you can feel the number of pages left thinning and you really don't want it to end. As soon as you think you are going to start to settle into the story and can sort of guess where it's going you're thrown right off the trail. 

 

Every single character in this book is amazing in their own way and I got excited when any one of the them came back into the story. I can't fault the characters in any way. Not for the development, personalities or even for how many there are. There's no confusion, every one of them plays a part in the story perfectly.

 

This is definitely a book I'm going to add to my 'favourite reads' list and I really do urge everyone to pick this one up. I'm off to go and get the second in the series!

 

 

 My rating:10/10

 

Jonathan Maberry:

Goodreads | Website | Facebook | Twitter

 

Benny Imura series:

1. Rot and Ruin
2. Dust and Decay
3. Flesh and Bone
4. Fire and Ash