Snapshot: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

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Snapshots are short- reviews of my already read books, which should give a litte insight of how I liked the books, if I think it’s worth reading and for which taste it would fit.

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‘The Forest of Hands and Teeth’
by Carrie Ryan.

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(© goodreads)

The first book in ‚The Forest of Hands and Teeth’ series kidnaps the readers in a surreal dystopia, in a world which could come straight from a horror movie. The story is told in the present by Mary, who lives in a village in the middle of a wood which is surrounded by a fence and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. The fence is there to protect the people in the village from the inhabitants of the wood who are deadly.

Who still couldn’t figure out from the name of the book… at this it deals with zombies and they are also described as we all know them: away eaten bodies, hanging limbs, sacked eyes and everything together bloodied and they wander around groaning,  undead for all eternity in their search of living meat.

From topic the book has been really interesting for me and I also liked the world construction of Ryan and it has persuaded me, but sadly this was already everything I liked in it.

Because of the writing manner of Ryan I had the whole time the feeling to read the book only from a distance. Nothing was described definitively which concerns feeling, reactions and the plot and often there were longer time spans in between which then were told afterwards.
I don’t like that at all because I prefer a plot and a story which happens while I read it and where I’m totally in the story and can be anxious with the characters and their fate.
But well, here it wouldn’t have mattered to me anyway because I’ve never really become warm with the main character Mary.

From the first pages one she fantasize about a guy, then she finally gets him, after the reader had to endure her whining for him for 2/3 of the book, and then he isn’t enough for her – because she wants to see the ocean! Exactly, you’ve read it right – all the time here it’s about the damned ocean which Mary unconditional wants to see and for this she’s ready to sacrifice everything and everybody.
On top of that she makes some very stupid and also selfish decisions, only to ask herself afterwards constantly why she has done that and wallows in her self-pity and bad conscience. And this central theme goes on throughout the whole book!

Moreover, it was more than senselessly that Mary has constantly thought about her love life and has also pondered about other unnecessary stuff, while in that time there was in a 1-meter-distance a wire fence where zombies groaned and lusted for her flesh and life. Hello?? What should I say? Guess, you just have to make priorities and anyhow in this book the characters have acted sometimes very bizarre. The only bright spot was Travis, or also the dog, but that was it.

Another low point was the end, which came actually somewhere in the middle of the story and none of the open questions, which the protagonists have raised up throughout the story, were answered.
I would have been quite satisfied if I knew that these questions would be answered in the next books. But no; Ryan rather likes to tell the next book from the point of view from another person and this was for me the key point not to read the next book in this series.

Now I am really disappointed from this book because the zombie and horror genre, mixed with a love story, have interested me very much. Hence, I am grateful to everybody which could give me good book recommendations on this subject! I would be grateful for it, thx.

Only out of my interest I’ve read a few reviews to the second book and because I found two of them really amusing, and also reflected partly the absurdities which were also in the first book, I would like to let you read them as well. Therefore, if you also want to read them, then just simply follow the links.

Review # 1 *awesome*

Review # 2 *also interesting*

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Succession:

# 1: Carrie Ryan – The Forest of Hands and Teeth
# 2: Carrie Ryan – The Dead-Tossed Waves
# 3: Carrie Ryan – The Dark and Hollow Places

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Review: Evernight (en.)

English/ American Cover

German Cover

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0 (no heart – which means, it doesn’t deserve one)

‘Evernight‘
by Claudia Gray

Evernight # 1

Synopsis:
Bianca wants to escape.
She’s been uprooted from her small hometown and enrolled at Evernight Academy, an eerie Gothic boarding school where the students are somehow too perfect: smart, sleek, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn’t fit in.
Then she meets Lucas. He’s not the “Evernight type” either, and he likes it that way. Lucas ignores the rules, stands up to the snobs, and warns Bianca to be careful—even when it comes to caring about him. But the connection between Bianca and Lucas can’t be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart . . . and to make Bianca question everything she’s ever believed. (Quelle: goodreads.com)

