The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

Summary from GoodReads:

Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

My Review:

Okay, so – I loved The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I loved it. So much so that I re-read it before picking up The Dead-Tossed Waves and put it down after I was done and said, man I like that book!

So I couldn’t wait to start The Dead-Tossed Waves. And at first, it was good. Well, okay, so Gabry got on my nerves a little, and I wanted more about Mary, but she started to grow on me and I got really quickly attached to Catcher and… then the book just started to meander about 50 pages in. Y’all, it’s not good to feel the meandering starting that early in the book. I remember thinking about 100 pages that I didn’t know how Ryan was going to fill the remaining pages of this book because so much stuff had happened/was happening, it was like a constant climax to the story that just kept going…and going,

I think I would have preferred this book to be about a hundred pages shorter – then I would have liked it more. But as it is, it was so different from The Forest of Hands and Teeth where I didn’t WANT the end to come, that it disappointed me.

There were some redeeming qualities about it though! So never fear, I didn’t hate it completely. I was fascinated by the introduction of the Soulers, loved the reintroduction of a character from The Forest of Hands and Teeth, I liked Elias and Catcher both (and love how Carrie Ryan crafted the character of Mary – seriously, more books like this please. A woman (or man) does not need someone of the opposite sex to complete them ALL the time. Hurray for strong, single portrayal in a book). I enjoyed learning more about the world and what happened, and even shed a tear upon learning the fate of some of the characters from the previous book.

Argh. I’m so frustrated because it was just too long. But enough about all of that. I’m hoping The Dark and Hollow Places gives me more of what I was looking for (and, judging from the length of it, I don’t think I’ll have an issue with at least that).

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