The Dead Tossed Waves and The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

4

The Dead Tossed Waves and The Dark and Hollow Places

(Read 2013)

These are the next instalments in the Forest of Hands and Teeth series. This is going to be a simultaneous review simply because I read both in such a short space of time that they aren’t really separate books in my head. (So if I say ‘this book’ I don’t distinguish between the two, although I know they are respective books!)

Firstly, wow.

A lot happens in these books. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is but a prequel to the events that go down. In many ways, it is that book that lets you see what the world is like before Carrie Ryan takes you on this amazing journey.

In general, the story and world are amazing. This is post-apocalyptic and it is completely understandable what is done even if we must disagree and not approve of everything. It makes it fascinating because you face moral dilemmas (from the safety of your armchair or bed!) that are almost worrying that you might think. I question who I agree with...and concluding that I agree with the idealist and the pragmatist/survivalist I don’t know where I stand. The plot nicely moves along and it never feels too centralised and dull- even without great movement (sometimes) there is always fantastic pace and Carrie Ryan uses her environment and world to great effect. Zombies are ever-present and this is taken full advantage of which makes both books engrossing and “unputdownable”.

The characters in both books are the same in terms of our main protagonists although obviously the cast of side characters differs between the two as befits the setting and progression of the story. But the characters...oh lord! There are circles within circles, triangles within triangles. It like trying to endless half a number...it just goes into the infinity of numbers and it won’t end. Now imagine each of those halves is a part of the characters personality and they are built of these endless inconsistencies. Well now consider there are four main characters. Add in one or two important side characters who are similarly halved. You just have this huge amazing mess that creates this powerful, human characters. Now, I ain’t saying they’re perfect, but they are darn good...and they make for excellent reading.

So in general, I am very fond of these books. They were a huge improvement on the first and much more nitty-gritty. I’m taken along in this journey...I read these books over a two day period whilst on holiday and I was thrown into a rut after finishing (and after the first of the two books, the beach we were staying became infinitely eerie!). These come highly recommended.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

5

Tris is back after the trauma she faced in Divergent. Since her youth in Abnegation, her life has turned upside down and the world seems to be following the same track. Yet it isn’t over, and as Tris comes to terms with her own demons, she has to deal with the next stage in the plot, leading to the unexpected.

I’m having the same problem many reviewers have with book. I want to sit here and talk your ear off about almost everything that happened in the novel, but in doing so I’d ruin the entire thing for you and anyone else. And then the double-sided blade scenario comes into play because I don’t want to spoil Divergent for you either: it is just as gripping and awesome.

So the best I can do is a bit of relativity of Insurgent in comparison to Divergent.

Anticipation

There was huge anticipation for this book and sometimes all that hype can ruin a book. It was somewhat similar with Divergent. Last time, for Divergent, I really got caught up in all that and frankly it lived up to that gargantuan expectation. The thing was, I tried to not get mixed up with the stuff prior to Insurgent for two reasons. One was purely personal, and if you follow me on twitter you probably have a general idea of that. The other was that I’ve been disappointed about hype a few times since I started blogging and the method I’m slowly developing is to not get involved in it and so I can’t be disappointed. The only reason I say all this is that I genuinely think this book deserved what hype I was exposed to and I genuinely think it was a great book.

Action

I think this book was about as action-packed as Divergent- they are dauntless after all! In some ways this was something I was expecting, since I rarely find myself so involved in fighting sequences in books. But these tended to draw me in, though they lacked some of the lustre of Divergent- but I think that was Tris’ influence. She loves her faction, but she’s still recovering psychologically and the almost manic loss-of-self in the action is less pronounced.

Characters

Four/Tobias was really great. In Divergent, my memory was that he went from International Man of Mystery to…well, Tobias. Without getting into it too much, it’s almost as though Four and Tobias are actually different people, which then links back to the Divergent things. Holy… I think pontificating actually rendered something vaguely sensible.

