The Dark and Hollow Places (Book 3) by Carrie Ryan

Rating 3.5 out of 5
Reading level: Ages 14 and up
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (March 22, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385738595
ISBN-13: 978-0385738590

 Annah has been living and surviving on her own sing Elias left her three years ago. When she finally decides to do something and move on with her life she meets Catcher, her sisters traveling companion and former boyfriend, and discovers her long lost twin sister is alive and well but now in the Recruiters hands.

The third book in the series seems to be the darkest and bleakest of all. While Annah herself and her story is pretty bleak set in the ruins of the city (that was supposed to be safe), the Zombie horde hitting the city, the cruelty of the Recruiters, death being at every turn and a certain last stand feel to the story.

The previous two books always had hope attached to it. For Mary there was the place the girl from the woods had come from, for Gabry there was the City. The girls all had somewhere else to go, somewhere safer. In this book there is no where to go. As I said previously this book is really dark with no hope to balance the horror the character witness and participate in.

I really can not decide if I liked this book or not. I found the book to be a a bit too dark and depressing  for my liking, plus there were somethings (mostly story threads) about the book and series as a whole, that irked me. Having said that I kept turning the pages wanting to know what happened next, if the group would survive, and  what would be the fate of the city.

I didn't really like Annah. There I said it. She just didn't gel well with me. Her personality for me didn't fit someone who had been surviving in extreme conditions for a few years on her own. She just seemed so wimpy, defenceless and clueless. For someone who had led her life I would expect her to be really tough physically or mentally (possibly both), or a hermit who never went out side. Instead she was this wishy washy character who was annoying in most instances. The only time I felt I saw the person I felt she should have been was towards the end after her night in the snow storm which is about half way through the book.

It really bugged me again that we have no idea of what caused the zombie invasion or even why there was a rebellion. This time the characters were in a place where they could get answers yet seemed unwilling to dig deeper and ask why. Which to me would have been important to figuring out how to survive. Also why would know one want to do tests on Catcher's blood? or what research was done in the past? The science nerd in me was very frustrated with this lack of wanting to know more. But maybe this was just me?

I liked Gabry a lot better in this book, as a lead character (and whose point of view the story was told from in book two), she didn't impress me much. But in this book I liked her a lot more. She was more well rounded as a character and less annoying.  Elias on the other hand was a bit of arrogant bastard in this book, but I was not turned off his character. I think the revelations about these two characters this book made them far more relatable.

The ending I thought was great for the series as a whole. It was a little on the Walt Disney happy ending side of happy endings but nonetheless I still thought it was a lovely way to finish the series and this book in particular that had been so dark and then right at the end was a small glimmer or more accurately the possibility of hope.

By the end of the book I was happier with the story and the trilogy as a whole. The third book did round the trilogy of quite nicely (despite all my criticisms!), and even though there were elements that bugged me I was still drawn into this world and enjoyed reading about it.

If you have read books one and two you can not decide to stop at book two.

The Dead - Tossed Waves (Book 2) by Carrie Ryan

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Gollancz (8 April 2010)
ISBN-10: 0575090898
ISBN-13: 978-0575090897

First Sentence: "The story goes that even after the Return they tried to keep the roller coasters going."

Gabry lives a quiet and safe life behind the barrier. But her world is about to shattered when one night of fun turns into a disaster. Now Gabry has to decide to live her quiet but safe life at the light house, or take a chance and leave everything she knows behind. Can she save her friends? what secrets is her mother keeping? and who is Elias?

This is the sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth. The story picks up roughly 20 years after the events in Forest of Hands and Teeth. Mary is the lighthouse keeper responsible for killing the unconsecrated (or Mudo as they are known in this town), and she lives with her 16 year old daughter Gabry. The story is told from Gabry's point of view.

The reader gets to learn so much more about the world Mary inhabited. Vista is similar to the village Mary fled from. It is controlled by the Protectorate a government that rules, from what I can tell, the remaining surviving cities. Young men are volunteered or dragooned as punishment into the military known as the Recruiters. Everyone else is encased behind solid walls and are forced to follow strict rules. I feel we also get a sense of the bigger picture here, of what has been happening in the forest and beyond.

