In Mary's world there are simple truths.
The Sisterhood always knows best.
The Guardians will protect and serve.
The Unconsecrated will never relent.
And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth.
But, slowly, Mary's truths are failing her. She's learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future - between the one she loves and the one who loves her.
And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?
Pre Read Thoughts
I've been meaning to read this book for ever such a long time and when a buddy read was started for it in my GR group Basically Books! I decided to go for it. I picked this up in WHSmith for £6.99 which, as I point out a lot, is a reasonable price for a brand new YA paperback, in fact it's the RRP. Moving swiftly on to the cover I feel that it's way too bland. Nothing draws me to it, in fact I hate it so much it just looks as though the publisher couldn't be bothered to create a semi-decent cover for it. I like the synopsis and the title, they're the two things that made me take this book to the counter.
Post Read Thoughts
The only word I can use to describe this book is "meh". Everything was either okay or rubbish. Nothing was good and it was certainly nowhere near amazing. The writing was okay, nothing to write home about. I personally don't think that the 1st person POV worked as you're stuck in one person's head and that leaves you with little to no answers. The plot was okay, although some of what happened frustrated me. The pace was slow, it dragged and my mind wandered constantly away from the plot. I think I'd have liked more backstory. I want to know more about the Sisterhood and the religion that they force on the villagers.
I didn't like any of the characters but the most annoying by far was the MC, Mary. Being stuck in her head is torture. She's shallow, selfish, obsessive and dull as dishwater. I detested her, she just never stopped blithering on about irrelevant stuff. She had three main trains of thought: Travis, Gabrielle and the ocean, not necessarily in that order though. None of the other characters really stood out for me in any way so I don't feel that I can comment on them.
Overall I didn't really feel much for the story. I felt that the author went about the story in the wrong way and that pretty much ruined it for me. I don't mean to be rude but this book didn't get anything from me. I just don't see the appeal of it. The pace was so relaxed that not even the "exciting" parts got my heart beating a little faster. I think that the word I'm going to sum this book up with is generic.
My Rating
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