"The Forest of Hands and Teeth" by Carrie Ryan

310 pages

Mary has never seen the world outside her village in the forest. For generations, her ancestors have lived in the fortified community under protection from the relentless undead, who have been rising after death since the Return centuries earlier. The Forest of Hands and Teeth, as they call it, is full of the zombies, and anyone who accidentally gets bitten is pushed out into it before he or she can turn into a monster. The Sisterhood keeps the village in order with religious and practical rules designed to promote the good of everyone, even at the cost of the individual. When Mary comes of age and is not "claimed" by a young man, her only option is to become an apprentice to the Sisters. Meanwhile, Travis, the boy she loves, has become engaged to her best friend, Cass. As if that weren't enough doom and gloom for Mary, she notices some strange things going on in the Sisters' cathedral and begins to figure out that the Sisterhood is keeping some dark secrets about the world outside the village. When the unthinkable happens and the undead break through the village's protection, Mary has to figure out how to save herself and the ones she loves.

I thought this book was alright, but it's definitely not my favorite zombie lit. First of all, it's more focused on the romance than the zombies, which isn't my thing, and I also couldn't get into the characters. I'm not sure why, but I just didn't care about them very much. Maybe it's because there's not enough backstory. That said, this story did hold my attention and I like that the author isn't afraid to kill off major characters. I'm interested in seeing what happens in the rest of the series.