• The Forest of Hands and Teeth

  • By: Carrie Ryan
  • Narrated by: Vane Millon
  • Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
  • 3.7 out of 5 stars (468 ratings)

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The Forest of Hands and Teeth  By  cover art

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

By: Carrie Ryan
Narrated by: Vane Millon
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Publisher's summary

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. She's learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power. And, when the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. 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 in so much death?

"A bleak but gripping story.... Poignant and powerful." (Publishers Weekly, starred)

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

"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, best-selling author of City of Bones)

"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, best-selling 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)

©2009 Carrie Ryan (P)2009 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"Mary's observant, careful narration pulls readers into a bleak but gripping story of survival and the endless capacity of humanity to persevere.... Fresh and riveting." (Publishers Weekly)

"The 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)

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What listeners say about The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    176
  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
    75
  • 2 Stars
    43
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    34
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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    32

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Meh.

I agree that the narrator is not the best choice for this book. It feels like she emphasizes absolutley everything. It seems to be the heighth of her range. The story itself is not terrible, I was really hoping for this zombie world to unfold but it never did. But the worst part was that by halfway through the book I found myself wishing the heroine would die. She was so indecisive and selfish that she got those around her hurt or killed, and after so much of that I couldnt help it, I was ready to see her go. The narrators emotional outburst reading of it made her even more detestable. I usually save my audio books, but I deleted this one entirely after listening to it once. I couldnt stomach it again.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Quick, compelling listen although poor narration

I really enjoyed this story, it moved quickly and kept my interest the whole time. It's one of those post-apocolyptic tales, in the line of Hunger Games and others. Although it's geared towards young adults, it's appropriate for anyone. Unfortunately it's very poorly narrated, the inflections are in all the wrong places and she can't seem to capture any other accents or characters other than her own. In the hands of a skilled narrator, this story would be one of my favorites.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Interesting Idea, Blah Execution

This novel started well. I liked the premise and looked forward to learning more about the village and its people and history. But that never came. In fact, we meet maybe a dozen of the village's inhabitants and learn little about them. And then, halfway through, I became bored of Mary, the unconvincing and bland heroine. The toneless narration did nothing to help.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story not done justice by the narration

This is actually a very compelling story. It falls into the category of exploring the human side of a zombie apocolypse. It uses the zombie scenario to explore human nature, the human condition, how we respond to such dire adversity. The main character is very well explored, and fleshed out and compelling. The plot moves along fairly well.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with other reviewers here. The narration was less than ideal. The narrator is very awkward at times and has an unusual accent that I am not sure was meant as part of the character. The odd pronunciations would have been all right, but for the overall awkwardness of the reading. It is as though the narrator is not entirely comfortable as a reader or performer. It is inconsistent. It is stronger at some points than others and feels like a struggle for the narrator at times. Very distracting. There are some very, very awkward pauses that seem to have no purpose, except as a mistake, or a hesitation on the part of the narrator. But also, it just seemed to lack energy at times, and seemed flat and occassionally monotonous and even sometimes just dull and lifeless. Perhaps this narrator would work better in a different kind of story - I am not sure. But in this case, it really didn't work for me.

Though I finished with the whole narration eventually, I did break down and buy the kindle version so I could read the last third on my own. That was a better experience.

I do wonder if my reaction to the story might have been more positive with a different narrator or if I had chosen to read the print edition of this one. It is interesting... When assessing an audible book, unlike a printed version, it is the whole that makes up the experience - both the writing and the particular performance and production and presentation, as we don't bring to it our own narrator in our minds and are interacting with more than just the written word. Therefore, a poorly chosen narrator or a poor production can really impact the experience.

Overall, it is not a bad story by any means, and has a lot going for it. Perhaps the narrator won't be as troubling for some as it was for me. The next book in the series is done by a narrator I have heard before and who seems a much better choice for this type of story, so I look forward to that.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I gambled and I lost!!! I give it 3 stars....

I read the mixture of reviews for this book prior to download and despite some horrible reviews, decided to take a gamble on this one. If I were 13 I suppose I might be blown away by this book. However, as an adult reader I have read enough books to know the difference between a good read and a cheap thrill. This book had such promise...

