Forest of Hands and Teeth

Posted on by scott

Those of you who enjoy delicious zombies might want to check out this debut by Carrie Ryan, called The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

forest_home

I would tell you more about it, but I already wrote a signature review for Amazon, which starts like this:

Teenagers love a good apocalypse. Who doesn’t? All those annoying rules suspended. Society’s pretenses made irrelevant. Malls to be looted. School out forever.

But in The Forest and Hands and Teeth, Carrie Ryan’s marvelous debut novel, the post-apocalypse is defined more by constraints than freedoms. The book begins seven generations after the Return, an undead plague that has ended civilization as we know it. Of course, a zombie outbreak usually means shotguns and mall looting–the very essence of freedom. But more than a century on from the Return, the malls have already been looted, and shotguns are a distant memory. The novel’s heroine, Mary, lives in a village surrounded by one last vestige of industrial technology: a chain-link fence, beyond which is a vast forest full of shambling, eternally ravenous undead–the forest of hands and teeth. No villager ever goes outside this fence, unless they want to die. (And given this bleak scenario, some do.)

Mary’s world is bounded not only by the fence but by the archaic traditions of her people, which are enforced by a religious order called the Sisterhood. Marriages, childbirth, death, every stage of life must be controlled to sustain the village’s precarious existence. Even the houses are circumscribed–literally–with passages of scripture carved into every entrance to remind the inhabitants of the rules that sustain human life amid the horrors of the forest.

After so long an isolation, the village is beginning to forget . . .

Click here to read the rest of my review.

That’s it, except . . . it’s only 13 more days until Extras comes out in paperback. W00t!

147 thoughts on “Forest of Hands and Teeth”

  9. Last weekend I looked at that book! Read the first few pages, then I moved on to Bogus to Bubbly (I read that for ten minutes). But what I read was really good, and that summary makes it look even better! I didn’t know it involved zombies. (laugh) Guess I’ll be reading this after Graceling~.

  10. I love zombies.

    I even like them better then vampires.
    (My opinion)

    I love reading all of the books you recommend.

  13. sounds good….

    to bad i have like 800 books i wanna read and im not even done with the one im in the middle of.

    NEXT UP = MIDNIGHTERS!

  16. thats what i thought dahlia-wa… But like the giver remix… I’ll have to look at it… Thanks for recomending it. I need new read.

  24. Dahlia-wa: It reminds me of The Village, also. Something about an isolated village located in the middle of a dark, daunting forest. I actually really liked that movie… But you’re probably used to horror films, which The Village is not.

  25. So I just finished Extras – I know, I’m ONLY two years late. But I couldn’t resist dropping by to say that you, sir, are officially in my top ten author-rank. I’ll miss Tally and Aya’s world. It’s amazing that you’ve created such a fascinating new civilization in black and white. If only we could have the same surge monkeys and kickers, our World would totally be party-making. Anyhow, I hope you never stop writing. You’re incredibly lucky that you’ve found your talent. Use it to your fullest! I’ll continue to support.

  27. AHH. I was going to buy that book! But I was in a rush to choose, (Thanks a lot Dad!) and just grabbed the other one. Now I REALLY want to read it!

  28. this book. sounds amazing. I want it.
    Alrighty, I know it’s super early, but I have decided that I will be a special for Halloween.
    I guess I have plenty of time to plan everything…
    also, Lizzy-wa? Alex-wa? somebody PLEASE fill me in on the website?? I haven’t even seen it yet!!

  30. YAY! I LOVE Zombies! They’re so fascinating~ I’m not a horror buff though. In fact, I avoid horror movies like the plague. But, Zombies are sooo cool and WAY better than vamps 😛

  31. well……………i havent been working on it that much ’cause alex-wa said she wanted to do so much. hailey do u have the information for it? and im going to work on the site.

  34. lol sorry tally-wa7… I meant this book review sounds like the village and the giver remixed together. At least thats what i thought of… Lol sorry for the misunderstanding.
    And i’m with lizzy-wa. Vamps all the way. But thats just cuz zombies creep the hell out of me and remind me of a nightmare i had when i was five *shivers* i get goosebumps just thinking about it… Ugh, bad thought.

  35. That book looks amazing! (along with the review!!)
    Maybe I’ll get Extras in paper-back…
    I’m doing an author report on Scott-la! Woo! I’m excited!

    Peace..: D

  37. How about another book for Uglies, Scott-la?

    Ahh I swear I would kill to find out what happened with Tally after Specials (in her perspective.)

