The Dead-Tossed Waves (The Forest of Hands and Teeth, #2) by Carrie Ryan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well... It starts out a little more lively and fun than the The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

This is book two and there is still no clear picture of how society functions. How does the agriculture system work ? There is a mention of trading but how do they get the majority of their food and supplies ? In self sustaining communities, such as the Amish, everyone has to work hard. Things we take for granted (such as laundry, cooking and grooming) would be much more challenging. The youth of Vista are given the option of helping out at home or going to school, but it seems the teens have an abundance of time to hang out and have fun. I couldn't see this as a very realistic picture of life during a zombie apocalypse.

For amusement the teens enjoy sneaking over the fences into the ruins. This brought back fond memories. Sneaking out was once one of my favorite pastimes. All I had to worry about was concerned adults, policemen and my parents. The teens of Vista have the added excitement of zombies.

Warning If You Click Show/Hide You Will See Spoilers !

The sequence of events loosely follow the same pattern of the last story. The main character Gabry arrives at the realization there is a world outside the barrier, and she is of course love struck. Her supposed best friend, Cira, and her brother Catcher (Gabry's current love interest) pressure her into crossing the Barrier for her first time.

On their way to the ruins, Gabry tells Catcher she doesn't recall a memory he shares from their childhood. She says much of it has been a blur. Memories and stories have tangled together so she doesn't know what is hers and what shes been told. This seemed random and odd. Maybe the world has finally discovered the benefits of farming cannibus or possibly this was a precursor for what Gabry later discovers about who she is and where she came from. I suppose it would be harder to keep track of the milestones of your life without photos...

At the ruins, their adventure goes terribly wrong when they are attacked by a Breaker. In this story we learn a 'Breaker' is a faster more agile zombie, that somehow turns this way when there are no other zombies around. Apparently in isolation, zombies are unable to learn the art of shambling. This is nature's way of ensuring the survival of the zombie population. Huh? I may need to watch more animal planet. This phenomenon would however explain the original Gabrielle character from the last story.

A few of the kids get bitten. Some are so severely bitten they turn instantly. Catcher is bitten but its just a little bite, so he runs away. Before he takes off he persuades Gabry to return home. She makes it back safely without getting caught. For some reason Cira and several of the others, who managed to remain uninfected, stay behind and allow themselves to be caught by the Militia.

I remember there being honor among friends that sneak out and get into trouble, but apparantly things are different when zombies are involved. Cira and the others blame Gabry for not being in their same predicament. They have been given a fairly awful punishment, but it isn't as though their punishment would have been any less severe if Gabry had been sentenced with them. They insist that Gabry should risk her life to locate Catcher.

Gabry feels heartbroken. She doesn't reveal her plans to find Catcher to her mother, but she turns to her for emotional support. Mary admits to Gabry that she loved two men when she was her age. So now Mary recalls loving Harry ? It seemed as though she cared about Harry, but she didn't 'love' him. At least she goes on to say that 'maybe she loved herself more'. Sadly it seems Mary still hasn't let Harry go, even though when she left him he was with her best friend who truly 'loved' him.

If Mary seemed selfish and self involved in the last story... well she certainly doesn't redeem herself here. Gabry has lost all her friends, and her mother decides this is the time to finally disclose shocking details of Gabry's past. Mary tells her she is not her biological mother. She discovered her abandoned and hungry on a path in the forest. Later, Mary asks her daughter to join her for a venture into the forest to discover the fate of people from her past. When Gabry admits she is too scared to accompany her, her 'mother' just leaves her behind. Mary shirks off her duties as the lighthouse keeper and leaves the beach unattended. Gabry is left to deal with the oncoming waves of mudo washing up onto the shore. What a great mom !

My main complaint with Gabry is that she is irritating. This girl needs professional help. She blames herself for everything.

Here are some examples...
Page 3
“ “I don't know...,” I say, twisting my fingers together, wishing I could just say no and be done with it but hating to disappoint my best friend the way I've done too often before."
(apparently she believed she was a huge disappointment to Cira because she didn't go in the river with her.)
Page 27
(Gabry caves into peer pressure and agrees to go over the barrier. She is unable to stave off an attacking zombie and Catcher ends up getting bitten.)
“But I don't. I just stare at the bite and think about how I swung too early. If I'd just waited. If I hadn't been so afraid. I'd known to wait and I couldn't. It's my fault he's infected."
Page 131
(Gabry's mother abandons her.)
“I'm the reason she's gone. She could be hurt out in the Forest. She could be infected and it would be all my fault. Because I made her go alone, too scared to go with her."
Page 228
(Gabry tells Cira the truth about Catcher and Cira decides the only plan of action is to slit her wrists.)
“I can't stand that I'm the one who told Cira her brother was lost and the reason she almost died”.
Page 368
(Gabry and Elias finally kiss and he falls off a ledge.)
“I should have pulled him to me. I should have grabbed him and kissed him again. He wouldn't have fallen otherwise.”

There is no rule that says the main character has to be likable. She is after all only fifteen, and possibly just immature for her age. My favorite example of her immaturity was Page 353 “It's not that Catcher can't be with me. It's that he doesn't want to be with me. He used to make me feel like the most amazing person in the world and now he makes me feel like the worst.” Well... yeah duh, he is still a horny teenage boy even if he is infected and here she is rubbing herself all over him. The poor guy doesn't want to unconsecrate her...

But, yeah I will probably still read the next book...