The Dark and Hollow Places [Hardcover]

The book begins with an emotional, not action-oriented, bang. Right from the start we see exactly what is at Annah's core and the rest of the story deconstructs what we see in the first chapter, removing layer by layer the hard outer shell she has constructed around her heart. Annah is, by far, Ms. Ryan's most mature and well-developed protagonist to date. She is intelligent, sometimes (appropriately) naive, vulnerable, and street savvy. We are given so many reason to care about her and her survival even when she's being a bit dramatic (what teen isn't?) or indecisive (what human isn't?). What I found I liked best about Annah is that she is very real. She is a girl who could be set into any time or place and resonate perfectly.

I was pleased with how Ms. Ryan has grown up her other characters, especially Gabry who seems to have finally made a choice she is willing to live with for a good long time. One of my frustrations with being in her head (for Dead Tossed Waves) was that she flip-flopped so much between the two guys that I finally didn't care who she picked as long as she did it and stopped thinking about it in the middle of a zombie infested present. This time around, Gabry has matured and is even able to express more of her innate sweet nature and true romantic sensibilities.

I was pleasantly surprised with how the Ms. Ryan progressed the relationship between Annah and everyone she comes in contact with, especially Catcher who has his own wounded character to overcome. Catcher is now my absolute favorite of Ms. Ryan's male characters. He's got the whole dark and brooding with a hidden soft spot down pat and he's been written so well that it doesn't ring false in any way.

Every character, even the peripheral ones, was well thought out and given backstory -- even a couple of the zombies had them! And along with great characterization, Ms. Ryan continued her robust world building seamlessly and seemingly effortlessly with this third book in the series. I was never bored by the exposition of the world's past and present predicament. There were no scenes that I felt had no purpose other than to elongate the book and I enjoyed the entire up and down of the emotional rollercoaster.

The reason this book doesn't receive 5 stars instead of 4 is for the pure frustration the first half of the book presented to me in the form of Annah's regret. She finds about 50 ways to re-phrase the situation that took place in the woods where she left behind Abigail (Gabry) and felt guilty for years afterward and never expecting her sister to forgive her. It seemed to come up once a page in some way or another and I found the repetition grating after a while. The saving grace is that there is more than enough other things happening to propel the book along at a good clip away from these continuous thoughts and into action and suspense!

It has been really fun watching Ms. Ryan's abilities progress and I feel like this book is a triumph. If you're a fan of the series or YA dystopian/zombie novels in general, pick this up and read it! It's fantastic. Kudos, Ms. Ryan.

In The Forest of Hands and Teeth and even Dead Tossed Waves our view of the world is very limited. The characters are all hemmed in by the fences. Their whole worlds are their villages then what's inside of the gates. We don't really get to see how the rest of the world survives and is dealing. It's in human nature to be greedy and selfish, so I was fascinated in Dead Tossed Waves at the mention of the Dark City. Certainly we would be able to see how humanity (those not `protected' by the gates and fences) survived. We definitely get a look at that in this book.

Annah (Gabry's twin) lives in the Dark City. Her view is vastly different than Mary's longing for more and Gabry's need for safety. No Annah lives in a scary world where the unconsecrated aren't the worst threats out there. Annah also is angry and hurt that Elias left, but is constantly waiting for him to return to her. She misses her twin, she misses Elias... but she is so brave and instinctual when it comes to her decisions. Elias isn't so pretty from Annah's perspective, but we see Catcher all over again through her eyes. The zombies in this book are a little more `real' then before, we see more of them, and many encounters remind me of Mary's with the girl in the red vest/jacket. Very eerie, and very sad.

At the end of the Forest of Hands and Teeth I cried (something I rarely do with books) because it was like... is this it? Mary lost so much, gave up so much and this is it? A beach covered with bodies and no end in sight? At the end of Dead Tossed Waves I found myself worried for Annah and especially Catcher as he represents a new aspect and twist of the infection. At the end of The Dark and Hollow Places I was again filled with this horrible empty feeling... is this it? What would you do if this was what life was life... no end to the mudo or unconsecrated in sight... no miracle cure for the zombies... just life, uncertain awful violent life. I adore Carrie Ryan though and adore her books for making me feel so small, I love how powerful they are. This is the end of the trilogy, and there's also a short story about the beginning of the infection in Zombie vs. Unicorns. I can't wait to see what Ryan will publish next, whatever it is you can be sure it'll be fantastic. Enjoy.

Every now and then you might get a bit sad when you come to the end of a series that you loved so much, this is how I felt after reading The Dark and Hollow Places. I fell in love with this series unintentionally, I started reading The Forest of Hands and Teeth thanks to the high recommendations from book friends. Of course at the time they didn't know that I had a huge phobia about anything zombie related and well by reading the synopsis I wasn't aware that it would be about zombies because they are called the Unconsecrated. After reading a few chapters and even after figuring out that there were zombies in the book I couldn't force myself to give it up, it was too late for me, I was invested in these characters because this series was about so much more than just the creepy flesh eating undead, it was about survival, hope and love and I was in it for good.

In the Dark and Hollow Places we get taken to the Dark City, and see the story unfold through the eyes of Annah, the other twin. At first I was a bit sad that we wouldn't get to see it from Gabry's point of view, I wanted to know more about her and what happened after the end of The Dead Tossed Waves but I quickly got over that once I got to know Annah and her story. I really admired Annah for her courage and will to live, I mean this girl spends most of her time and spent pretty much years on her own waiting for Elias and she's still not willing to give up. I would've been freaking out in some of these scenes in the book and locked myself in a closet shaking with fear waiting for death, yeah, I'm a wuss. Not Annah, she was willing to fight her way to survive and sacrifice herself for her loved ones if she had to, the fact that she never gives up throughout the whole book is why I admire her so much.

In The Dark and Hollow Places Gabry, Annah, Elias and Catcher come together and we get to find out what happened to Catcher and Gabry after the end of The Dead Tossed Waves and also to Elias. In this one they struggle for survival through most of the story but not only against the unconsecrated but also against the people in charge of the city that are suppose to be protecting them but have become corrupted and are pretty much worst than the zombies.

The Dark and Hollow Places gives us a bit more of a closer look at what the world may have seemed like after the return, it is chaotic through most of it. We get a huge amount of up close encounters with the unconsecrated, and it was so much creepier that I got goosebumps and was at the edge of my seat through most of the story. It was so thrilling and intense that I was chewing my nails through most of this novel without even realizing it. I loved every minute of it, even if I couldn't read it at night and I would gladly take three more of these novels. I'm not ready to say goodbye to it yet, I loved Catcher and Annah and I want more.

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