My thoughts about the book:
I’ve held myself together really long and tried to read this book to the end, but with the best will I’ve to break up in the middle of it! I haven’t read something absurd like that (thanks to god) not in a very long time and I have no idea how someone is able to like this book.
Through the whole book I haven’t started to like the central figure Bianca, no notion why, but her story and also the whole plot in the book have let myself absolutely cold and have not moved my in the least or made me feel to care for any of it. This Bianca runs around like a 10-year-old girl that I only wanted to shake or slap and also the rest of it, the story, the plot and so on; all of it has already been there for 1.000 times *boring²*

Nevertheless, I have tried to get into the story or to feel anything when she has made friends with this boy named Lucas, but also this guy has not interested me at all. And all along Gray has tried to make this boarding school look dangerous or mystical, particularly for Bianca. She’s forced by her parents to go to school there, while they teach in it. However, from the beginning Bianca feels totally wrong in this place, not only in the boarding school but also among the other students who look so much better and attractive than she does. (bla bla bla, … anyhow we had all that already somewhere and parts of it I already know from countless other books…)

All along she cries and pities herself and the more she suffers and it lets the reader know it how poor she is, the less I like her. Especially because she does nothing to change anything and just runs around stupidly.

But the reason why I have stopped was the following:
!!! SPOILERS – please do not read on you still would like to read this book still!!!

Half of the book Bianca is described absolutely innocent and she feels wrong at this place and she notices that something in the Evernight boarding school is not right, or that something with her school-followers is not right. And then suddenly she bites – BIANCA bites a guy and drinks his blood! Okay, it was no surprise that there would appear vampires soon, but nevertheless it was astonishing that Bianca has behaved all the time like a small, scarred, little school child, while she KNEW that she is a vampire and has only waited to becomes also an ‚ adult‘ vampire- woman who drinks blood.

This was for me the point which was definitively too contradictory and just let me stop reading the book with rolling eyes and shaking head. For me the whole story around Bianca and particularly her behavior and her thoughts has proved no logic and in my opinion the whole plot was sucked out of the fingers. *terrible*

Cover:
Also the cover doesn’t please me at all, no matter whether the English or the German one because both are just boring and ordinary.

All in all:
This book was for me an absolute time of waste and a book which I couldn’t finish. Something which happens to me very seldom, but this book did it.

Rating:
0 of 5 points

Succession:

# 1: Claudia Gray – Evernight
# 2: Claudia Gray – Stargazer
# 3: Claudia Gray – Hourglass
# 4: Claudia Gray – Afterlife

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copyright: http://claudiagray.com/index.htm

About the author – Claudia Gray:
Claudia Gray is not my real name. I didn’t choose a pseudonym because my real name is unpleasant (it isn’t), because I’d always dreamed of calling myself this (I haven’t) or even because I’m hiding from the remnants of that international diamond-smuggling cartel I smashed in 2003 (Interpol has taken care of them). In short, I took a pseudonym for no real reason whatsoever. Sometimes this is actually the best reason to do things.
I am a full-time novelist based in Chicago. So far, in life, I’ve been a disc jockey, a lawyer, a journalist and an extremely bad waitress, just to name a few. I especially like to spend time traveling, hiking, reading and listening to music. More than anything else, I enjoy writing. (Source:  http://claudiagray.com/index.htm)

Visit her Website  »»

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Review: Burned (eng.)

(© goodreads)

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‘Burned’
by
P.C. and Kristin Cast

House of Night # 7.
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Synopsis:
Zoey Redbird is the youngest High Priestess in House of Night history and is the only person – vamp or fledgling – that can stop the evil Neferet from raising all kinds of immortal trouble. And she might just have a chance if she wasn’t so busy being dead.
Well, dead is too strong a word. Stevie Rae knows she can bring her BFF back from her unscheduled va-cay in the Otherworld. But it’s going to take a lot more than hoping to bring Zoey back. Stevie Rae will have to give up a few secrets of her own … (Source: Goodreads)

My thoughts about the book:
I almost need a whole month to finish this one book, which doesn’t mean I haven’t had time to read, because in this time I almost read 8 other books, which were great and thrilling, where ‘Burned’ was just annoying and I also had to remind me to keep reading so I could finish it at last. This fact alone should show how I liked this book and how my opinion is to this 7^th HoN book, but I want to make a little explanation nonetheless.