    I liked Extras, but I have to say, I enjoyed Tally’s perspective and was rather disappointed to find her out of the books focus.

    And also! I would so love to make a forum dedicated to the Uglies series. If I did, would you be willing to either host it with your scottwesterfeld.com domain or link it on your blog?

  40. you do know that Vampires are pretty much
    just gay zombies right?(make-up…..dumb language)
    and there are many ways to kill them
    that is “REAL” vampires of course.
    the ones that count.

  42. That looks incredibly swell. Kinda like World War Z, but from a teenage perspective. Neato burrito.

  44. I’m still waiting for the 5th book of the Uglies series… And I will never stop waiting for it. I need another book in Tally’s perspective.

    :]

  45. Bre-la: totally agree. I havent read extras yet but I dont really want to. Im soo attached to tally and shay and(yes) Zane. Is there gonna be a fifth book?? o yea.. im the top 50!!!!

  46. I’ve been rereading the uglies series…I am TOTALLY fascinated by all the technology and wish i could ride a skateboard to be a (kinda pitiful) substitute for a hoverboard on halloween this year.
    well, i possibly could learn seeing as my cousin is a skater…
    I’ve already tested some flash tattoo designs! my friends think they’re awesome but they’re slightly creeped by the amount of ink i put on my hands…wait til they see my entire face covered in them.
    click my name to see a picture.

  48. well actually they are both the undead so ya
    they are in the same catagory.
    what do you care if I say Zombies are better
    its my opinion, is it not?
    well anywho, this will be a good follow up Zombie book
    to Generation dead….oh!! the sequel to that
    is coming out in May….its like a Zombie party this year

  49. Hey, sorry about the website guys! I just haven’t had time! You know, right now for Orthodox christians it’s Holy Week, and there are several services EACH DAY. And today was one of the most important, Holy Thursday, the service of the 12 gospels, and when Jesus was crucified. I actually almost cried! It’s just so depressing… when Pilot is like “I see no fault in this man… see to him yourselves” And when he askes them who to release, Barabbas or Jesus whom they call the Christ, and everyone shouts “Barabbas!” and he askes “What shall happen to Jesus whom is called the Christ” and they all yell “Crucify him!” and he’s all like “I am innocent of this man’s blood! See to him yourselves, as I see no fault in him!” soooo depressing… and of course when we nail His body on the crucefix… deppressing! But we all know of the great joy that is to come with His ressurection…

  51. I think it seems really fawesome! I’m gonna read it after Extras me and my friend went to our book store and we couldn’t get them in hard cover they told us the wouldn’t get more till the paper bcks got in 13 days!!!

  52. Uggghhhhhhhh. My uncle is visiting from out of state, and he had an asthma attack a few days ago(he got here Saturday) and he couldn’t find his inhaler so he had to go to the hospital and it turns out he’s also got bronchitis and pneumonia now. And he’s staying at our house. So as soon as they said that, I knew I was gonna get sick, cuz if anyone’s sick within like 50 feet of me, I get sick. Horrible immune system, it’s tied in with the insomnia. So I woke up this morning with an awful cough and it hurts my chest hecka bad to cough. And I’m sore alllll ovvveerrrr. But I have to fake NOT sick so I can still go to my soccer game tomorrow, cuz it’s the first one! Eesh, I can’t miss it and my Mom will make me. Grrr. So I am NOT sick. Not at least till Sunday…hehe.

  54. hi! i don’t feel like reading what everybody is talking about sooo yeah….. i read Pretty Little Liars by: Sara Shepard on Wednesday and thursday. it was AWESOMEEE! =D

  57. Hi. I haven’t read any of the previous posts (yet) so sorry if this is totally random.

    Usually I would read anything that Scott-la says is good, but this one I probaly won’t pick up. I just can’t stand apacolipse/post-apocolypse movies/books. Uglies aside (yeah I know that sounds biased). My friend reads all that stuff though, maybe I’ll recomend that book to her.

  60. I agree with Kristina-la about zombies and vampires being in the same category.

    Speaking of vampires, I think, as a writer, I’m a little stuck on them. I’ve written one book about them, and the book I’m writing right now is about vampires too. I’ve thought of other books that aren’t about vampires, but I always start the vampire books, like, a week after coming up with the story. Maybe my purpose in life is to write about vampires… among other things. 😀

    That was really random. Oh well. 🙂

  61. It has to seem realistic (well you know what I mean lol) otherwise I can’t read things about mythical creatures or stuff like that

  63. zombies are cool…very weird and dead. zombies are like dead people right….im not quite sure. Its a thinker i guess.

