Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Dead-Tossed Waves

Living in a lighthouse with her mother, Gabrielle (Gabry), has always felt safe from the Mudo, the zombies who live outside her town.  She's been warned about the dangers outside and so she is afraid.  Until one night tempted by her friends and a boy she likes, Gabry crosses the fences for a night of fun that ends up changing her life and those around her forever.
Mudo is supposed to mean "mute, speechless," a word passed down from the traders and pirates who used to fill the harbor.  But the creatures trailing me, the people-who-once-were, are anything but mute.  They're nothing but noise - moans of hunger.  p.81
The Dead-Tossed Waves is the sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth, but told from a new perspective about 11 years after the first book.  The protagonist feels the same though.  I found Mary in the first book to be a whining annoying child and I found Gabry to be the same.  So much whining, so much time spent wishing. I guess she gets it from her mother.  But if you can move past that, the story is pretty good.  It's the same world as before, zombies everywhere hungry for human flesh; people living in small towns behind fences.  In this book, though you get to see more of the outside world and how it works.  Mary's village was isolated and she was brought up to believe that they were the only ones so it was nice to see more of the larger world and the government that was set up to protect the people.  I wish they had been more of that though.  There was a whole of description about the Mudo and the hunger for flesh and a whole lot of discussion about what they really are, but not enough about how the world actually functions.  Maybe in the next book?  I hope so.  It seems like Carrie Ryan is pushing farther out into this world that she has created in each book.  The first book was action packed and felt very closed, a little claustrophobic.  This was more open but still had that enclosed feel to it.

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11 comments:

  1. I've been dying to read this book. Thanks for the review, cant wait for it to arrive Malaysian shores. :P

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  2. I really wanted to know more about the world, but it looks like this book doesn't really fulfill that. Things just seemed so different outside the fencing at the end of the first book. I'll probably hold off on this one awhile.

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  3. Ulat - I hope you like it.

    Amanda - It might suffer from middle book syndrome on further reflection.

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  4. Great review! I've been afraid this one will be too scary for me. (Big chicken butt in the house)

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  5. My friend loved the first book and I think she read this one the day it came out, lol. I'm pretty curious about it now too!

    Here are our teasers =)

    ♥Isalys

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  6. Juju - This one wasn't as scary as the first one.

    Lsalys - It's as good as the first one.

    Erica - I liked it.

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  7. Glad you like it. One of my students is reading this and she keeps telling me how great it is. I'm glad you get to see more of thie world of the book - you're right that the first books felt really closed in. A broader feeling will be great!

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  8. I've been thinking about reading The Forest of Hands and Teeth- the worldbuilding and the fact I need to get over my fear of zombies really attracted me. Since the heroines are whiners, and I have little patience for that, I think I'll at least try the first one. Thanks for this review- it reminded me I need to read the first one!

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  9. Jill - I'd recommend reading it if you've read the first one, but no rush.

    Clare - I hope you like them.

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  10. It sounds so good, but I still have to read the first book.

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