Book Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

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 always 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 and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

–From Goodreads 

Cover Inspection:
I like this version of the cover because the woman looks haunted!


First Thoughts:
Brainwashed people, trapped. Sounds interesting.


***

My Review:

Close your eyes. Now think of the movie “The Village”. Open. Now read this book.

You will see some pretty striking similarities between that movie and this book! I noticed this the moment I opened the pages, and I wondered if it would be a good trait or a bad trait in this story.

I warn you now, the beginning of this book is fairly slow. It is difficult to say whether or not the first few chapters were so necessary to the overall story. If they hadn’t been there, you wouldn’t know so much about Mary and the people around her. I suppose they also add to the overall shroud of mystery that surrounds their little village, and that is important. However you must keep trudging through those first few chapters because it is not until after this that the story gets interesting.

Unconsecrated = Zombie Apocalypse! That is probably the best part of this whole story. There was more blood and gore in this book than I expected, but it didn’t overwhelm. Instead it made the world that surrounded Mary even more vivid. I could almost feel myself as part of her village, constantly afraid of the threat on the other side of the fence.

Mary was an okay protagonist. I can honestly say that sometimes I felt like jumping into the book and shaking some sense into her. She is one of those characters that is will to sacrifice so much for a dream, but on her it is not as endearing as it sounds. There were a few times that this book almost got set aside, just because I was so frustrated at the choices that she was making, not just for herself but for everyone around her. However there are also times when she is so brave and true. Again, I suppose this makes her character true to life.

Overall I a little torn about how I really feel about this book. I didn’t blindingly dislike it, but I didn’t fall in love with it like some others did either. It takes it place in the “just so” pile of my books.