  65. I just bought it!!!(this book that is)
    after I finish Narnia I will read it.
    I can’t wait!
    ZOMBIES! 🙂

  69. I do love getting 400 pagers but its hard to find good ones
    so I always end up with 300 pagers……

  71. Hi that sounds super duper good!! To tell you the truth at the end of reading this I totally cracked up your the first person (outside of my friends) that I have ever heard use the word W00t!

  73. I love long books! The longer the better.

    Yeah, person who wrote the 60th entry who’s name is too long for me to type, I always write about vampires too. I started the story a couple of weeks ago and know whenever I think of a good plot it always involves vampires. Not that that’s a bad thing of course. ((TEAM LESTAT))

    And for any of you who know House of Night: OMG! I just finished Hunted and it was awesome! I can’t wait for the next one!

    _click on my name_

  75. I have this book signed (the author lives in the same city as me) and I hated this book. I was so horrible I couldn’t finish it. (Sorry Scott.)

    The writing was too fast paced and too much happened in the first three chapters.
    Even talking about the first chapter would be revealing so many spoilers your head would spin.

  77. Alex-wa, Free Book Friday Teens is giving away signed copies of Hunted this week. You should check it out, they also have an interview with the authors. Here’s a link: http://teens.freebookfriday.com/2009/04/hunted-by-pc-cast-and-kristin-cast.html

    Click my name. 😀

    Has anyone else seen Coraline??? (stupid question, of course some of you have seen it) I just saw it today. I love that movie! I’m going to have to read the book now. 🙂

  78. GAH i want to see Coraline so bad!!
    I need a to-do list…
    1. go to borders for various reasons
    2. see coraline
    I read the book and it was awesome…can’t wait to see how it is translated into a movie.

  80. The house behind me just caught fire. I’m, like, so stressed right now my hands are shaking. It’s kind of hard to type. I feel really bad for whoever lived there. 🙁

  84. The biggest thing I hate about high school is not having time to read anything that isn’t for school.
    Like, I still haven’t read that new (or *was* new back in, uh, October?) book by Neil Gaiman.
    I have to read everything in the summer now. D: So this is goin’ on the list! 🙂
    The last time I read for fun was back in December when I read “Let It Snow” and “Black Rabbit Summer” and stuff. >.>
    All the money I used to buy books with goes to music… because music can be played while doing homework. Ah well. Such is the life of someone trying to get As and be tragically hip all at once. 😛

  89. ONCE SOMETHING HAPPEND TO MY NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR, AND IT WAS SCARRY BECAUSE ALL OF MY NEIGHBORS ARE REALLY CLOSE FRIENDS,and ambulences, firefighters, policemen,ect came. we watched out r window and saw the mom being carried out on a bed thing. apperently they got something in her medicatino wrong so she fanted and colapsed.

  90. Do you know if she’s alright?

    God, that would be so scaryy. The kid next door to us got hit by a car last year and I thought I was going to throw up. He’s alright, but ithad majorly freaked me out

  92. Oh wows. Sorry Dahlia-wa, Emi-la, Lizzy-wa, & Bella-wa. Lots of scary stuff happens. My house caught on fire like almost 6 years ago I think. Faulty fire place. The vent thingy in there where the smoke goes out didn’t open up right apparently. But firefighters put it out before it got past just that little part of the living room. And I’ve set a few fires in the kitchen(on accident of course) But just tiny ones that my Mom stomped out cuz there’s tile in the kitchen, so it’s fine. HeHe, I was making cookies and I couldn’t find an oven mit so I just grabbed a dish towel to use. Except the one I got had tassels on it and it touched the red part inside the oven(the heating coil? or something like that) and caught on fire. It was freaky but I couldn’t stop laughing after cuz I was so stupid.

  94. what is it with all the scary stuff happening lately?!?
    hope you’re all alright.
    my friend’s mom once set her jacket on fire…while she was wearing it…I don’t know exactly how she managed this. but her family was laughing at her instead of helping her. But she’s fine, no damage.

  97. Wow, the last couple comments were really depressing.

    So, the fire is out now. Half of the house burned down, but I think the family is okay. That’s good. I just can’t believe how fast the fire spread. It was scary.

