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 about 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?
This is a book that I have wanted to read for some time now. Now that I have, I’m not sure about it. While I won’t say that this is a bad book, it does have some major issues.
The characters were interesting and had compelling back stories. I felt for them when they were in danger, and could feel their heartbreak. The issue is they were underdeveloped. Everything happened so fast that you don’t get a chance to connect with them.
In fact, everything about this books feels rushed.
Ryan starts off the book with an interesting mystery plot surrounding the Sisterhood. I wanted to know what they were hiding and how much they knew about the unconsecrated. We never get any answer through before our main characters are forced from the village. Not getting answers frustrated me to no end.
There was also a plot about one of the unconsecrated being different than the others and why that was. Again, however, we never get any answers.
This book would have benefited from being split into two separate books. The first, covering the mystery of the sisterhood up till the characters are forced to leave. Then everything in the forest being its own book.
The more action-packed scenes were done very well, and multiple times I felt on the edge of my seat. The unconsecrated themselves were interesting, but we don‘t see them a lot until halfway through the book. Instead, we are stuck with a not so interesting love triangle. It was obvious who Mary was in love with, but she couldn’t be bothered to open her mouth and say it.
So while The Forest of Hands and Teeth did have a lot of problems, there was something about it that kept me from completely hating it. It is a short read, with the audiobook clocking in at a little over nine hours, so if you have been wanting to read it then I would say go for it. If you are on the fence, however, I would say you can skip this one.
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