The Forest of Hands and Teeth & The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

These books tell the stories of a mother and daughter: Mary and Gabry. Mary's story starts in her family's small village in the woods, where Unconsecrated attack the fences daily trying to eat the villagers. She becomes an orphan and leaves the village with her friends and betrothed. They're going to the sea, which Mary has always heard of but never seen. Her daughter Gabry is a continuation of the story, telling what happened to Mary, and how Gabry herself deals with the Unconsecrated and her fight to keep herself and her friends alive.

I did not expect these to be zombie books because they're called "Unconsecrated," which is a slightly awkward term, but definitely makes the true nature of the creatures a surprise until you're halfway through the first chapter. Which I guess I've just spoiled. Oh well. Y'all are cool enough people to forgive me, I feel.

The writer did a good job of creating a society with a few of our elements. It added surprise to each realization of what parts of our culture could survive a zombie apocalypse. It has the essence of The Village but not a similar ending. You can tell the villagers are isolated and living a simple, antiquish life. The church is the center of their lives and they don't have modern technology or weapons. You come to care for the main characters and give a damn whether or not they survive the journey to the sea.

The sequel with Gabry has characters who aren't as compelling as the first one, but introduces new religious fanaticism (which is always interesting to me), moral dilemmas, and re-entering the thrill ride of the Forest. Again, it's not as confusing, just as action-packed, and a quick read.

The books were full of adventure but I was ever confused. Because the characters had set goals it kept the focus of where the book was going amidst chaos.

I would definitely want to see a movie version of either of these books. I think it would be well-done, considering how popular zombies and dystopian stories are nowadays. I would recommend the series to all ages, and both boys and girls, especially those who like horror books. I just found out there's a third one, so now I'm going to have to go find it!

Author Carrie Ryan just announced that a movie agreement has just been reached! Yay! Good zombie movie!

Goodreads link to Book #1 and Book #2