Drcong O ''s Reviews > The Forest of Hands and Teeth

**some mild spoilers ahead!!!


ohhh boy, this was dark and filled with death and zombies and i loved every minute of it. literally all my friends found this slow and boring, but i'm here like "biTCH WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT??? I NEED TO KNOW." i'm so shook, i literally had such low expectations for this book because everyone hates it!!! I guess I just hate books people love and love books people hate.

i don't know why, but i went into this thinking it was a horror ghost story, but it's actually about zombies!!!! Mary lives in a very religious village ruled by the Sisterhood and the Guardians. the Sisterhood is strict and enforces rules for everyone to follow and stay safe. the Guardians have always protected against the Unconsecrated (zombies) and provided for them. when the Unconsecrated break through the fences and start attacking the village, Mary has to decide if she wants to find another path to safety or pursue her dreams of finding the oceans and be free.

this is such a weird book. like, it's written so simply and dull?? but i actually really liked it. it's EXTREMELY simple and melancholic, which i feel really complemented the atmosphere of the book.

mary's character has like, zero personality. from the beginning she's always mentioning the ocean. Ocean. OCEAN. and that's what's always on her mind. she's so bland and has an obsession with this guy Travis which is the worst fucking romance ever? her personality is the equivalent of a paper and i fucking loved it. she's been raised under a strict leadership and defying them would mean being thrown to the Unconsecrated and when she starts learning secrets the Sisterhood is keeping and knows there's life out there, she wants to leave and be free. i kind of related to her wanting to live her life free of the village and find the truth.

also, this is surprisingly so dark?? one scene in particular that stuck out to me was the zombie baby one. Mary and Travis were in this tree house thing where they saw a zombie baby that someone ditched. it was pretty sad because this baby can't move, is crying, and wants food, but it's a fucking ZOMBIE BABY. Mary had these thoughts that it's literally a baby who wants to be cared for, but she just tosses the baby out of the fucking tree and the zombie baby dies again from the fall and i was just..... what the fuck. she waited to feel some kind of guilt, but didn't. idk, this was just..... damn. really stuck out to me.

there's also a lot of cool zombie attacks and then chasing you shit and death and grossness. it was pretty great.

ok, now let's talk about the god damn bullshit ass romance. literally, what the FUCK was this? Mary has always liked this dude Travis, whose brother likes HER, so it's a fucking love triangle. but our girl Mary here only wants Travis and being without him is like,,, she can't bear it?? which is lowkey unhealthy, my guy. she's OBSESSED with this guy!! there's zero chemistry with them and from the beginning she just loves him and wants to be with him. at first i was like, yaas some smoochy smoochy sex time, because i love romance, but the romance got weird and cringey real quick. and i just...... did not want their romance. other than that Harry, Travis's brother wants Mary and it was just awkward.

also, Travis is disabled! he has a limp and broke his leg somehow (which is revealed later on.) i was so happy to read about a character with a disability!!

i feel like, normally, i would hate a book like this but??? i didn't which is so surprising to me.

overall, aside from the shitty romance, i really enjoyed this book. zombies, death, secrets, isolation. it was SO GOOD.