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.

Ever since I discovered Max Brooks and his books waaaay back in college, I have been obsessed with all things zombie. A few years a, hoIi decided I wanted to do the Couch to 5K, and instead of getting the free app like everyone else, I just HAD to have the Zombie Run app. I LOVED it. I am just now getting back in shape after my Psoriatic Arthritis has calmed down, and now I have every plan to use it again.

But I digress

I found The Forest of Hands and Teeth while scrolling on Libby, and I first asked myself how I could not have heard of this series before. If I didn’t have the habit of looking through Libby, I might still be in the dark about this series.

If you can’t tell, I LOVED THISBOOK!! I haven’t read the last book yet. I am on the Library’s hold list, so I hope I get it soon.

What I loved most about this series is that it presents zombies in a new way. I am sure most of us are familiar with the zombies AND the world that Max Brooks built. At times I got the feeling that every zombie book AFTER Max Brooks popularized them way back in the day seemed like a copycat zombie story. As a friend used to tell me, Hillary, if you have read one zombie book, you have read them all. An up to the correct point.

I found this one while scrolling through Libby since the Library is still not fully functioning after the Great Flood of 2022 in Eastern KY. The Library was my happy place, and I felt I needed to be in an area that would cheer me up. I started scrolling through Libby, and I found the whole series. I put a hold on all of them. Hopefully, they will come in soon.

I found it fascinating how the powers, aka the sisterhood, maintained total control over the “only” people who survived the Returned. No one even questioned what was out there, and it was only when people were forced to escape that the survivors found a lot of places where humans gathered without turning into zombie food.

And because I am me and I am stuck here in SE KY, I found it odd how the author took the most frightened people and let a zombie chomp on them so they would have everlasting life. I was tempted to ask what kind of life it is when you are “dead,” but what do I know? I read into what my brain was telling me was a metaphor for the whole Christianity religion. Death and rebirth, although the Forest of Hands and Teeth took the basic tenets and made them a thousand more macabre. I LOVED it!