tiny pink books

The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2010

I was very excited about this sequel to last year’s chilling Forest of Hands and Teeth and was even more thrilled to see the audiobook version out so quickly.  Contrary to the buzz surrounding this book, I found it to be a slight disappointment.

Almost nothing like her mother, Mary (the protagonist of Forest of Hands and Teeth), Gabry lives happily within the barriers of her small, seaside town of Vista.  The barriers around Vista keep out the mudo–hordes of undead zombies that have overrun most of the world. Everything about Gabry’s life changes one night when she and her friends sneak over the barrier and are attacked by mudo.  Death, adventure, infection, love triangles and revelations of Gabry’s past follow in this muddled sequel.

I was bothered by the abundance of melodrama in this book.  The romance plot lines, in particular, were overly dramatic and felt forced.  I think the audio format enhanced this…it was almost unbearable at parts!  When there was action was where The Dead Tossed Waves shined.  Although I’d still highly recommend this book to fans of the Forest of Hands and Teeth (as well as other books in the genre), Dead Tossed Waves lacks the mystery, pacing and strong characters of Forest that made it so appealing.

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