"The Dark and Hollow Places" (Forest of Hands and Teeth #3)

374 pages

The end of "The Dead Tossed Waves" found Gabry and her former crush Catcher on the run through zombie-infested forests. They'd had to leave behind her mother, Mary; Mary's old friend Harry; and Elias, whom Gabry has recently fallen in love with. They have to make it back to the Dark City, where Gabry's twin, Annah--the twin Gabry just recently learned that she had--waits for Elias to come back from his stint as a Recruiter. Meanwhile, the Recruiters want Catcher so they can use his immunity to the zombie virus. "The Dark and Hollow Places" gives us Annah's perspective. She is shocked and overjoyed to discover that her long-lost sister has returned with Elias, but part of her despairs when she finds out that Elias and Annah are in love. She loves Elias too, but it seems to her that the vicious scars covering the left side of her body have made her less appealing than her otherwise identical twin. However, she is intrigued by handsome Catcher. Soon, though, the teenagers have bigger things to worry about as an unbelievably huge horde of the Unconsecrated descend upoon the Dark City...and when the Recruiters finally catch the quartet, it appears out that the undead might be the least of their worries.

These was my least favorite of the Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy. It seemed like it was all about the angsty love square (I don't have another word to describe this combination of two love triangles) and there wasn't enough zombie action. I felt for Annah, but I didn't particularly like her. She seemed pretty whiny to me--yes, I know that she has some good reasons to whine, but that didn't make it anymore fun to read! I did, however, like the crazy escape ending, and I'm happy with the way that the trilogy wrapped up as a whole.