false 1 39 false false Thu Feb 26 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 23 11:40:55 -0800 2009 Fri Aug 07 15:32:44 -0700 2009 Sometime in the future, the world is overrun by zombies--people infected by an unknown virus that causes them to return as the undead and feed on human flesh--called the "Unconsecrated". Mary lives in a village surrounded by the Forest of Hands and Teeth, where the Unconsecrated are kept out by a chain-link fence, and to the villagers' knowledge, they may be the last bastion of uninfected humanity. Mary's little world is ruled by fear and the people have turned to a Medieval-like religious fervor to give them hope. Mary grew up with stories of Outside the Forest and fences and her latent desire to uncover the truth eclipses everything when Mary finds out a dangerous secret. However, a blooming romance further complicates matters, and Mary will have to make a choice...

My review:
The story sounds promising, right? It does have potential and the idea is rather unique (especially with the deluge of vampire-related YA novels that has been happening) but, ultimately, it didn't do it for me. The writing was fine and moved at a nice clip, but lacking in detail. So much so, that there were times when I wasn't even sure where the action was oriented! I never got a real feel for the setting. I also found myself not caring for the characters, and there didn't seem to be much character development (one of the pitfalls of first-person narrative?). Travis, the love interest, had no discernible personality and so I had no idea why our narrator was so in love with him. And for all her suffering, I had a hard time drumming up sympathy for Mary.

The biggest problem was that the author had too many ideas going on at once, and would completely drop story lines altogether. No questions were really answered by the end. And while I assume the author is planning one (or more) sequels, I have no compulsion to follow Mary's story. Because so many (seemingly important) threads were cut in this book, I don't know how they can be picked up again (if they would be at all).

Oh, and a chain-link fence? Come on!

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