The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

March 2010 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Hardcover, 407 pages

Purchased

Book Synopsis ( From Publisher via 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 while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. Home is all she's ever known and, and all she needs for happiness. But life after the Return is never safe and there are threats even the Barrier can't hold back. 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. One night beyond the Barrier. One boy Gabry's known forever and one veiled in mystery. One reckless moment, and 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. 

Review

Gabry has grown up in the sheltered town of Vista, she truly fears the outside and has always been a rule follower. She lives with her mother in the lighthouse, where Mary watches for and kills any of the Unconsecrated that wonder into the outskirts of the beach. One summer night hot hormones and a feel for adventure toss aside all that fear and change everything in Gabrys life. Five minutes of pure happiness brings about weeks of terror and changes the lives of all the teens that dared crossed the border. Gabry soon learns her mother is not all that she seems, the town she so much sought shelter from actually has an undercurrent of power and fierce discipline and the friends she so loved want nothing to do with her.

Being a major fan of The Forest Of Hands and Teeth, I was ready to devour more zombies.....but the zombies who gave Forest its creepy elements played major background to Gabry's dilemmas. Instead of the intense monsters are going to eat me.....most of the story say ninety percent of the story focused on Gabrys inner struggles, the thoughts in her head and most irksome for me was the back and forth between Cacther and Elias. I understood of course where Gabry was coming from being confused and all, with both boys beautiful, but all the kissing one boy and then five minutes later kissing the other only made her a more wishy-washy character and watching her go back and forth reminded me of a crazy chimpanzee swinging from tree to tree......

I enjoyed the The Dead Tossed Waves once I hit the meatier part of the story…..and once I felt that vaguely familiar journey I took in the Forest did things really kick up for me as the reader. I thought Ryan’s writing was much more detailed and just as sharp, I do wish I could have read from Mary’s perspective as well as Gabry’s. The protagonist, Gabry, was harder to connect with than Mary in the first book, although she grows in the novel and seems to face her fear, I found her unrelatable and nowhere near as strong as her mother. Hopefully Gabry's character is still developing and the scared, scarcely brave girl will turn into a fierce woman.

The ending while not a big shocker, answered some questions, brought highlights to my favorite character and left things set up for a future installment that I will surely read. All in all this was a dark, dystopian feel, death and devastation, no hope for anyone novel.

Rating

The Dead Tossed waves contains mild content including mild if any language, mild sexuality including a lot of kissing, frightening elements, mild gore, death and dystopian themes.

4/5- YA- Zombies, Romance, Dystopian