The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
Synopsis:
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 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.
Gabry knows only one thing: if she is to have any hope of a future, she must face the forest of her mother’s past.
Review:
The Dead-Tossed Waves is a “companion” to Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth, but readers will find Waves much more fulfilling if they’ve read it first. It picks up a generation later, after Mary has settled in Vista and raised Gabry in a relatively safe environment.
However, Gabry has not inherited Mary’s need for something outside the gates; she’d rather hang back in safety, finding comfort in familiarity. One small choice, one tiny acquiescence to peer pressure and that comfort is shattered, not just for her, but for everyone in Vista — and eventually, those outside, as well.
Like in The Forest, readers will be drawn into a postapocalyptic world of danger and undead, faced with choices no one should have to make, in a world no one should have to face — the allegory is endless. At every turn, Gabry’s situations remind us of the ones –albeit much less horrifying — we have to face in our own lives, and that nothing is black and white, no matter how much we want it to be.
Although I would classify this as “edgy YA” because of the graphic violence and horror (truly, I had to put the book down several times), it’s undoubtedly suitable for teen readers as they face looming adulthood and all the frightening choices that come along with it.
Ryan captures struggle and longing with painful clarity, in first-person no less, pulling us into Gabry’s thought process in a way that the third-person wouldn’t be able to convey. Readers feel every hunger pang, every injury and every intimate moment. This is both a positive and a small negative of the book. Positive, obviously, because we see and feel exactly what Ryan wants us to — that’s the beauty of reading books. However, it’s an exhausting journey. Readers will feel like they’ve been through the war, so to speak, along with the characters.
Another caveat: This is a zombie book. They are everywhere, and they get irritating after a while. I will say this though — there is an imaginative, horrifying scene near the end that will give you nightmares and I applaud Ryan for her creativity. Just when the zombies are getting old, she pulls out all the stops. If you have a fear of bridges, you might want to sit this one out.
On the whole, it’s a thrilling coming-of-age survival story with just enough romance to give readers hope that love can conquer all — even zombies.
Here’s the trailer:
Novel Novice 