Book Review: The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

My Rating: 4.5/5

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, 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.
Now Gabry knows only one thing: if she has any hope of a future, she must face the forest of her mother's past.

I was extremely excited to read this after finishing The Forest of Hands and Teeth (see my review here). Carrie Ryan is a great author and wrote another beautiful book with this one. It's hard to compare books, but I liked this one even better than the first one. Gabry was just as interesting of a character as Mary, trying to figure out her identity, along with her mother's (her mother is Mary, the main character of the first book).

Everything I didn't like about Hands and Teeth was redeemed here. Elias was a breath of fresh air. It's just my opinion, but i really liked him. Unlike other male characters from Hands and Teeth or this book, he was mysterious and had secrets. The tension and mystery between him and Gabry was there from the very beginning to the very end. I also enjoyed the plot twists in this book. I never would've guessed some of the things that get revealed, but it all makes sense. Catcher, another new character, who forms a love triangle with Gabry and Elias, also added a lot to the book. I really like him, but not for Gabry.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was the end started to get really slow for me- right when there was a lot of action, approximately the last 1/4 of the book, for some reason it was hard to get through. Regardless, it was still an awesome book and anyone who loves YA fiction or paranormal romance should definitly read this series!

+ an extra .5 :)