When distracted by a marriage proposal from a boy that she doesn't love, Mary forgets to watch over her depressed and erratic mother who is infected by the Unconsecrated (yep, that's zombies) who lurk outside of their city's fences. Mary's brother can't forgive her inattention and he chucks her out of the house.Dependent on the mercy of the Sisterhood, a weird (as in wyrd) religious organization that rules their town, Mary begins training to become a Sister, but she can't be obedient. She reads books silently in her enclosed cell and meditates, which means she is driving the Sisters bonkers as they worry about what she is plotting--and, at night, she visits a wounded boy, the boy she really, really likes, which is a bit better sin than thinking too much quietly and gnashing your teeth with longing.
Mary also discovers that a young woman, a stranger, has come into the village through one of the secret paths protected by the Guardians and the Sisterhood. The Guardians and the Sisterhood have told the villagers that the paths lead nowhere, but Mary is fascinated. The Sisterhood decides to not reveal that a stranger has come into the village and Mary's curiosity about the stranger gets her kicked out and into the arms of the boy she doesn't want to marry (she wants to marry his brother who is engaged to marry her best friend--what's a zombie book without angst?)
But those zombie hordes: they have to get over the fence--especially when they have a speedy leader. Mary and her "husband", Mary's faithful dog Argos, as well as a young boy named Jacob, Mary's best friend and the boy Mary loves, in addition to Mary's brother and his wife, are forced onto the paths to try to find a way to escape from the Unconsecrated. Mary is determined to follow the path to the end, believing that the final gate leads to the mysterious ocean that her mother told her about. The ocean equaling freedom from the Unconsecrated and Mary's own restless heart.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth is a good book, a solid adventure and it has zombies--bonus points! But it does have problems. Mary, the mutineer, who just trudges around thinking really hard and not talking is hardly a revolutionary. She spends lots of time loinly longing for the boy she can't have, who is supposed to love her back but the Sisterhood says no, and he is engaged to her best friend, while her crush's brother is in love with Mary--GAH! Is this One Tree Hill with undead?
The Sisterhood is menacing, and it is implied that they know way more than they should about zombie making, but they're worried about teenage crushes and pouts? Mary appears to think hard and grind her teeth--so she is halfway to zombiedom--and worry that everyone dismisses her and her opinions--this is supposed to give the Sisters more than an eye twitch of annoyance? A more outspoken Mary and more time with the twisted Sisters might have helped this book, since an increasing menace within the supposed safe place, until the inside is as terrifying as the outside, is the hallmark of a great horror novel. Stephen King's The Mist is a perfect example.
The last half of the book is a heroic chase, with some small reprieves, and I preferred the story when it was less about loins and more about not becoming an entree. Mary does rise to the occasion when the zombies come over the wall, but you almost wish she would feed her companions to the undead. Except for Mary who is not quite believable as a mutineer, most of the characters were flat. The Sisterhood was diabolical, so more time spent with them and their psychological games might have been fun, but Mary seems absolutely powerless against them, though she does become a competent zombie slayer.
Points for zombies, Forest of Hands and Teeth is a mature, ghoulish Ember.
