The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

Publisher: Random House Canada
Released: March 24th, 2011
Genre: YA dystopia
For review from publisher.

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?

From Random House Canada website.

Sheesh, what can I saw about the final Forest of Hands and Teeth book? That it’s totally, completely amazing? That every once in a while I’d stop reading, close the book and hug it? That when I finished I was in tears, not because of the horrible, traumatic things that happened in the book, but because Ryan ended the trilogy PERFECTLY? Sure, I could tell you all these things, but would they really get my point across? I’m not sure they would. So, I’m going to try something a little different. Here goes: here’s my review of The Dark and Hollow Places –

Okay, so I totally can’t draw, but you get the picture. I LOVED this book. LOVED IT! For me, it was the perfect ending to the trilogy. Ryan gives reader the perfect balance of hopefulness and sheer desperation. Every time something positive happened and I started to feel like, okay, things are fine, she pulled the rug out from under the characters and then my heart was beating and I was mumbling “Oh no, oh no, oh no” under my breath. Some people may not like this back and forth stuff, but I ate it up.

The characters are beautiful and desperate and selfish and selfless all at the same time.  The group dynamics between the four main characters was pitch perfect and added so much drama to the plot.

If you haven’t read this trilogy, get off your ass, buy it or borrow it from your library and READ IT. Easily one of my favorite trilogies.