The Forest of Hands and Teeth: Remarkably Like The Passage

by Carrie Ryan

"Who are we if not the stories we pass down? What happens when there's no one left to tell those stories? To hear them? Who will ever know that I existed? What is we are the only ones left - who will know our stories then? And what will happen to everyone else's stories? Who will remember those?
...
'I know about you, Mary.' He places a hand on my cheek, trails one finger along my jaw, and I'm forced to close my eyes so that he doesn't read in my expression the words that ring in my head but that I can't say aloud. That it is not enough.

That I am terrified that he is not enough." (p. 207)

The ocean: a wide, unending expanse of water. A fairytale? Or a memory passed down from mother to child through generations? In Mary's world all that exists beyond the village is the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

In this isolated world of order, all individuals have a common fear: the unconsecrated.
(Or virals, as they were known in The Passage, but the Unconsecrated are more like zombies.)
There are the Guardians, who guard the perimeter, and the Sisters, who make the decisions.
(Or the First Families, as they were known in The Passage.)
There are the villagers, who live their lives out despite the constant death and terror that surrounds them. Grow up, get married, have children.

And then there is Mary, who is torn between the man she is betrothed to and the man she loves. Mary, who also believes in the ocean and the existence of others.

As Mary's world begins to unwind, she learns of deeper secrets held by the Sisters. Secrets that lead Mary to suspect that another world is out there, and it is attainable. As the village's way of life is destroyed, Mary and her friends struggle to determine the right paths for their own lives.

Yup. So this is super familiar, right? We've heard this storyline before. Much to my surprise, though, this novel is much better done than both Cronin's The Passage and Haddix's Running Out of Time. The characters were much more personable, the pacing was super-fast (I read it this afternoon), and the prose was almost poetic at times.

Grade: A