A review by emilyusuallyreading
The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

3.0

What I Liked
This is a great book series for young adults. It's appropriate and still offers some heavy, thought-provoking issues.

I love Carrie Ryan's writing style. She has an excellent grasp on her five senses. She describes Gabry's world with such clarity that it is easy for the reader to feel completely immersed in the forest of hands and teeth. Ryan writes with beautiful metaphors and striking perception.

What I Didn't Like
I liked the first book in the series, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, significantly more than I liked The Dead-Tossed Waves.

I'm not a fan of purposeless teenage angst, of which this book contained quite a bit. Mary, the main character in The Forest of Hands and Teeth grieved for appropriate reasons, but she was also strong, inventive, and determined. Gabry of The Dead-Tossed Waves blamed herself for every single bad thing that happened around her... and Elias blamed himself for the rest. An example of this angst, taken from page 353:

Spoiler

Catcher will never be better. ...Elias will always be elusive. Even my mother now has Harry. This stupid world keeps spinning and there is nothing I can do. And so I sit in the middle of the path and sob while the Mudo push against the fences moaning at me.

. Sometimes all I wanted to do was shake Gabry and demand, "How could any of this be your fault? Stop whining, stop over-analyzing every male relationship in your life, and start actually fighting to survive."