The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
"Mary, come pray with me."
First in a Series
Young Adult, 320 pages
Published March 10, 2009 by Delacorte Books

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.com

DISCLAIMER: this book made me cry. Yeah, it was that good. I absolutely loved this book. I started craving to read it after I saw Jackson Pearce's review of this book. Might I just say that she is awesome. Then to add to my growing excitement over this book, it started to gain more and more publicity in the blogging world. I know it has probably been blogged to death, but right now I am basically blogging for my love and books and not to let readers know about some great unknown books. Mary lives in a post-zombie apocalyptic world, where her life is enclosed by a fence to keep the Unconsecrated, which is what the villagers call the zombies, out. The people in her life live with a constant fear of the Unconsecrated, but the Sisters and Guardians keep this fear under control while also controlling the people. But Mary has a hard time being controlled, especially when her dreams of the ocean are ready to burst out of her and the fence she is bound inside.

I felt so pathetic compared to Mary; here is a girl, who's hopes should have been smashed by the fact that a gang of undead are waiting to rip her apart, but no she keeps reaching for the ocean until even I'm like, "Girl, you're getting a little ridiculous." But she didn't listen to anybody. She is so admirable that way; no one else's opinion matters but her own, and she goes after her dream no matter what. I don't have a whole horde of Unconsecrated to stop me, and many times I have given up on my dream. Obviously, I need to work on my determination. Mary might be one of the most inspirational heroines I have ever read about. Her faults arer real (very real) but there aren't the annoying, overdone faults that you normally find in an adventure heroine. I felt like I really could connect with her, yet I still looked up to her.

SLIGHTLY SPOILERISH: Another aspect that I thought was very well done was Mary's relationship with Travis. At the beginning of the book, I thought that this was going to be another 'love from far away that magicals works out one day.' I dislike those because I don't feel the relationship is built of anything other than slightly stalkerish tendecies (umm, Twilight...). It is explained later on in the book that Mary and Travis were childhood friends, along with Travis' brother and Mary's best friend. They used to listen to the same stories of the ocean, out of which their shared love of the ocean grew from. The lack of other eligible young people for marriage, as well as the fact that these four people grew up together, creates a very believable and tangled love triangle (square?). I grew attached with these characters, and my heart ached when the relationship with Mary and Travis grew sour. I just wanted to scream, "Say you LOVE HIM! and make up already." But of course, it didn't work out that way, which made much more sense but was way more heart breaking.

This is definately added to my favorite books of the year list, and the sequel will be added to the Tantilizing Tomes (which will be an up and coming feature). Also, I thought the book trailer for this was very well done, keeping with the theme of the novel without giving away too much. In other words, perfect.

Reviewing next: Blood Red Horse by K.M. Grant.