Book Review: The Dark And Hollow Places

The Dark & Hollow Places, by Carrie Ryan, is a YA-classified dystopian thriller/romance and the third and final book in a series. (I reviewed the other two books here and here.) I've had a bit of a reading dry spell these past few weeks, so I was really excited to get my hands on this one.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world where zombies are not-so-slowly weeding out the living, Annah struggles to live by herself in the crumbling remains of what used to be New York City, waiting for her love to come back and find her. But when he comes back with her long-lost twin sister in tow, everything she'd hoped for is thrown asunder and she has to try and figure out if living is worth fighting for.

I loved this book for the same reason I liked the others: strong, lyrical writing, a heart-stopping pace, and taut love stories that have to survive in the face of absolute destruction. I also really liked that Annah is damaged (she fell into a pit of barbed wire that has left her significantly scarred) and self-conscious, but also incredibly strong. I loved getting to see the zombie issue from the eyes of Catcher, an equally-damaged Immune (having been bitten by zombies without being turned into one) who won't let anyone close to him. There's something about watching to human train wrecks colliding and finding a way to rescue each other that I find irresistibly enthralling and Ryan has done it beautifully here. There were some syrupy sermonizing moments that put me off in the first two, but they are few and far between in this installment.

Although Annah and her sister are 'protected' by their manfriends, they do a lot of kick-ass surviving all on their own. I like that, instead of having Catcher save Annah, Ryan lets Annah have the courage to fight and save herself. It's that terrified-girl-does-her-own-rescuing that helps to set this series apart.