Tris got on my wick a little bit though. I don’t begrudge her being depressed, nor do I dislike the occasionally spontaneity of her, but I find part of me just wants to grab her and shake her. As Tobias puts it, she’s so frustrating. Not wrong, not hateable, she just makes me grind my teeth sometimes. I think the problem is that I can see, understand and even emphasise a bit with her, but I think she seems narrow-minded sometimes or inconsiderate of other things. It’s more of a niggle but meh.

Plot

I thought the plot was like a train journey before a huge crash. Strangely, this is a good thing. It started off fairly slowly, which made sense, and then when it got into the actually meat of the story it stayed fairly interesting. I think Divergent was more involving as a story for the middle section and I would stand by the belief that though the plot was good, it wasn’t perfect. It seemed sometimes too straight-forward or bit repetitive, but like an action movie. You sort of know what will happen, but you can still enjoy it. For me, the whole ending sequence was just brilliant. This is why I use the train crash analogy: you’d notice when you start to move, and you’d notice when you were on the main section of the journey, but you simply can’t ignore it when you crash. I don’t want to give away a thing about the ending though- I just want to say I thought it was utterly brilliant.

Conclusion (!)

A great book, and definitely a commendable sequel. It might not have been special in a particular way, but that might only be because it followed Divergent which was so fantastic. It’s a solid 5 for what it is and I’m oh-so-grateful to Karen for getting this for me! If anyone liked Divergent, they should definitely look into this.

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch

4
This debut novel is a YA post-apocolyptic novel set in a world where global biological war has led to the death of almost everyone on the planet- or at least in America. The story follows Stephen as he tries to survive in this world with his father and the people he may encounter.

I was actually surprised in some ways with this book because I didn't really like the cover and kind of expected it to be clichéd or the same science-fiction end-of-the-world scenario. Boy was I wrong! I was gripped throughout this book and even though I wasn't in love with the ending, it was in general brilliant at keeping the story moving and myself interested.

The main events of the plot happen fairly quickly, and in some ways you can guess as to where it is going. Yet the action is fluid and keeps coming so you never feel bored with events. Trying to survive in this world is emphasised as being extremely difficult, so it makes sense that Stephen and everyone else is so on edge so much of the time. I like the small division between him and his father too since it is so believable ands makes sure their is conflict there at almost all times, even when it could have waned. And doing it without cliché...you've got to hand it to him. And if you think about more, you realise he got the teenage rebellion element mentioned early too so it's realistic AND foreshadowing in some ways!

Stephen eventually arrives at Settler's Landing where society has been partially rebuilt by old Americans. It's a creepy place, in my opinion. With all the suffering and horror of the outside world, and then there is this little paradise where they have not only medicine and sustinence, but a school, weapons and perhaps more I've forgotten. Now the fact they have these things I can accept: they've lodged in an area that was previously inhabited so this stuff was already there. The problem is that I can't believe this place does and has existed for so long practically unscathed. Surely something would have happened? Or perhaps (and here's the creepiness, creeping in) the leaders are involved in something much shadier than we realise and that no one else is aware of.

The other creepy thing is how the inhabitants have tailored this settlement to be almost exactly like how America was before the Collapse. Now I don't have a problem with the American way of life, but if this society is proof that it led to war, why are they repeating it? This is something the author brings up too, but it is a terribly poignant point. It's that old adage that if we don't learn from history, we are bound to repeat its mistakes. I guess it also underlines how are own lives are too comfortable and that, at the end of things, we are creatures of habit. To rebuild something you lost, it feels normal and comfortable. I don't think these people are undeserving of happiness, but I think they are pursuing to blindly and, perhaps, wrongly.

The romance (since I feel it has to mentioned) isn't terrible, but it took a backseat in my eyes. It was there, but it wasn't the "Oh my God, I'm so in love with you" kind, which was nice. There was more an feeling of mutual attraction that was acknowledged, but kept as a minor thing. In a world such as theirs, it's no huge surprise that any relationship is approached carefully. And in terms of the end, it makes it less difficult and questionable.

A fantastic post-apocolytia that, if you like YA, I can imagine you liking, but not if you're particularly into romance as a huge thing.