This book was awesome.

At first I was quite hesitant because of how the first in the series, Forest of hands and teeth, ended. I was also hesitant because of how dead-tossed waves started; it was like a happy little story then it just turns. Unlike Forest of hands and teeth, which started off well and then the whole thing just went downhill to a really depressing end, dead-tossed waves was a good book.

Wow. The new characters were quite unexpected, though they were actually quite a good touch and came as a surprise. Alias was definitely my favourite though. He was everything wrapped into one.  He was a shy character in my opinion which gave it that more exciting.

I think it was quite a shocking story though just because what you thought was coming next was a completely different. Around every corner was another secret and wow were they big ones. That made the story flow quite well though.  

The ending was also quite a shock but a better ending than the other. I honestly can say the ending wasn’t what I expected but I’m glad it ended that way.

I can’t wait until book three because I really want to see what happens next and I would love to see more of the new characters definitely.

This is another well written story, with heart-in-mouth action and tear-streaming heart-ache. And again we get a really thought provoking story.

The story goes that even after the Return they tried to keep the roller coasters going. They said it reminded them of the before time. When they didn’t have to worry about people rising from the dead, when they didn’t have to build fences and walls and barriers to protect themselves from the masses of Mudo constantly seeking human flesh. When the living weren’t forever hunted.

The sequel to Carrie Ryans’s ‘The Forest of Hands and Teeth’ is a continuation of the story in many aspects. We get a few more answers around the pieces of the first story left untold but we’re also left with a lot more questions. Personally, I think this is even better than the first. But that is also partially because I wasn’t too thrilled with the way the ending was left in the first book. This manages to tidy up some of the questions left unanswered, and although it too leaves many questions unanswered, I am now secure in the knowledge that book 3 in the series (due out at some stage in 2011)  will carry on and fill in some of the gaps.  

One thing I just love about this series over the traditional zombie stories is the horrible sense of realism. Dead-Tossed Waves even more so than The Forest of Hands and Teeth. There aren’t dregs of the old way of life that we all know left. Cars don’t still run. Planes aren’t still flying. Zombies are a real thing, a real threat; they are infectious and persistent. The military couldn’t do anything against the huge wave of mindless humanity.

Sadly, we also get a dose of realism in the teen-age temper tantrum. Having built up an emotional attachment to characters in the previous book, it was quite hard to move on to having an emotional connection to the new main characters of this story. Trying to find sympathy for Gabry was initially quite difficult. She really comes across as quite the whingeing brat. A lot of that is because of the wonderful story for the underlying issues around discovering who you really are. In amongst all the death, destruction and zombie (Mudo) invasion, teen-agers are still teen-agers. They’re still rebelling, breaking the rules, and trying to come to terms with just who they are and where in the world their place may be.

Loyalty, friendship, family bonds, community bonds and the ability to think for yourself, to question the rules imposed, to understand the validity of the way in which you view the world. This is so much more than just a zombie story. 

One of the most powerful aspects of this book, and indeed the series, is the manner in which it deals with death. Death can strike at anytime. Savour each moment, try and live a life without regret. Things don’t just get brushed aside because it’s a ‘Young Adult’ book, in-fact, things are probably all the more intense because of the genre.

This is a story with great world building, wonderful story flow and amazing plot development. I didn’t always find the characters as believable as the surroundings, but they were still well developed. But things like the relationship between best friends Cira and Gabry seemed to deteriorate for no real reason. There wasn’t a build-up, no underlying tension. The reaction just didn’t seem to fit.

Although there are a few of these instances within the relationships developed between the characters, the story is still enjoyable and well told. I just don’t think Carrie Ryan had quite the same connection to her characters in this story as she did in The Forest of Hands and Teeth, which I think also shows when we see glimpses of the original characters. These seem to just have a little more life, a little more colour, and a little more believability.

However, I am certainly looking forward to book three - this series just keeps getting better and better.