Book Review: The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

The Dead-Tossed Waves are a natural part of Gabry's life.  Living in the lighthouse at the edge of Vista, Gabry and her mother lead relatively quiet lives, as quiet as anything can be after the Return.  When Gabry makes a fateful decision one night, she little realizes how much a life can change in just one moment.  Will Gabry find the strength to follow her mother into the forest to save those she loves? 

Things I Liked:
When the action picked up, I was sucked into it.  I kept reading into the night, biting my nails as I worried about the characters I came to love.  This is probably the only zombie series I've ever been able to read and enjoy and I think it is because of its compassionate viewpoint on the undead.  I thought it was so interesting that Ryan has her characters think about the zombies' personalities and humanity.  She doesn't just use zombies for their gory, violent scream-factor.  They were humans once and the characters face the anguish involved in seeing people they love turn against them and their personalities seem to disappear.  It was intriguing and also action-packed.  And it left me hungering for another book in the series!  Thought-provoking quotes:

What use are experiences if we're not allowed to remember them?  If we forget in order to avoid the pain of loss?  What is the point of living if we have to always insulate ourselves? p 61

I don't want to hear his argument, don't want to think that there's any way I could be wrong.  If there's anything in this world that's clear - that is black-and-white - it's that the Mudo are dead.  There's nothing left of who they used to be.
Elias stands and walks over to me.  "I just don't know if it can be that easy," he says. p 220-221

Things I Didn't Like:
I really struggled with the beginning of the book.  I could not stand Gabry - she seemed like a melodramatic, uncertain baby.  Every reaction she had to anything was like the end of the world.  She changed over the course of the book, thank heavens, and I like how she stopped thinking so poorly of herself as well.  There were a lot of plots and threads introduced in this book that aren't resolved and I am hoping they are not left up in the air.

Read-alikes:
Read The Forest of Hands and Teeth first
Reminded me of The Giver and Messenger by Lois Lowry

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
some, not a lot

mrg-factor: X
implied, but not described

v-factor: ->->->->
What do you expect?  There are zombies!

Overall rating: ****

Do you like zombie books or do you avoid them?

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