Review of "The Forest of Hands and Teeth" by Carrie Ryan

Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Author: Carrie Ryan
Release date: July 1, 2009
Rating:2.5/5
Publisher: Gollancz
Book Summary: 

In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the town from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?

Review: 

To explain how disappointed I was about this novel is an understatement. 

This novel has been on my "To Read" shelf on Goodreads for YEARS. Now that I've finally had a chance to pick up rereading books, I decided to take this novel off the shelf and dive in. 

The summary of this book is captivating and was released during the height of the zombie-apocalypse craze in books and movies in the early 2000s. It's a shame that the summary of the novel was not done justice by the story itself. 

There may be some spoilers in this review. Please stop here if you'd like to read this book spoiler-free! 

The novel occurs in a post-apocalyptic future, where society is stuck behind fences, and the Unconsecrated roam the forests. This small slice of the world is run by The Sisters, who control all aspects of life, including where the villagers find clothing and shelter.

We follow the main character, Mary, from a first-person present point of view. Mary has experienced immense tragedy, losing her father in the forest and struggling to ensure her mother doesn't suffer the same fate. Unfortunately, she shares more tragedy when her mother gets bitten by one of the Unconsecrated at the fence and chooses to live in the Forest of Hands and Teeth instead of being killed once she turns. Her brother abandons her to the Sisters and tells her that no one has spoken for her, even though she had been previously asked to the courtship event held by the village by one of her childhood friends.

Up until this point, I understand the character's motivations, her sadness, and her grief. I understand her want for another life outside the small village she's always lived in. So much tragedy and trauma has been experienced in just a few days. 

I lose my sympathy for Mary when self-pity and selfishness don't disappear. Her constant need to see an ocean she had only ever heard about through stories from her mother, her insistent need to leave the village into the forest to find what's on the Outside. Nothing for Mary could ever satiate that. It would be one thing to start the exploration of the world outside of the fence--there wouldn't be a novel otherwise--but it's another thing to make that the only character facet for Mary. It endangers everyone immediately surrounding her, causing more death and destruction than was caused by the Unconsecrated and their breaching of the fences around her village.

Never once was the full gravity of the situation that she was in or the weight of the lives of the people around her was ever taken into account. The only thing on her mind was the ocean and the tall buildings. There were even multiple chapters where she was mourning the loss of the people she didn't know while simultaneously distancing herself from her brother and the people she did know -- the only people left alive after their village was plundered by Unconsecrated. 

The plotline was flat and one-dimensional. I read through it because I needed to see how it ended, and even the ending felt uneventful. 

I will not be continuing the series.

Review of "Mrs. Sherlock Holmes" by Brad Ricca

Title: Mrs. Sherlock Holmes

Author: Brad Ricca
Release date: January 3, 2017
Rating: 3.5/5
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Book Summary: 

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes tells the incredible true life story of Mrs. Grace Humiston, the New York lawyer and detective who solved the famous cold case of Ruth Cruger, an 18-year-old girl who disappeared in 1917. Grace was an amazing lawyer and traveling detective during a time when no women were practicing these professions. She focused on solving cases no one else wanted and advocating for innocents. Grace became the first female U.S. District Attorney and made ground-breaking investigations into modern slavery.

One of Grace's greatest accomplishments was solving the Cruger case after following a trail of corruption that lead from New York to Italy. Her work changed how the country viewed the problem of missing girls. But the victory came with a price when she learned all too well what happens when one woman upstages the entire NYPD.

In the literary tradition of In Cold Blood and The Devil in the White City, Brad Ricca's Mrs. Sherlock Holmes is a true crime tale told in spine-tingling fashion. This story is about a woman whose work was so impressive that the papers gave her the nickname of fiction’s greatest sleuth. With important repercussions in the present about kidnapping, the role of the media, and the truth of crime stories, the great mystery of the book – and its haunting twist ending – is how one woman can become so famous only to disappear completely.

Summary pulled from Goodreads.com 

Review:

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes started off as a page-turner that eventually fizzled into a telling of history that didn't include the reason I picked up the book. I was hooked by how Ricca told this story as fiction, but something was lacking that kept me from finishing the book in its entirety. 

Ricca was meticulous in how he told Ms. Grace Humiston's story, and I appreciated how he structured the information. First, it set the scene of the most pivotal case: Ruth Cruger's disappearance in New York in 1917. It provided the early drama and backstory needed once we returned to the case later on.

It then set the stage for why we, the reader, are learning of Mrs. Sherlock Holmes herself, Mrs. Grace Humiston. He showed the reader her character through the types of cases she normally worked on prior to accepting the Ruth Cruger case. We learned that Grace was empathetic and cared for those that didn't have the means or the way to defend themselves. We also learned that she would go to great lengths to solve a case: including hiding in the trees to uncover the illegal work conditions of what was labeled a "white slave" operation. 

Finally, Grace herself on the case synthesizes all the information the reader has grown to know about her and the missing girl, Ruth, and the end to the cold case that had been captivating New York during this period.

I enjoyed how Grace's story was almost presented like a fictional novel, but like others who read Mrs. Sherlock Holmes didn't find the "Holmes" connection to be anything more than an interesting title. Through the story, Grace proved just how great of a detective she was, but it was more through her grit, perseverance, and unwillingness to take "no" for an answer rather than the deduction skills that we know through the Sherlock Holmes stories. 

I admire Grace, not as a Sherlock Holmes-esque character, but as someone who followed her gut and intuition and allowed herself to stand out from the pack.

Review of "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield

Title: The War of Art

Author: Steven Pressfield 
Release date: April 1, 2003
Rating: 4/5
Publisher: Warner Books
Book Summary:

Internationally bestselling author of Last of the Amazons, Gates of Fire, and Tides of War, Steven Pressfield delivers a guide to inspire and support those who struggle to express their creativity. Pressfield believes that “resistance” is the greatest enemy, and he offers many unique and helpful ways to overcome it.

Review:

Have you ever sat down with one of your best friends, and when you start your rant about your issues, they see right through you? 

I won't lie, that's exactly how I felt with Steven Pressfield's The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles. 

The foreword was written by Robert McKee, an author, and lecturer known for his Story Seminar. I remember resonating with the foreword and the candid nature that McKee wrote. In fact, after finishing the book, I returned to the foreword to reread it and found myself nodding with his analysis of Pressfield's work. McKee's synopsis and entry into the book were the perfect fit. 

Throughout The War of Art, I felt "seen" in more ways than one. Not only was Pressfield's description of Resistance the nail on the head, but it personified something that I had personally been experiencing for a long time. Not only had Resistance been whispering lies, but it had also successfully won, more than once, against the need to express my thoughts creatively in music and in writing. 

Through each chapter, I became more aware of the issues contributing to my writer's block. Was it the fact that I had no time, or was Resistance telling me there was no time to focus on my creative outlets? 

I would recommend this to any struggling creative who doesn't feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel that is their creative block.