The Return happened generations ago and now Mary's village is isolated, with its fortified fences and ruling Sisters. Mary has always known that no one believes her mother's stories of the ocean, passed from generation to generation, because to venture beyond the village is death. They are the only survivors.
Mary has questions and dreams that extend beyond what she knows, but the Unconsecrated (that means ZOMBIES) keep her at bay. She will marry a man she does not love, she will do what the Sisters tell her to do. She will believe in her mother's ocean and buildings so tall they touch the sky.
Then, when the fences break, she and her friends are forced to run through the forest and confront what they have been told and what they have dreamed of.
Gripping and chilling. It alternates between being a love story, a survival story in this post-apocalyptic landscape, and straight-up horror. Mary (and so, the reader) never fully learn all of the Sisterhoods secrets or reasons. I also like how you're not overly sure which religion the Sisters and the villagers practice (or even if it's one we'll recognize in our pre-zombie world). The name Sister implies nuns, but there is a spot on the outer doorways that Mary always touches that has religious significance, something that made me think of a Jewish muzuzah.
The end of the story is a little abrupt, but overall, I liked it, and I don't like horror or survival stories!
Why are there so few serious zombie books being published for teens? Everything I see is of the lighter variety.
Book Provided by... my local library
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