There was not as much action in this book compared to the first book. Towards the end there was a lot of action, but I felt up to about halfway through the book, the pacing was fairly slow. The death toll of the main characters is pretty low too compared to the first book.

Gabry is a little bit of a strange character. I found on one hand she annoyed me, but on the other hand I liked her and felt sorry for her. Somehow she has grown up completely afraid of her world and even who she is. So she really struggles with the turn of events, and beats herself up over it. I enjoyed Elias as a character he has the whole mysterious stranger with a dark past thing happening.

POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT - I was a little confused about Mary's story though. She apparently returned to the forest for a year or so, and its indicated she knows how to return to her home village. Yet she apparently has never returned even though it says in this book she spent some time in the forest previously (after fleeing originally). I am a little baffled as to what she was doing in the forest for that time?

DISCUSSION POINT - Another thing I don't really get plot wise is the zombies themselves. While Ryan does a decent job explaining why there is still so many around. It still doesn't ring true for me. I am positive in the first book Ryan said that the zombies sort of disintegrated the older they were. To me this would mean eventually the zombies would just decompose eventually. So why are there still so many around? I dunno maybe I misread, or I am misremembering that passage. Oh also I don't understand why the infection stopped the remainder of humanity using things like planes, cars or other technology? Wouldn't we have made power stations, airports etc safe to use? Also food, how are the remaining people living because farms don't seem to exist? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

This book sets up for another book as it ends with a bit of a cliff hanger then an epilogue. Looking on Carrie Ryan's website a new book The Dark and Hollow Places is due out March 2011. I will be interested to see where Ryan takes the story. If you have read the first book and liked it, then this is a must read to learn more about the world.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Book 1) by Carrie Ryan

Rating: 4 out of 5Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Gollancz
ISBN-10: 0575090863
ISBN-13: 978-0575090866

First Sentence: "My mother used to tell me about the ocean. She said there was a place where there was nothing but water as far as you could see and that it was always moving, rushing toward you and then away."

Mary is like any normal teenager. She hangs out with her friends, she has a crush on a boy, and she never goes beyond the fence. Mary lives in a village in the Forest of Hands and Teeth where the unconsecrated live. The world as we know it is gone, an infection that turned humans into Zombies ravaged the planet leaving only Mary's village as the sole survivors. The village is controlled by the Sisterhood, who govern and protect the inhabitants. But Mary is curious and in the Sisterhoods eyes dangerous. Eventually Mary must decide between her village or her dreams, and keep her friends safe at the same time.

A fascinating debut novel. Even though the story is set in a world full of zombies, its not really about zombies at all. The story is character driven and is about Mary figuring out the world around her and her place in it. Mary is a great character, not a typical YA novel protagonist. She is a little selfish, and shallow, but at the same time brave and loyal. She is a likable character though, and realistic.

I was a little disappointed while reading the book, about the lack of elaboration on what happened with the world. At the time I read this book (middle 2009) I didn't know there was another book. However after I finished the book I thought the lack of information was appropriate. Mary and her friends only know what they have been taught about the outside world, so it would seem silly for them to tell the reader all about it. Also it would seem and obvious story filler, if they stumble on a book/room/person that could tell them exactly everything they needed to know. Life doesn't get tied up in a neat little bow so why should this story?

There are some pretty emotional scenes in this book. With out giving much away, two main scenes stand out. One with Mary and her Mother as they say goodbye, and the second was when Mary was in the tree houses with her friends. I will leave it at that.

Ryan has done a fantastic job drawing you in and making you care about the main characters. She also makes the story suitably creepy, with a touch of horror. This is where I think the lack of information really helps to build the suspense. As they don't know what expect they are shocked or discovered by discoveries. Also there is a lot of action and carnage in this book.

All in all a really solid first book. It was a great read which was hard to put down. If you like zombies this would be a great read, but even if you don't like zombies (like me) this is still a good engaging read.