I did not love this book. In fact, it almost made it into the “unfinished” pile, which is a pretty small pile. I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while and I’ve read some glowing reviews and I tried to like it, I really did. It just did nothing for me. Maybe because it reminded me of The Village and I really hated that movie.Characters:The main character, Mary, was so selfish and unlikeable as a character. She risks everybody that she claims to love in order to chase the ocean. Is she just a selfish teenager or is she mentally unhinged?Mary’s brother Jed was just such a dick. He disowns Mary because their *adult* mother made the choice to go into the Forest after she had been bitten. Then at the end he declares that he’s her big brother and he will follow her anywhere in order to protect her. Does he have multiple personalities?Harry & Travis, the two brothers that are in love with Mary…Travis & Mary apparently fell in love while he was being cared for by the Sisterhood and Mary tended to him. I say apparently because Mary spent a few nights telling him her stories of the ocean and oh em gee she loves him! No development in their love story at all. Mary’s betrothed to Harry and Travis is betrothed to Mary’s best friend Cass, but hey, who cares? This love triangle (square?) was pointless and ineffective.I had no attachment to these characters and didn’t care if they lived or died, which is ok really because we don’t actually find out if some of them live or die.As zombies go, the Unconsecrated in this book were…kinda lame. They moaned and they pulled at the fence surrounding the village but I felt their threat was not immediate. Which isn’t really true because Mary loses both her parents to the Unconsecrated but I just feel they were surplus to the story.Plot:Where to start? So many questions were raised in this book and go unanswered and I’m not sure I want to read the sequels to see if they’re answered. What did the Sisterhood actually know about the Return? What did they do to Gabrielle? What else was written in that giant book Mary finds? The story seems to plod along with Mary living in the Cathedral and sneaking to see Travis, with them walking down these paths outside the gate and with them being trapped in the village. There’s no sense of time passing, really. These events happen and you don’t know if they’re taking place within days, weeks or months.Conclusion:I really don’t know if I’m going to read the rest of the series, even though I hate leaving series’ unfinished. I wouldn’t recommend this if you like zombie stories because it’s not really a zombie story. I was underwhelmed and gave it 1 star.
 - Carrie Ryan)
