Audiobook Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth (The Forest of Hands and Teeth #1)
Author: Carrie Ryan
Narrator: Vane Millon
Publication Date: March 10, 2009
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Length: 9 hours 31 minutes
Add to 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 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?

Disclaimer: This book has got serious issues, but I love it anyway.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth was the first zombie book I ever read, way back in 2011. Actually, I was so new to the world of YA dystopia and fantasy that it literally took me a hundred pages to realize that the Unconsecrated were zombies. I've read this book three times now, more than I've reread any other book, now that I think about it. Something about this series keeps bringing me back, although my feelings have changed a bit since the last time I read five years ago!

Mary lives in a village that is all she's ever known. The village is governed by the Sisterhood, a fanatical religious group of women who hold all the knowledge of the world before the Return. Mary has questions about the outside world and wants to see the ocean more than anything, although there's slim chance of that happening since it's time for her to get married and start reproducing. Yikes. I never had any strong feelings for Mary in my first two reads, but on this read through, I found myself disliking her more than expected. While I loved her constant need to know what more existed, I could not stand her romantic inclinations.

Oh yes, there's romance, and lots of it! In this tiny world within fenced walls, Mary has managed to find herself in a love triangle with two brothers and it is extremely confusing. Mary wants Travis. Too bad he's going to marry her best friend. All is well, though, because she decides to settle for his brother Harry. But wait! She changes her mind and wants Travis again! But is Travis enough for her? I literally felt myself getting dizzy with the back and forth of these relationships. Outside of the romance, I quite liked Mary and found her to be a strong, inspiring character. Unfortunately, 80% of her character revolved around the romance.

The thing that keeps bringing me back to The Forest of Hands and Teeth is, of course, the world. I love, LOVE stories that are similar to The Village. I love the idea of a small community lost to time, only to realize they're not alone in the world. I loved reading about the creepy community that has been built over the decades(?) in the village. Then again, when I started to think about this world critically, instead of through nostalgia goggles, I began to realize that it didn't quite hold up.

There are actually a few things about this world that I'm not sold on. First, I'm pretty lost on how long it has actually been since the Return. It's obvious that this has all happened in America, sometime in the future. What's not clear is whether the village has existed for two generations or fifty. Another issue I have with the world is the fence that holds off the Unconsecrated. Even if it hasn't been several generations, the fence, which seems to be described as chain link type fencing, would certainly not hold up. There's brief mention of the Guardians repairing the fence, but how long could that possibly go on before the constant push of zombies broke it down? I know there are other problems with the world building, but I'm not here to nitpick one of my faves.

Despite the glaring issues with this book, I absolutely still love it. I love the world, flawed as it may be. I love the mystery surrounding the village and what could be outside it. This will probably be the only time you see me rate a book with this many issues this highly, but what can I say? I do wish that more care had been taken when setting this story up, but I love it for what it is! If you're a fan of The Village or stories like it, I definitely recommend this book!

Audiobook Review: Feed by Mira Grant

Title: FEED (Newsflesh #1)

Author: Mira Grant

Publication Date: May 1, 2010
Publisher: Orbit
Pages: 571
Add to Goodreads

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop.

The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives - the dark conspiracy behind the infected.

The truth will get out, even if it kills them.

I was very underwhelmed by this book. For starters, it is marketed as a zombie book, when in fact, it's a political conspiracy book with some zombies thrown in. It was entirely not what I was expecting.

The writing in this book was painful at times, and extremely repetitive. The world building is force fed to the reader via Georgia rather than shown through events. I will say that the zombie concept that Grant has come up with seems entirely original and was interesting. But I will also say that again, we are force fed the zombie virus situation throughout the book. It seemed like every five minutes I was hearing about a blood test, which model it was, where the needles stuck, and about the blinking lights that finally settled on green. I get it! I got it after the first few pages, actually.

Another repetitive aspect that drove me crazy was Georgia's health issue - Retinal Kellis-Amberlee. Basically, the zombie virus concentrated in her eyes. We constantly hear about her sunglasses, how her eyes hurt in the light, her migraines, contacts, and how every time she enters a building she runs into problems with security. Once again, I got it after the first few times.

The characters in general just weren't very likeable to me. Georgia seemed kind of arrogant and goes out of her way NOT to fit in with everyone else. She constantly talks about her desire to tell the Truth (yes, with a "T") and nothing but the Truth. Though she associates herself with the "newsies" (a branch of bloggers who report only facts without opinion), every blog post we hear from her is nothing but opinion, even going so far as to state which candidate should win the presidential election.

Shaun just seemed like an idiot. If I had to hear about him "poking things with sticks" one more time, I was at risk of giving up altogether. But I pushed through. Shaun is what is called an Irwin - a blogger who goes out into dangerous areas to get footage of himself doing stupid things. Oh, and Irwins are named after Steve Irwin (there was even something about a Steve-o award), as if people in 2040 will remember who Steve Irwin was.

Buffy was another idiot, just for different reasons. I'm not really sure why they don't have books (Kindle, maybe?) in the year 2040, when they have earring cameras and hotels with private elevators, but for whatever reason, they rely on fictionals (bloggers who write fiction, shockingly) to get their fix. Buffy seems to whine and complain a lot throughout the book and is the ultimate demise of everyone.

I didn't love any of them. I actually thought they were all maybe 18 years old, only to find out from reviews that they were actually around 24. They were completely juvenile, unrealistically so. No one in real life makes a (supposedly) witty comment at the end of every sentence. And no one would call their brother an idiot when she thought he was about to die.

Speaking of brother/sister relationships, this one was a little weird. I love my brother and all, but I don't share a bed with him and I can stand to be away from him for more than five minutes. I've also never let my love for my brother interfere with my dating experience.

My last unfortunate comment is that I have never before read a book and not cared at all when a character died. I did not care in the least when characters in this book died. I think that fact alone speaks volumes about this book. 

Notes on the Audiobook

Audiobook narration is extremely hit or miss, and this one was a definite miss. Paula Christensen's voice was annoying, her voice rising at the end of each sentence, almost like a sports announcer. Jesse Bernstein's voice wasn't nearly as bad, but BOTH need to work on their British accents. I have never been to England, but I've had English friends and I watch TV - I could have done a better job. Paula's accent sounded like a strange combo of Australian and British, and Jesse's sounded like Samoan mixed with British and American. Both were really weird.