Review - The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister's face when she and Elias left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the horde as they found their way to the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters.

Annah's world stopped that day and she's been waiting for him to come home ever since. Without him, her life doesn't feel much different from that of the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Then she meets Catcher and everything feels alive again.

Except, Catcher has his own secrets -- dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah's longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it's up to Annah -- can she continue to live in a world drenched in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return's destruction?

Ah. I finally got to The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan. I wasn't sure I'd want to read the book. I took a look at the first chapter at the end of book two and saw that it followed Annah, Elias's "sister" and was worried I wouldn't get any closure for the first two books in the series.

Always... I'm ALWAYS wrong. I'm really glad I picked this one up despite my misgivings.

It was nice to follow Annah for this one. Although I hate it when people take out their hangups about themselves on other people (Catcher included!). She finds her sister and Catcher (but she doesn't know it's him) and Elias fairly early in the story. She, Catcher, and Elias have to go and save Gabrigail (see what I did there?) from the Recruiters at the Sanctuary only to find out they're more or less bait/prisoners. Catcher is who the Recruiters want.... everyone else is either bait or collateral damage.

Ya know... I got a glimpse of just how horrible folks could be in books one and two... but in a completely different way than book three. You don't really like to think that the people still fighting to survive in this world are going to be the ones that you have to look out for the most. I always hate that. Even when people are all you have to rely on, they're still your worst enemies.

I think out of the three narrators in the series, Annah may have been my favorite. She was kind of selfish, but not in the way Mary and Gabrigail were. Hers was a more righteous emotion if you follow me (don't worry if you don't, I'm not sure I do either). There was no stupid love triangle FINALLY. Sure she thought she loved Elias, but she wasn't flip flopping back and forth between he and Catcher or any other male in the story. She was insightful and very protective over everyone she loved.

This has been my favorite of the series. Not just for the narrator but finally, as I said before, for the closure. Everything came together in one way or another by the end of the story fairly nicely. Nothing was really left open and no questions were left unanswered. And even though it is the same time frame as Gabrigail's story, the world Annah lives in couldn't be more different. It's sad. She never had a chance.

If you read the first two books I suggest you read the third. If for nothing more than to find out how it all ends. I don't think you'll be disappointed. I know that I wasn't.

Review - The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

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.

I had a little issue with The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan. The issue being that it disappeared on me for about a week and I couldn't figure out where it had gone so I couldn't read it. I actually went out and got another copy and then lo and behold, my original was found. So now I have 2 copies. Word.

This installment of the series finds us in the beach town of Vista following Gabry who we find out is Mary's daughter (Mary from The Forest of Hands and Teeth). It starts off with action as Gabry and her friends climb the barrier separating them from an area where Mudo (zombies) roam. Several of Gabry's friends are bitten (including the boy she likes) and Gabry runs back to the safety of the lighthouse she lives in with her mother, only to find out later on that the friends who WEREN'T infected by the Mudo are being sent to the Recruiters. Something that seems to be a fate worse than a death sentence to them.

Gabry goes out in search of Catcher, the boy she likes, but meets Elias who also seems to be searching for someone. He helps her out in more ways than one and she discovers something about her friend Catcher that no one else can ever know, or else they won't ever let him go. Gabry gets herself in a lot of trouble in this book and ends up having to flee Vista, but with several people in tow. She goes out in search of her mother, who left before her, and a world away from Vista where she can be safe with her friends instead of hunted by the Recruiters.

This book seemed younger than the first in the series. Gabry seemed younger, although according to Mary she was about the same age that Mary was in the first book. Maybe it's because she was kept in a more protected area and hadn't been forced to more or less mature beyond her years the way that her mother had.

The city they were living in didn't seem like a place I would want to be. I think I'd much rather prefer the village that Mary grew up in even though it wasn't as well protected as Vista. Both places had their drawbacks though I reckon.

Oh my gosh, the love triangle. How I hate them. Why oh why must EVERY novel with promise have a stupid love triangle? First Gabry is in love with Catcher. Then she forgets Catcher when Elias is around. Then she forgets Elias when Catcher is around. Then she.... well, you get the picture. I want to pull my hair out. I like the story but not EVERY BOOK IN THE HISTORY OF BOOKS now a days has to have some stupid Edward-Bella-Jacob-esque love issue. It really doesn't. It just... it doesn't.

Whew.

Ok, where was I?

If you read the first story, I suggest reading this one. They can almost be read as stand alones if you're not interesting in reading book one, but I would suggest that if you HAVEN'T read The Forest of Hands and Teeth you do so, just because it helps a bit. I enjoyed the first one MUCH more than I liked this one, but I wouldn't totally count it out. I do plan on seeing what happens in book three because I hate mysteries and unfinished stories.