The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Insecurity is huge in end-of-the-world stories. As humans, we have always sought shelter and security from the wilds of nature, animals, and the things we cannot see in the dark. We created fire and fences and walls and locked doors—to this day, in our modern era, we still need these things. At the end of the world, security is tantamount, but what if you need to go beyond your secured barriers? What if behind these walls, things aren’t actually as safe as you think they are? Finding out why a character would breach their safety is intriguing. After all, a… show more.

Think M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village but with zombies and much, much, much, much better.

It was probably one of the first zombie books that I couldn’t put down and got me really thinking what would happen if zombies were real and took over the earth. We’d probably live in a village like the one featured in the book.

Mary lives in a village, surrounded on all sides by a fence, which protects the people within from what lives in the forest. She follows the rules laid out by the Sisterhood, to keep her safe from the Unconsecrated. But things are not as simple as they first appear. There are secrets within this sanctuary, and when the fences are breached, Mary must make a difficult choice – between her village, and her future. Is there a life beyond the Forest of Hands and Teeth?

It was inevitable there would be a zombie story on my list, but this one… show more.