The story begins like in every other book exactly where the last part has ended and tells us how Zoey’s soul shattered after she had to watch how Kalona killed Heath and then she  had thrown her whole spiritual strength at Kalona. What here maybe sounds interesting, unfortunately, is not written very thrilling in the book, especially in the beginning where the story really dragged and needed much time to improve.

At the beginning Zoey finds herself in the ‘otherworld’ and spends there her time with Heath, who wants to stay with Zoey in this ‘in between world’ and doesn’t plan to go on in the peaceful world where death souls go. In the meantime Zoey grows paler every hour, while she is losing her memories because of her splittered soul and which parts of her also whirl around in this ‘otherworld‘ and which she can’t unite together again in herself. For whom this is too complicated or too supernaturally, I’m sorry to say that it won’t become better throughout the book. A large part of the story happens in this ‘otherworld‘ in which all physical rules are taken away and to add is the fact that in this world Zoey irritates me even more and is much more nerve-racking than already in the ‚real world’.
Furthermore this whole thing with Zoey and her coming close death was blown up too much and too desperate, that I actually had to laugh at the end because of the solution the authors presented us. It was too simply knitted and basically the whole middle part of the book could have been scratched if only Zoey had put herself together again earlier. But to be honest I was never a fan of Zoey and also this book could not persuade me of her. And slowly I really ask myself, how can an author present her main character like this? For me Zoey has nothing particularly and special, charming or an attitude and behavior that makes her likeable. Hence, it is very irritating that all other characters in the book like Zoey and honor her like a young queen. *rubbish* For me this is totally understandable.

But I also want to mention a few positive sides: Therefore I start with the beginning love story of Stevie Rae and Rephaim. No matter how incredibly it may sounds, because actually he is Kalona’s son and therefore a raven mocker. But during the whole story we got to know Rephaim and his thoughts and with his refusing attitude and ‘I don’t want to be good‘-behavior, though he has already changed to the good and cares about other, about Stevie Rae, he started to win over my heart. Other positives things in this book were Stark (although he also scratched a little on my tolerance border with his unbelievable love for Zoey) and of course Aphrodite and Darius. Aphrodite brings a fresh wind in the whole plot and I like her with her hard shell and with her behave from high above and her ‘diva-attitude’, which she’s just using to protect herself (100 percent better than Zoey). Now I’m curious whether the plot is moving upwards again or if the story just keeps interesting only by the minor characters, or if the main plot all around Zoey also increases again in quality and in suspense.

Cover:
It’s nice to so also a other character on the cover besides Zoey, and though this Stevie Rae looks to innocent and childlike for me and her attitude in the book, it’s okay and suitable.

All in all:
This is another long book which is stretching like gum and where the supporting story with Stevie Rae, Rephaim and Aphrodite is more interesting than the main one. Just a book for real fans of the House of Night series – others could get their fingers burned.

Rating:
2 of 5 points

Quotes:

Rephaim: “I’m here because she’s here, and she belongs to me.”

Stark: “I’m her protection! I don’t care if it’s in this world or the next. Just show me how to get where she is, and I’ll be there for her.”

Aphrodite: “Oh, for crap’s sake, I can barely look at it, … and I usually love sparkly things.”

Succession:

# 1: Cast P.C und Kristin – Marked »
# 2: Cast P.C und Kristin – Betrayed »
# 3: Cast P.C und Kristin – Chosen »
# 4: Cast P.C und Kristin – Untamed »
# 5: Cast P.C und Kristin – Hunted »
# 6: Cast P.C und Kristin – Tempted »
# 7: Cast P.C und Kristin – Burned »
# 8: Cast P.C und Kristin – Awakened
# 9: Cast P.C und Kristin – Destined

P. C. Cast

About the author – P. C. Cast:

P.C. Cast was born in the Midwest, and grew up being shuttled back-and-forth between Illinois and Oklahoma, which is where she fell in love with Quarter Horses and mythology (at about the same time). After high school she joined the United States Air Force and began public speaking and writing. After her tour in the USAF, she taught high school for 15 years before retiring to write full time.  Ms. Cast is a New York Times Best-Selling author and a member of the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame.  Her novels have been awarded the prestigious: Oklahoma Book Award, YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Prism, Holt Medallion, Daphne du Maurier, Booksellers’ Best, and the Laurel Wreath.
(Source: http://www.pccast.net/biography.html)

Visit her Website »»

Review: Hush Hush

(© goodreads)

(© goodreads)

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‘Hush, Hush’
by Becca Fitzpatrick

Hush, Hush # 1.

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Synopsis:
Nora is a common High School student, intelligent, a little shy and friendly. She is focused on her future, on her apprenticeship and therefore she isn’t very interested in the boys who are attending the same school. But that changes abruptly the day she meets the dark and mysterious Patch, who emerge in her class and becomes her classmate sitting right next to her. Nora feels attracted to him, though she recognize that something is strange about him and that something evil is inside him, a dark secret. Therefore she has to make a decision: should she ingest with Patch and his dangerous game or should she stay away from him for her own safety? Soon Nora finds herself between an ancient war between good and evil and fallen angels…

My thoughts about the book:
I had really high expectation for this book because on one hand it was recommended form different sides and on the other hand because it was listed high on best-seller lists. Therefore I was piteous disappointed – like so often, when I’ve got high anticipations. The story was okay, the twists in it were also okay, but all together not more than just ‘okay’. It didn’t entertain me or was thrilling like other books. Only Patch was an interesting character – though when I think about it, then I’ve to say that he was just hot and a nice guy to look at but nothing more. Especially in the beginning while Nora fall for him, he was just an egoist and totally manipulative. Only after a while he became more acceptable when he lowered himself to fall for the human Nora. So, now we are at Nora: Although she is kind of an ‘Einstein’ at school and seems to know every answer there, but in real life in everyday situations she is totally naive and foolish. Sometimes she has more luck than any sense and goes through dangerous situations which could have killed her, just because she is lucky and not using her brain. And what should I say about her supposed best friend Vee? At first I liked her because she was funny and said amusing things but throughout the book she became more and more egoistic, annoying and mean. And to be true if I could decide I wouldn’t want to have such a friend like her- I would rather be alone!
And now to the end which was not very surprising and very predictable and I already know who the real villain was after the first 50 pages, while Nora needed the entire book to make it out. Therefore it was boring and the book has lost much suspense and thrill. For me the whole story and as well the characters appeared very dull and just one-dimensional, flat and also in parts very boring. This book wasn’t really my taste thought I liked the beginning but it sucked more and more with every chapter, but I’ll give the next one (Crescendo) a chance and will try it in the future and I hope that it will be better.

German Cover:
The Cover is the best of the whole book and I really love the design and the picture because it is sexy, mysterious and wicked. Great body and great staging, which couldn’t have shown any better the ‘fallen angel’. The cover is really one of my favorites and definitely the reason I read it.

All in all:
The first book in this new series was really a disappointment for me but I’ll give the next one a chance and keep on reading the ‘Hush Hush’ books.

Rating:
2 of 5 points

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Succession:

# 1: Becca Fitzpatrick – Hush, Hush
# 2: Becca Fitzpatrick – Crescendo
# 3: Becca Fitzpatrick – Silence

Review: Chosen

(© goodreads)

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‘Chosen’
by
P.C. and Kristin Cast

House of Night # 3
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Synopsis:
One month after Stevie Rae supposedly died, there is a weird quiet above the whole House of Night, because most of the teachers and students have left for Christmas holidays. But this unnatural silence takes just a short time and ends at Christmas, when Zoey has her birthday. Not only that Zoey is still imprinted with Heath, makes Erik hope for their future together and kisses her teacher Loren Blake, she also has a big troubled fight with her parents. Furthermore Zoey has to find a way to learn everything about the evil plan of Neferet and by the way she has to save her best friend undead-dead Stevie Rae, who doesn’t want any help. So, it is the totally normal daily routine in the House of Night…

