Mary lives in a village that is controlled by the Sisterhood. This village is surrounded by the forest of hands and teeth. The only thing protecting them is a fence and obviously the Sisterhood. There are secrets as all small towns (villages) have. But the closely guarded secrets come to life when the fence is breached and Mary needs to make some choices.
Published July 2009
310 Pages
I was completely intrigued by the story but I couldn’t stand Mary. My issue with her is she was never satisfied with anything. She had to keep pushing and because of that she put a lot of people in serious positions. For instance, she is in love with a boy but is promised to her brother. She makes this big fuss about being with him and when she finally gets him he’s not enough for her. She needs to explore she needs to know who what and why things are the way they are that she forgets to laugh. I don’t believe she was ever truly in love with the boy maybe when she lived in the village but after that I don’t think so.
Another issue I had with the book was there was no real high intense action minus the village invasion. The forest of hand and teeth is supposed to be filled with these evil flesh eating zombies (yes zombies) but some how Mary and her group manage to not really be in contact with them. This made the book a bit boring but I was filled with so many questions I kept reading.
Despite all of that the book was well written; you can see the time and though the author put into it. I appreciate that. I believe the story well built. Village controlled and fueled by secrets is perfect; the entire story up until Mary and her group leaves the village was great.
Overall the book gets 7 out of 10. It feels short on keeping the thrill and “horror” aspect. There are two other books so maybe questions will be answered.
Tania Lasenburg is a communications major that plays video games and cyber stalks Gym Class Heroes. Follow her on twitter @mrztanyapickles
Motif by Tanya 