Title: The Dead-Tossed Waves

Author: Carrie Ryan

Publisher: Delacorte Press 2010

Genre: Young Adult, Zombies

Pages: 404

Rating:  5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Support Your Local Library; May Read and Review; Zombies

Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

A companion novel to The Forest and Hands and Teeth.  Sort of a sequel, but not a sequel.  I loved it. Not quite as much as the first one, but definitely a lot.   Thought it was interesting that the main character in this book, Gabry, wants most of all to stay within her little fenced in world.  She doesn't want to leave, explore the world beyond.  Mary in TFHT wants nothing more than to get away from her fences.  I liked the reversal of motivation between the two main characters.  Of course, circumstances create difficulties for Gabry and she isn't allowed to stay in her little fenced in world.  In a way the plot was predictable.  I guessed the main events throughout, but that's okay.  The book really isn't about the events.  It's about the people and their relationships.  I loved seeing how Gabry responded and grew.  I definitely like Gabry more than I liked Mary.  Mary was fairly selfish and some of the things she said and did, I wanted to scream at her.  Gabry is much more of a liakable person.  Sure, she's a coward, but she also has this need to take care of others.  I think that was the point that I connected to her as a person.

Overall, a definite must read!  Now I have to enter the land of library holds to read the third book, The Dark and Hollow Places.  Hope it's as good as the first two.

Forest of Hands and Teeth

• #0.4 What We Once Feared
• #0.5 Hare Moon
• #1 The Forest of Hands and Teeth
• #2 The Dead-Tossed Waves
• #3 The Dark and Hollow Places
• #3.5 The Dead and Empty World