The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

I must say I was completely floored by this book. I wasn't expectin' it to be quite so insanely intense! Anyhoo, I'm going to break it down, be careful though, there may be some spoilers ahead.

So this book is 'bout a girl named Mary. She lives in a secluded village in the middle of a forest, aptly named the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Their village is surrounded also by a fence, a border to keep the villagers safe from the Unconsecrated. Now, Ryan doesn't really come out and say what they really are, but based on the lore of the history of Zombies, I'd be willin' to bet moolah that that's what's happenin'. So it's many generations in the future, based on the decrepit pictures and old clippings of newspaper that are discovered along Mary's journey.

Mary loses her mother to the Unconsecrated at the beginning of the book, and her elder brother casts her out and she's forced to join the Sisterhood, much like a nunery. These Sisters run the town, and Mary is given the responsibility of praying over her childhood friend, her love, Travis after he breaks his leg. She discovers a horrendous secret that the Sisters have been hiding from them, they even "create" a Fast One, an Unconsecrated with unparalleled speed and agility, making her extremely dangerous.

Days later, the Fast One finds a way to break through the fence and a breach into the village is created. Many are massacred in front of Mary's eyes, and the only refuge they can find is a pathway away from the village that is safeguarded by an unbreached fence. Mary, a young boy, her childhood friends, her dog, and her brother and wife are with her.

It seems as though one thing after another happens, until eventually, the last one left is Mary.

This book will seriously make you think. Sometimes I thought Mary was a bit too dreamy for her own good, but she stood up and fought when it was necessary. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but it definitely leaves me thinking, as it would anyone else who reads it. I highly recommend it.