Review: THE DARK AND HOLLOW PLACES by Carrie Ryan

THE DARK AND HOLLOW PLACES
by Carrie Ryan

Hardcover, 374 pages
Published March 22nd 2011 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Placement in the Pile: Top Picks!

Summary:
There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister's face before Annah left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the Horde as they swarmed the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters.

Annah's world stopped that day, and she's been waiting for Elias to come home ever since. Somehow, without him, her life doesn't feel much different than the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Until she meets Catcher, and everything feels alive again.

But Catcher has his own secrets. Dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah has longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it's up to Annah: can she continue to live in a world covered in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return's destruction?

Review:
This is the third and final book in the FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH series by the fabulous Carrie Ryan. The whole series has captured me. My review for FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH was done on an old blog that there isn't access to anymore. But my review for THE DEAD TOSSED WAVES can be found HERE.

Each installment of this series gets more and more serious, and more and more dark. But in a good way. Of course as you get deeper into the Return, deeper into the infection and how it affects us as mankind you will find darkness and despair. But just as the books hold despair for humankind, they hold hope and romance that flourishes despite the dire circumstances all around.

What shocked me most about this book was the intense life that Annah has to survive. Just when I think her circumstances can't possibly get harder, they do. She is thrown around and beaten up in this book, but in the end there is hope!

I enjoyed the whole series so, so much. I hope you all give it a chance if you haven't already.