Monday, March 15, 2010

LIttle Fish Review: The Dead-Tossed Waves


Vital Stats:

Book: The Dead-Tossed Waves

Author: Carrie Ryan

Genre: YA

Sequel/companion book to Forest of Hands and Teeth

Book Jacket Blurb:


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 in long:

I audibly gasped in the bookstore when I saw this had come out, and there was no question I was going to buy it. I read it in one day.

And still, in looking back on it, all I can think is that… it was a sequel.


This one had tight writing, with the stakes being raised in pretty much every chapter, and MOST of the plot twists felt natural and realistic (MOST, mind you, not all, I’ll come back to that) and the character development felt natural – although maybe the love scenes felt a bit forced (similar to Forest)


The things that seemed to bug people (read in other reviews) like repetitive bringing up of character issues (“That fateful moment in the amusement park” “oh woe is me, I’m so scared and insecure and guilty”) were all there and noticeable, but not that irritating to me.


But the main thought running through my head was

“this book is such a sequel.” Nothing seemed QUITE as urgent as the first one. I didn’t quite care as much, either for the people or the plot. It was like both were good action movies, but the second one was just a good copy of the first, and by being a copy it simply wasn’t as good.


Specific nit-picks: The end. UGH! It ends on a “there’s obviously going to be another book” hook-end, which bugs me – probably because I wasn’t as thrilled with Waves as I was with Forest.


But the part that really bugs me about the end?

(spoilers! - highlight to read the white text)


The last big stakes-raising-tension-driving-OMG-plot-shifter moment was Elias accidentally stepping off a cliff. Really? Like… no one saw how the path just abruptly ended? Too lovesick to be aware of your physical surroundings, I guess? I hope that I was just reading too fast, and that somehow that cliff-fall was actually a bit more believable, but… really he just randomly steps off a cliff? Really? Because Alien abduction at that moment didn’t feel quite right? We went with cliff? Ok. I also had a hard time figuring out how, exactly, the bridge and fence were curving for the entire last chapter.


Forest of Hands and Teeth left me a bit haunted – it stuck with me for awhile, in a good way. At the end, you’re left to make your own conclusions about the meanings,

whereas Waves tried a bit harder to pound in the “this is what life means” bits. Forest hit tragedy/action just right, while Waves tried a bit too hard and didn’t stick the landing. Forest felt satisfying, Waves didn’t. Forest resonated with me, Waves didn’t. Something just wasn’t clicking.


Both had similar writing problems, that I could see: melodramatic writing, intense love interests going on with no real reason – and actually for both I was able to get over it in the first couple of chapters and go with it. Again, the writing is very good, and both are fun re

ads. I just... wanted to be haunted by Waves, and I wasn't.


Review in short:

I’m not sure which of my quibbles really sinks Waves, (probably the combination of all of them) but Waves just wasn’t as good as Forest. It’s worth the read, because it’s still “a good action movie” but it’s a sequel, and it’s not as good as the first.


As a stand alone it’s simply a good book, the way I feel solid action movies are “a good action movie”… so it’s still worth a read. But Forest of Hands and Teeth? Make sure you read that one.


Anything else?

The cover was so not as awesome as Forest of Hands and Teeth, although the title was pretty good. For some reason the font on Waves bugs me a lot.

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