Common Sense Media Review
Intense zombie horror-romance more violent than the first.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
Many years after Mary escaped from the Forest of Hands and Teeth, she is still living in the seaside town of Vista, raising a teen daughter named Gabry. She is training Gabry to take over her lighthouse keeper duties, including sweeping the shore at every high tide and decapitating all
Mudo zombies that have washed ashore before they rise. When Gabry and her friends sneak out and cross the forbidden Barrier, they are attacked by the Mudo and life changes overnight. Gabry's crush, Catcher, is Infected and her friends are banished. Gabry must leave Vista to search for Catcher, and along the way she encounters an attractive stranger with a dangerous cult. After bloody battles, gory deaths, long kisses, and more zombies than anyone ever imagined, Gabry is forced to choose: will she stay or will she go?
Is It Any Good?
Horror fans, especially those enjoying the current zombie phase, will love the torrential danger and fear. And there is even more teen romance than the
first volume for recovering Twilighters. The family history that Gabry's mother slowly reveals explains some of the mystery set up in The Forest of Hands and Teeth, but this story also reveals a bigger world: both bigger dangers and bigger opportunies. Gabry embodies the determination of a teen who is not about to give up on life or love, even as she sometimes wonders about the futility of fighting to survive in such a bleak existence.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about life in a dystopia: the government of Vista has made rules to keep people safe, but are they necessarily the best rules? Are there perhaps some motives beyond safety for some of the laws?
Why does the government give protected status to the cult of the Soulers?
Catcher is afraid of heights. Is it hard to imagine someone being afraid of heights when there are so many zombies around? Can people control some fears and not others?
Why do readers enjoy being scared?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Horror
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Delacorte Press
- Publication date : March 9, 2010
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 17
- Number of pages : 407
- Last updated : July 17, 2025
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