The Forest of Hands and Teeth

The "unconsecrated" (flesh-eating zombies) are kept out of the Village by a stout fence and the vigilance of the Sisterhood. With both of her parents having become unconsecrated, Mary is taken in by the Sisterhood. But she holds heretical beliefs concerning the world beyond the fence. As her beliefs come true, her already-dangerous world turns even more perilous. Vane Millon narrates slowly, with stilted phrasing and unusual stresses. The text itself lacks contractions, a stylistic choice that adds to the awkwardness. The narrator's slow pace seems like an odd fit for a story in which zombies are chasing the characters, but the pace sets an eerie tone for the book as a whole. Without a doubt, listeners will find this horror story unsettling. G.A.D. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

Starred review from February 2, 2009
Mary's village has been trapped for generations by a very near, very visible menace: the Unconsecrated—insatiable, flesh-eating zombies that constantly tear at the village's fences. Yet the Sisterhood—a conventlike order of religious women charged to protect the village's survival—is as much responsible for the submission of Mary's village as the Unconsecrated. When the fences are breached and the village overrun, Mary and several others escape through gated paths and arrive deep into the Forest of Hands and Teeth, forced to search beyond it for their future. Mary's observant, careful narration pulls readers into a bleak but gripping story of survival and the endless capacity of humanity to persevere. That Mary maintains emotional distance serves to render her yearnings and romantic feelings even more poignant and powerful. Fresh and riveting. Ages 14–up.