  98. I haven’t read any of the Narnia books. I tried to start the Magician’s Nephew (that’s the first one, right?), but it was kind of boring. But I love the movies!!! I own them both.
    I’m going to try to read the books as soon as I have time (my reading list is kind of long).

  99. I just re-read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (again) there just so good. I am still trying to convince my friend’s to read the Chronicles of Narnia.

    Question, can I join the kingdom as a ninja?

  100. hi everyone!
    randomly, dahlia-wa i entered your contest. I think thats way cool your doing that, so i blogged about it. (i just started blogging, i didnt even know you could do that). And haley-sensai i think your flash tattoos are awesome! ( i want to get a real one but we will see). And whoever asked about narnia, i didnt even know there were other ones til prince caspian came out? I thought the LWandW was the first? Hm… I’ll have to look at those… And i hope everyones ok and no body got hurt… Stuff like thats pretty scary…

  102. what! I loved the magicians nephew!…..its my favourite book.
    the first to books make it so obvious that they’re writen by a christian….I love it

  103. I just found the beginning of the Magician’s Nephew to be a little slow. Plus, I have trouble getting into books based in the past (I loved Silverfin, the first Young James Bond book, but I still haven’t been able to finish Blood Fever). I’m also having trouble getting through the first Amelia Peabody book (by Elizabeth Peters). Has anyone else read that? Even though I haven’t finished it yet, I already know what happens (I wonder if that has anything to do with my trouble finishing it…)

  105. hm?? i dunno… i dunno how all this works. im like completely new so i dunno what to tell you? but I’m a follower on your site!! my real name is Heilala, pronounced hey-LAH-LAH. lol. so maybe I’m on there? my picture’s a flower… that’s what my name is in Tongan and ya… i dunno what to say. lol.

  106. my blogs linked to my name. its not anything big or amazing just random and pointless… lol. i’ll figure something out soon though.

  108. Hmmm…. I can never find books four hundred pages that are like really good it’s really hard. But the last big book I read was like 800 pages long! and it was good. Right now I just like can’t seem to get into Eragon.

  109. Um, guys, like… I don’t know. Something majorly, MAJORLY freaky happend today. REALLY freaky. Beyond words to describe at this late hour. And, I think, beyond this world. Otherworldly. It was just freaky, and I don’t want to talk about it at 11PM, because then I’ll have nightmires; I’m trying to put it behind me for the night… so good night I guess, folks… I’ll tell you everything like tommorrow or something…

  110. Dahlia-wa: For your contest are you supposed to leave a comment?

    Haley-Sensei~Top Ninja: That flash tattoo is uh-mazing! wow.

    I’ve never read the Narnia books, but the movies are awesome! My friend and I think we found Midget Narnia. hahaha (there’s this mini door at the middle school, and all the sixth graders were super short last year so…vwaa-laaa)

    Alex-wa: I’m excited and mildly concerned.

    Everyone have a good (and safe, because apparently you all like to live on the edge..) day!

  111. Also, my name is a link to my friends Maximum Ride fan-fic..so go there and she likes comments, so you can post them here and I’ll tell her.
    😀

  112. Well, well, I go missing for a month because of test week, project week and dance competition, and I miss out only enough post to count on my ten fingers.

    Zombie book sounds delicious. in a sylar-y kind of way… I might check it out after I finish that mountain of homework and that stack of books in a corner.

    Sad to hear about fires… It always remind me of a series of unfortunate events… which makes me cry.

    So glad to be back here, although, I might have to dissapear again because my mid-year exams are approaching *stress*

    BTW, can someone fill me in about the ninja thing-o. Why ninjas? Why not pirates and such?

  113. Wow, finally decided to comment :L
    That book looks really intersting, time for another trip to the library :L

  114. Jay-wa I’ll have to look into that Maximum Ride stuff. My brother’s enjoyed it, and they’re the ones that got me into Twilight, (crazy I know), which got me reading again. I’ve heard a lot about it, but I never really looked at it. If you don’t like Twilight, click my name. I have review’s, well not really, just my thoughts on other books sort of similar that might change your minds?? lol. I’m just saying… (my blogs random and not anything like Dahlia-wa’s or Haley-senseis)
    Trish-la, it’s a kingdom and you can be whatever you like. I didn’t join because like you, I come and go. Mostly because of school and family things. But if you want to join I’m pretty sure you’ll be accepted as their new pirate leader? I dunno… Ask Alex-wa, Lizzy-wa101102, Dahlia-wa or Haley-sensei… They know.

