The Forest of Hands and Teeth

By: Carrie Ryan

Narrated by: Vane Millon

When a teen girl’s world is thrown into chaos, she must venture into the deadly Forest of Hands and Teeth in this post-apocalyptic New York Times bestseller perfect for fans of The Last of Us.

In Mary's world there are simple truths.

The Sisterhood always knows best.
The Guardians will protect and serve.
The Unconsecrated will never relent.

And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

But, slowly, Mary's truths are failing her. And when the fence is breached, her world is thrown into chaos.

Now she must choose between her village and her future, between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?


"Intelligent, dark, and bewitching, The Forest of Hands and Teeth transitions effortlessly between horror and beauty. Mary's world is one that readers will not soon forget." —Cassandra Clare, bestselling author of City of Bones

"A postapocalyptic romance of the first order, elegantly written from title to last line." —Scott Westerfeld, author of the Uglies series and Leviathan

★ "A bleak but gripping story...Poignant and powerful." —Publishers Weekly, Starred©2009 Carrie Ryan; (P)2009 Listening Library

Critic reviews

★ "[T]he suspense that Ryan has created from the very first page on entices and tempts readers so that putting the book down is not an option." —School Library Journal, starred review

"Opening The Forest of Hands and Teeth is like cracking Pandora's box: a blur of darkness and a precious bit of hope pour out. This is a beautifully crafted, page-turning, powerful novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it." —Melissa Marr, bestselling author of Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange

"Dark and sexy and scary. Only one of the Unconsecrated could put this book down." —Justine Larbalestier, author of How to Ditch Your Fairy

Good story

I’ve read this entire series myself many many years ago. I thought I’d give it another go and chose to listen this time. It’s a good story but I have to remind myself Mary is just a kid compared to me, as her actions and thoughts and selfishness annoy me quite a bit. As for the narrator I wasn’t impressed.
I remember the other books being even better than this one so I may listen to them, depends on how the narrator sounds. Or I may read them, though with the busyness of my life I prefer to listen now.

Character changes

I loved the book but i did not like the selfishness of the main character!

Outstanding book as well as the lady reading it!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Forest of Hands and Teeth to be better than the print version?

Yes, because the lady reading this book does a great job!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sister Tabitha...lol just kidding...can't say I have a favorite, I like the traits of several of the main characters

Which character – as performed by Vane Millon – was your favorite?

(Same as above)

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, but due to my work that's not really an option, otherwise I would have, it is hard to stop listening to it!

Any additional comments?

I hope they turn it into a movie...but ONLY IF THEY KEEP IT LIKE THE BOOK!

Favorite for years

Read the book 3 times but listening to made it sound a little different. Still loved it.

Such a good book.

This should be a movie or a series. This is such a good book, such a good base, so heart-gripping and jaw dropping. Its so easy to get lost in this book. Especially with the voice actor. I pictured white old catholic sisters, but listening to the book and the spanish accent it made it 10x’s better.

Creepy Good

The first of a trilogy with a real story that you have to read all three to capture. The zombie apocalypse has come, but the world has found a way to survive. That doesn’t mean there is any less drama in there human lives! #zombies #creepy #fences #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

Interesting concepts, poor story, good narrator

Some very interesting concepts and ideals are mentioned, but never fully explored. The characters are meant to be young and naïve, but they lack some very common survival sense in such a brutal world. The romance is like a decent teen drama, but characters are never fully developed and the connections don’t feel entirely natural. The story initially has great promise, but falls short towards the end of the novel. I’d still read it for the concepts and ideals shown in the beginning of the novel, but the story makes it hard to finish.

The performance is very good and a lot of emotion is heard. A certain sister sounds a little funny, but it’s not too distracting

Great zombie story

Excellent narrator. And quite an interesting story. I have listened to this multiple times and never gotten tired of it. I’m not a huge lover of zombie stories, but this one is all around interesting. It has become one of my favorite books. The narrator is perfect for Mary.

I finished it but it wasn’t great

I want to. I struggled to finish this book. With the story, the main character was so unbearably selfish, but it was really hard to connect with her. She made all of the worst decisions and got the people that she loved hurt, and worse. I don’t like not finishing books, so I eventually made it through. But it took me almost a month of putting it down in frustration and then coming back to it to get it over with. With the narration, I found it really weird that the nuns had a different accent. If they were all born and raised in the small village, one would think that they would all have the same accent. I just found that choice really odd on the part of the narrator.

Needs more zombies and less teen longing

The backdrop is a zombie novel but there was very little action the first half of the book. this can be ok but I was bored. Narrator did a decent job but I likely won't continue the series.