The Dead-Tossed Waves (Forest of Hands and Teeth, Book 2) [Hardcover]

Carrie Ryan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 2010

Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up—Timid, thoughtful Gabry has grown up safely in the city of Vista. She lives in a lighthouse with her mother, Mary, the daring heroine of The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Delacorte, 2009), whose job it is to kill Mudo—zombies—as they wash ashore. Then one night, Cira, Gabry's best friend, and Catcher, Cira's brother, convince her to sneak outside Vista's walls. With the attack of one Breaker—a fast zombie—everything changes: a friend is killed, Catcher is infected, and Cira is imprisoned and destined for the Recruiters, the army that protects the loose federation of cities left after the Return. Feeling both guilty for having escaped punishment and self-destructive after the revelation that Mary in fact adopted her, Gabry pushes herself to cross the city's Barrier again. Some pieces of the narrative are well constructed: the constant, looming threat of the Mudo, Gabry's quiet determination and daring in the face of fear, and villainous soldier Daniel's palpably frightening power-grabbing sexual advances. Other details are less believable, like Mary's suddenly abandoning her daughter and her duties to seek her past in the Forest. Though flawed, this volume has enough action, romance, and depth of character to satisfy, and the cliff-hanger ending will leave fans hungry for the third book.—Megan Honig, New York Public Library
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From Booklist

The Forest of Hands of and Teeth (2009) spliced classic zombie mythos into a world that was one part postapocalypse and one part colonial America and drove the plot with a healthy surge of teen hormones. This companion piece, which features some returning characters in minor roles, involves another discontented young woman, Gabry. Life within her walled town is shattered when a group of her friends step past the border and are attacked by the Mudo (that’s zombies to you and me). A series of calamities results in a third act much like the one in Forest: Gabry flees through an unknown wilderness with companions including potential new paramour Elias and former crush Catcher, who may be immune to the Mudo’s bite. Though her reliance on sentence fragments is a bit irksome, Ryan knows how to put together an action scene; the final pages are especially thrilling. Savvy readers may scoff at the constant lusting going on amid the carnage, but fans of Forest will be happy to find a familiar flesh-eating formula. Grades 9-12. --Daniel Kraus

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (March 9, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385736843
• ISBN-13: 978-0385736848
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1.4 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (115 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #340,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carrie Ryan is the New York Times bestselling author of several critically acclaimed novels set decades after the zombie apocalypse: The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Delacorte Press, 2009), The Dead-Tossed Waves (Delacorte Press, 2010) and The Dark and Hollow Places (Delacorte Press, 2011). Her first novel, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, was chosen as a Best Books for Young Adults by the American Library Association, a Best of the Best Books by the Chicago Public Library and a finalist in the Borders Original Voices program.

Born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, Carrie is a graduate of Williams College and Duke University School of Law. A former litigator, she now writes full time. She lives with her writer/lawyer husband, two fat cats and one large puppy in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are not at all prepared for the zombie apocalypse.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great companion novel, March 12, 2010

By 

Neutron Lurver (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Dead-Tossed Waves (Forest of Hands and Teeth, Book 2) (Hardcover)

After reading Carrie Ryan's debut novel, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, I couldn't wait for the release of her next book. The Dead-Tossed Waves (Forest of Hands and Teeth, Book 2) did not disappoint. Gabry, the daughter of Mary, has grown up in the sheltered sea town of Vista, watching her mother take care of the lighthouse and dispose of the undead Mudo (Unconsecrated) that wash up on the beach. Gabry's life has been about fear of the Mudo and staying safe. After she takes a risk by following her friends and her crush over the Barrier one night, her entire world unravels. Her web of friends and family are missing, dead, or infected, and the only answers and hope seem to lie beyond the Barrier. Despite her fear, Gabry must decide what risks are worth it to survive, both emotionally and physically.

In some ways, this book excels its predecessor. Ryan's writing was strong in the first novel, but it's even better this time. First-person, present-tense can be a difficult style to use, but Ryan does it well with writing that is descriptive and evocative. The protagonist, Gabry, is very relatable, and characters are more well-defined in this book. Sense of place is strong, as is pacing; Ryan doesn't hesitate to take the reader into dark action in the first 30 pages and doesn't ease up after that. Relationships between characters feel real, and the romantic/sexual tension is palpable and aching. The story also allows the reader to know what happened to Mary, even if it's decades later, and questions are answered about the mythology of the Mudo/Unconsecrated. Like the first book, the novel explores complex issues, including the purpose of life, the repercussions of one's actions, and the selflessness of real love. Differently, though, the reader is left with more hope for the characters.