As a fan of the post-apocalyptic/zombie genre I was excited to dive into a female author's perspective on zombies (unconsecrated) and was looking forward to a different take on romantic/sexual tension among characters. I know this book is intended for the young adult reader but I could not help but feel as if I were back in 6th grade.

Reasons:

1) Why was our heroine so gravely pathetic? Either about to sob, sobbing, fantasizing, longing, shaking, burning or gasping for air and unable to speak. We've all met Bella from Twilight (also a pity whore) and we've all seen the polar opposite heroine (badass), but I'm telling you it was VERY, VERY hard to like Mary and she is our only window into Ryan's world.

2) Narration wasn't bad at all...until she attempted male voices. Mono-toned and ultra feminine. To me there were no men in this book.

3) The love "quad" in this book wasn't very convincing at all because Ryan didn't develop the male characters into anything more than one dimension. What does Travis look like? Who is he? Or Harry? Do they even have personalities or are they merely in the book so Mary can lust for them and cry? I never "felt" anything for them because there was virtually nothing to them but names in a book.

4) Not entirely original...M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village" echoed in this tale.

4) SERIOUSLY....What is with Authors using the same word in every paragraph? Don't they use a Thesaurus? I felt like every paragraph or every few sentences contained the word "flesh" when so many other words could have taken its place.

I can however, give credit to Ryan's atmosphere, storyline and suspense...despite my criticism I wanted to know what happened. I was entertained, to some degree.

Best Scene: Gabrielle attacking the village.

Should you spend the credit? Only if you are new to zombies/mennonites/cults/conspiracies and teenage love-quads and don't mind a heroine with LOTS of feelings!!!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Reminds me of the movie The Village

This book was good. It reminds me of the movie The Village by M. Shalaman Knight. The outcome was different. I am not so sure that I enjoyed it as much because of the ending. I wish we could also find out how her life changed and what happened to her.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Great beginning then really annoying.

I don't think I have ever wanted to slap a protagonist or an author until this book. It had a lot of promise. I love post-apocalyptic tales and zombies. It begins with some great mysteries and then just gets really annoying. Check out the Passage by Justin Cronin instead.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Very disappointing!

I really wanted to like this book. The zombie Shauna is so popular right now that to have a Y is on the book that’s good would be into video and gift. Right away I just like the offers performance, her voice is very dry and whiny, with minimal emotional and flexion.
*****Spoiler Alert******
The book started out very promising with Mary entering the sisterhood. There was so many amazing things that could’ve happened from there, as their secrets could’ve been revealed in the past could’ve been unraveled… However I was disappointed. Nothing was unravelled and despite hints at it there were no secrets revealed. As the book continues the situation of the survivors becomes more and more hopeless until all of them are either picked up or left for dead except Mary. I was very disappointed in the ending I found it very anti-climactic. So her friends are stuck behind the fence and God knows what happens to them, and I guess her brother is dead. Very disappointing. Then we don’t even know what happens to her as she walks at the beach to the lighthouse.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Horrible

Would you try another book from Carrie Ryan and/or Vane Millon?

No never.

Would you ever listen to anything by Carrie Ryan again?

No never.

Would you be willing to try another one of Vane Millon’s performances?

The narration was boring at points I just sped up the speed to get it over with.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Forest of Hands and Teeth?

The story was all over the place. My thoughts were that it had been written for a high school English class and I would have maybe given it a D for imagination. The heroine was so unlikable and dull she brought nothing to the story. The love interests were so one dimensional that I ended up not caring who she chose. The returned as they called zombies were not scary and again the story did not elaborate enough to even wonder how they had become that way. The whole story was absolute torture that I just wanted to finish and NOT in that could not put it down way.

Any additional comments?

Do yourself a favor and save your credit or dollars for a more enjoyable book.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I Was Worried After the Reviews I Read

Loved the book, even though it is marketed as young adult. Carrie Ryan is a great writer. When I decided I wanted the audio book, I read the reviews here of Vane's narrating and the news was not good. I decided to do it anyway.

I have to say I have heard better readers, but I got used to her about a quarter of the way through and it was no longer an issue. Really enjoyed this story in both print and audio. I would recommend it.

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2 people found this helpful