Book Review: The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

Title: The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
Series: The Forest of Hands and Teeth #2
Finished on: November 16, 2012
Released: March 9, 2010 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: Library e-book


Summary from Goodreads:

Gabry lives a quiet life, secure in her town next to the sea and behind the Barrier. She's content to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast--home is all she's ever known and all she needs for happiness.
But life after the Return is never safe.
Gabry's mother thought she left her secrets behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, but like the dead in their world, secrets don't stay buried. And now, Gabry's world is crumbling.
In one reckless moment, half of Gabry's generation is dead, the other half imprisoned.
Now Gabry knows only one thing: if she has any hope of a future, she must face the forest of her mother's past.

Another beautifully written story by Carrie Ryan. I swear, in my opinion, she is a master of plot twists, but in the most excellent way. Throughout this book we see a major theme of "what-if's". "What if I did this" or "What if I didn't do that" or "What if I didn't go there", etc. We see the full impact that one very small decision or moment can have on entire lives. We get an extremely thought-provoking story. Ryan does such a wonderful job crafting the most powerful scenes. And there are plenty of those in The Dead-Tossed Waves.

I actually didn't read the summary before starting this book so I didn't know it was going to be in a different POV from the first book until I began. While I didn't have as deep a connection with this set of characters as I did with the first book's, everyone was still very likable. (Except for Gabry's best friend, Cira, I found her bordering on annoying.) I had a hard time warming up to the relationship between Elias and Gabry only because I thought a certain something was going to be revealed, but later found out I was guessing wrong. I know that's vague, but I'm trying to keep away from spoilers! Gabry goes through such a journey from start to finish and really grows, deepens, and becomes enlightened in the best ways.

If you like books that are full of everyone having secrets and the consequences when they are finally revealed then this is for you! Like I said, plot twists and "Uhm, what!?"'s galore here. This story can also get on the depressing side at times. These characters all start to wonder what the point of anything is. They'll never overcome these Mudo. I can't blame them, though. After all, this is some extremely dark subject matter. Yet, though it all, there's always at least some small message of hope. Gabry finally comes to realize that the fences should only be for keeping the Mudo out, not for keeping people in. There really are a few different messages for any reader to gain from this story.

Honestly, I never saw anything that happened coming. I absolutely adore that in my books! Oh, and so many questions get answered about how and why these villages came to be which was awesome! I'm going to take a break and read a few different books before coming back to the third installment in this series but I'm greatly looking forward to it. And here's to hoping for many more YA novels by Carrie Ryan in the future!

4/5 

(Liked VERY much, but not enough to spend time re-reading)