My thoughts about the book:
If someone asks me at the moment spontaneously what I’m thinking about the main character Zoey, than I just could answer: “WTF – how stupid can one person be? But she’s not even blond!” I don’t want to be mean but in this book, Zoey has made some very unintelligent and stupid and mean things, which made her suffer at the end and where I can’t feel any pity for her, because it was all her fault – totally. But more about that at the end of the review.
Now I want to take about the writing style of the authors:
The style was fresh and sassy, like in the other books before, but this time I didn’t like it so much like in the other books because for it was sometimes too childish, and I often had to roll my eyes. About the story: At the beginning it started slowly and boring and the authors repeated all what happened in the other books before and than it took some time to build a new suspense and to become intersting again. I think the idea about a vampire residential school isn’t bad and also the story about the evil teacher and the ohter creatures (like Stevie Rae) but the authors were too busy to write about the love confusion of Zoey, which was nerving and uninteresting for me and which cost much of my sympathie for this book series.
The end was okay but I didn’t like the big and long suspense buildung and than the end just happens in short 20-30 pages, where everything happens in quick/fast succession.
And now what I’ve to say about Zoey: I don’t want to say much about it but I know myself and currently I’m still a little disgruntled (I just finished this book) and so there will be SPOILERS now. Therefore for eveyone who doesn’t want to know what happens in the book, please stop reading now – SPOILERS in the review from now on:
I always thought the main character should have at least some nice attributes so that the reader (we) can feel sympathie with the character and that he/ she becomes likeable and that we care about him or her. But how could PC & Kristin Cast write all that stuff about Zoey and let her do so many wrong and idiocy things? And I’m not talking about little inanities which every teen does, and where everyone understands it – it’s the progress of growing… (this things she already did in the books before)…. but now I got the feeling that Zoey isn’t learning from the wrongs she already did… no – she even made more and bigger ones. For me Zoey is kind of obsessed with her powers and her affinity to all five elements und she is a liar to the core. Besides who has thought that Zoey is a little floozie in the other two books, than what will he think about her in this book? Now she isn’t just kissing with 2 guys and flirting with one, NO – now she is kissing two boys and has sex with a third one – a teacher from her school.
Sorry, but how stupid can she be that she’s not seeing that Loren has just used her. If she was thinking clear she would have asked herself what it say about a man, when he wants to have sex with a teen and his own student… that’s just not correct and this man have a low und weak personality.
In my opinion this book series would have really a big potential but the authors destroyed much of it because of this main character Zoey. For me she isn’t a person who I would like …. basically I don’t really care about her and she is just an annoying foozie, who is thinking bad about herself (If you ask me it is totally justified). She’s just no good person and has a weak personality and more luck than any intelligence. She is lying to her best friends all the time, is also lying to her 3 boyfriends -> she even has 3 boyfriends! … and so on.
The only positive thing about Zoey is, that she would do anything for her bestfriend Stevie Rae (even if she just know her for a month, but whatever) and for her grandmother and Zoey has a sweet cat – that’s all. Sorry.
But I wouldn’t read this book if I can’t stand everything in it so to make peace with this book, I also have to say that I like Damien, he’s great and intelligence and I even like Aphprodite and also Stevie Rae, because she’s good at heart.

Cover:
Not as good as the covers from book one and two. For me it’s just to common und uninteresting designed.

All in all:
A disappointment for all House of Night Fans where even the thrilling plot save the rest of the book with such a weak and unlikeable main character.

Ratiing:
2 of 5 points

Succession:

# 1: Cast P.C and Kristin – Marked
# 2: Cast P.C and Kristin – Betrayed
# 3: Cast P.C and Kristin – Chosen
# 4: Cast P.C and Kristin – Untamed
# 5: Cast P.C and Kristin – Hunted
# 6: Cast P.C and Kristin – Tempted
# 7: Cast P.C and Kristin – Burned
# 8: Cast P.C and Kristin – Awakened
# 9: Cast P.C and Kristin – Destined