To say I was looking forward to this book would be an understatement. When I found out that a sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth was coming out, I told everyone that I thought might be remotely interested. I kept the release date in mind and put it on hold at the library as soon as I was able. I liked The Forest of Hands and Teeth so much that I made my husband check it out months later and read it.
(By the way, what's wrong with publishers? Check out the awesome hardcover image on the right...And then the new softcover image on the left... The hardcover image was so evocative and haunting, and the new image is... well... blah and kitschy... emo.)
ANYWAY... apparently the details of The Forest of Hands and Teeth are a little fuzzy in my brain... because when I pointed out things I wasn't very fond of in The Dead-Tossed Waves, my husband said it was the same way in the first book. So either I thought it worked better in the first book or I glossed over some things or something completely different happened...
The Dead-Tossed Waves isn't a direct sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Gabry, the new protagonist, is actually the daughter of Mary, the protagonist of the previous book. I was actually a bit disappointed to find my heroine grown up and... staid. But Gabry is suitable as a new protagonist.
A positive side of this disconnect is that you don't have to read The Forest of Hands and Teeth before reading The Dead-Tossed Waves, though it might help with some aspects of the second story. But reading the two stories one after another might disappoint the reader when they realize how similar the two storylines are to each other.
The beginning of the book was very exciting and filled with action. It certainly started off with a bang, and I thought, "This book will be just as fabulous as the first!" But the action ended quickly, and then things dragged for quite a while. They do pick up at the end though, and I am curious abou the sequel, because I can't imagine the storyline can continue repeating itself.
The parts that I didn't care for were the love triangle (which my husband pointed out happened in the first book as well, though I don't remember that at all), because it just seems to be such a cliche in writing now (a la Twilight). I'm looking forward to the day when we go back to plots where one girl likes one guy and either gets him or doesn't. I understand the need for other characters and emotions, and I get how having two guys can really amp up the angst, but I really felt that Gabry's switch from one guy to the next happened incredibly quickly and in a rather "Ah, who cares?" manner.
I also didn't care much for... well... part of the main plot. Without giving too much away, I was scared for a majority of the book that Gabry was falling in love with her brother. The long-time-coming reveal cleared things up, but I was terrified that I was going to have to deal with some teen incest problem for about three-quarters of the book.
But though the storyline is very similar to The Forest of Hands and Teeth, the writing is still just as engaging and the characters just as intriguing. Readers learn a bit more about this zombie-filled world and are left hanging at the end of the novel, waiting for the third book in the series. It's a good series to stick with.
A positive side of this disconnect is that you don't have to read The Forest of Hands and Teeth before reading The Dead-Tossed Waves, though it might help with some aspects of the second story. But reading the two stories one after another might disappoint the reader when they realize how similar the two storylines are to each other.
The beginning of the book was very exciting and filled with action. It certainly started off with a bang, and I thought, "This book will be just as fabulous as the first!" But the action ended quickly, and then things dragged for quite a while. They do pick up at the end though, and I am curious abou the sequel, because I can't imagine the storyline can continue repeating itself.
The parts that I didn't care for were the love triangle (which my husband pointed out happened in the first book as well, though I don't remember that at all), because it just seems to be such a cliche in writing now (a la Twilight). I'm looking forward to the day when we go back to plots where one girl likes one guy and either gets him or doesn't. I understand the need for other characters and emotions, and I get how having two guys can really amp up the angst, but I really felt that Gabry's switch from one guy to the next happened incredibly quickly and in a rather "Ah, who cares?" manner.
I also didn't care much for... well... part of the main plot. Without giving too much away, I was scared for a majority of the book that Gabry was falling in love with her brother. The long-time-coming reveal cleared things up, but I was terrified that I was going to have to deal with some teen incest problem for about three-quarters of the book.
But though the storyline is very similar to The Forest of Hands and Teeth, the writing is still just as engaging and the characters just as intriguing. Readers learn a bit more about this zombie-filled world and are left hanging at the end of the novel, waiting for the third book in the series. It's a good series to stick with.
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