  115. Jay-wa, there’s a link at the top of my blog (linked on my name) to all the info on the contest. But in short, yes, you have to comment (on the contest post) to enter. 🙂

    I’ll have to check out the Max Ride fanfic. I’ve been wanting to write one myself, but I have no idea where to post it (I don’t want fanfics on 13 & Co. and it just wouldn’t fit on my personal blog. Maybe I’ll start another blog just for fanfics). 🙂

  119. Yay, someone’s finally going to work on the site!!!! You should post the URL as soon as you have one, that way people can visit it while it’s still being built, and maybe give suggestions here (no super bright font colors, please! They’re kind of hard to read). 😀

  120. Thanks, Jay-wa!
    I do that on my hands a lot…half my friends want me to be a tattoo artist, the other half are afraid i have ink poisioning from all that ink on my skin…
    someone’s gonna work on the site? yay!! and I agree, no bright neon colors. they hurt my eyeballs.

  128. aww alex-wa… Thats sad… We have a bunch of pets and sometimes they go but they always come back :] so hopefully your cats just getting some space.

  129. hello again! r we talking about cats? cuz that seems like what we’re talking about, but idk. my aunt has 3cats, i have none cuz my dad’s alergic.

    i have been very busy lately. i have track every monday, wednesday, thursday, saturday, and sunday. i have dance every tuesday and wednesday. and i have hw every night.

    oooohhhh…. i got 1st place on my 100meter dash on sunday!!!! i was sooo happy!

  130. Alex-wa: Maybe put some food out for your kitty.

    Ashley-wa: Good job with the dash!!

    Everyone have a good day!

    (HON is, in fact, amazing)

    : D

  134. kay-la you asked before i could! Lol good remembering.
    lizzy-wa i was always lost on that topic. Today i read the first chpt in marked, which i told myself i would cuz i need to finish the other series im reading but it sounded so good i almost bought it on the spot! Ah! I need to find time to read and the money to buy the books!
    t&z i saw them today and i was going to look at them but i only had time to look at hon.

  135. ooh hope you find you cat
    but I know how you feel
    my cat went missing, I was so worried
    …….dont want to make you worrie but
    mine never came back(kyotye got him)
    how long has it been missing?

  137. Ok guys, I need to go to bed, and I haven’t forgotten about telling ya’ll about the freakiness that occurred a few days ago. It’s a long story, and I haven’t had the time. Tibbit, my missing cat, well… he’s real old, so… he’s been missing since at least Friday. You know, it was Holy Week last week (Now it’s Bright Week, the week after Pascha, or Easter), and it was really crazy at my place. We were very busy, and people were over sorta often, especially Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Sunday was our big party! And the day the freaky thing happend… more on that later… anyways I gotta go to bed, so I’ll hurry up! He’s old, declawed, loosing hearing, nearsighted, and has one tooth left, but otherwise is very healthy! Lol, I know, it seems very likely he’s gone. But, the thing is, we’ve been out searching all over, but have not scented anything, or seen a trace of anything. It’s like he vanished out of thin air! If he died, his body would be stinking by now. So, we’re hoping that someone picked him up… he went missing when the weather turned iky over hear, too, so… it’s just a complete mystery. Oh, one more thing I have to add before I turn in. I GOT HUNTED TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!! I’m sooooooooooooooooooooooo happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hehe. Ok, TTYL guys!

  138. Oh, wow, do I ever talk alot! Dang! I like must’ve flown over the keys on my laptop! Wow, I just type soooo fast sometimes, I guess! Anyways, good night or whatever

  140. wow… that’s what happened to my baby ducks =[ I had like 6 and the next day i had 3. but i think a hawk that flies all over got them :'[ plus i think he got 2/4 of my baby chicks, so i know how you feel… my dog’s like that, except he’s blind. poor kitty… i’m so sorry alex-wa, that’s so sad-making…

  141. Alex-wa: I’m really sorry about your cat, and I hope you find it soon! My friend said Hunted was so good, but is currently dying for the next book! Enjoy!

    Lala-wa: are you the same as lala-wa? Also, hawks=the ultimate source of eviiil.

    Good bye! Everyone have a nice day!

  143. The review was great, Mr. Westerfeld, and I already started reading the first chapter for this — I’m going to B&N right away! Or maybe I’ll just order it online…hm..

  144. i read this book for an English class right after it came out .. AMAZING book i recommend to everyone that they should read it.. totally physicked about the new one coming out next spring … cant wait.

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