In other ways, however, the book wasn't as good as the first. Some plot points felt recycled, like the repetition of dangers, the need to flee, and the love triangle. Having read the first book, there was also a certain predictability that nothing would turn out well. There's a lot of death and destruction, and some of the main characters engage in or silently condone some very bothersome or violent actions. The story finished with little closure and an obvious cliffhanger ending to set up the sequel.

All in all, though, this was another dark, gripping read from Ryan, and I look forward to the continuation of Gabry's story in the next installment. Though it can be read as a standalone, I would recommend reading THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH first. There are a few clues and poignant moments along the way that won't resonate unless you've read the first book.

34 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very sad I can't give it 5 stars, March 17, 2010

By 

E. MacKay (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dead-Tossed Waves (Forest of Hands and Teeth, Book 2) (Hardcover)

I LOVE "The Forest of Hands and Teeth." So much, that I took a bus while on vacation to buy "The Dead-Tossed Waves." But I'm sad to say I could barely get through it. The writing is VERY choppy. I really want to know who the editor is. And with the incomplete sentences, you have Gabry, the main character, repeating the same thoughts over and over again throughout the book. Unlike FOHAT, this book is more inner dialogue and less action. That wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't always throwing herself a pity party. Honestly, this book is about 70% of her thinking the same thoughts with little going on between it. The writing made the repeated thoughts worse - there were many pages where the author would use the same wording or idea several times within a page. That's a big no-no in writing.

To me, every good book needs romance. "The Dead-Tossed Waves" offers it, but it's weak. You know very little about any of the men, which makes it harder to like them. I got to the point that I didn't care who Gabry ended up with, because I couldn't get attached to anyone. And when Gabry does make her decision, it comes out of nowhere. She's kissing one guy one minute, the declaring her love for another the next.

The only real action that happened is in the first 20 pages. After that, it's a bunch of teen angst, horrible writing, and hope that somewhere in the next hundred pages, a glimpse of "The Forest of Hands and Teeth" will show. So little happened, that I feel the author wrote the book only because the first one left you hanging. I think Ryan was better off leaving it with a bang then writing this book.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, April 14, 2010

By 

intothemorning (Green Brook, NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dead-Tossed Waves (Forest of Hands and Teeth, Book 2) (Hardcover)

I devoured The Forest of Teeth and Hands in one sitting when I first got my hands on it. I was fascinated with the mythology of this town that thought it was the last vestiges of humanity. The sisterhood and the way of life was all so interesting to me and I loved how the plot developed even if it did leave the reader a little romantically unsatisfied at the end and perhaps disillusioned by Mary's ultimate selfishness.

I figured The Dead-Tossed Waves would be a furthering of that mythology, those characters, that same quest to find something more than what Mary had always known. Instead we're plopped into the story two seconds before life erupts for Mary's daughter.

Okay, fine. And some clever ideas were introduced but so riddled with the internal whining of the narrator that it was hard to appreciate them. There was very little development of the characters or the mythology (though we did get a small taste).

As everything changes for Gabry we're treated with her repetitive thoughts on that - ad nauseum - until it really was more like reading a whiny blog entry.

We're also treated to all the times Gabry thinks she ought to say or do something to someone that might actually help the story move on or ease her unhappiness but she almost always chooses against it. And the myriad times she goes from being attracted to one boy, then being mad at him, suddenly being attracted to the other, then being mad at HIM... you get the picture. Another viewer pointed out that her final choice really does come out of the blue. For a book written entirely in the thoughts of the narrator, that was probably one of the thought processes the reader would've actually liked to have heard. Though I'd much rather understand Ryan's need to leave the reader romantically unsatisfied with each book.

I notice that Amazon lists it as Book 2. If Ryan goes for a 3rd I hope she'll stick to developing the mythology, the Sisterhood, the history of the Return, and cut the whiny teenage angst back at least a fourth. We got enough of that with the Twilight series.