Title: The Gardener
Author: S. A. Bodeen
ISBN: 978-0312370169
Story Length: 240 pages
Genre: Middle Grade Science Fiction

Back Cover of The Gardener

Mason has never known his father, but longs to. All he has of him is a DVD of a man whose face is never seen, reading a children’s book. One day, on a whim, he plays the DVD for a group of comatose teens at the nursing home where his mother works. One of them, a beautiful girl, responds. Mason learns she is part of a horrible experiment intended to render teenagers into autotrophs—genetically engineered, self-sustaining life-forms who don’t need food or water to survive. And before he knows it, Mason is on the run with the girl, and wanted, dead or alive, by the mysterious mastermind of this gruesome plan, who is simply called the Gardener.

Will Mason be forced to destroy the thing he’s longed for most?

Three Quick Points About The Gardener

• Point 1: Ample material with which to start a discussion. The book deals quite a bit with the changing global environment and its ramifications for the human race.
• Point 2: Spotty character development. Mason, as a character, started out well enough, but when Laila was introduced the character development faltered and stalled.
• Point 3: Plot by numbers. The unfolding plot was too convenient, even for a middle grade read, and a side effect was a problem with consistency.

Short Synopsis of The Gardener

I’m skipping the short synopsis because the product description basically tells you the entire story. :/

My Thoughts on The Gardener

I love that this book will ask the reader to think about big things: the food crisis, global warming, moral and ethical responsibilities in bio-engineering and some other similar conundrums. Although each of these issues were superficially touched upon in the book, it was enough to make the mind wander.

What I didn’t love, however, was the plot-by-numbers unfolding of the story. It lead to a number of consistency problems. To give an example without offering a huge spoiler, Mason’s mother is supposed to be an alcoholic—I guess in an effort to add color to the story—but the moment it becomes inconvenient for the plot’s unfolding, it’s abandoned. That wasn’t the only time an established tack was abandoned for the sake of the plot either, which made the story feel unnatural.

Then there’s the problem with the character development, or more specifically, the relationship development. In the beginning, Mason was a well-established and likable character, but after Laila was awakened and he became smitten by her beauty, he became bland as though going through the pre-ordained motions. To make matters worse, there never seemed to be a true connection from Laila’s side. It sent the message that beauty is the only reason one should love, although the author may have been trying for the opposite.

At very least, Mason and Laila should have spent a few scenes getting to know each other on a level other than trying-to-unravel-the-big-conspiracy. It may have made the instant undying love connection easier to digest, if not plausible. On that note, the epilogue with its happily-ever-after ending was a let down.

Rating: Get It Used [C+] (?)

On one hand I love the premise and it’s swift. Using recent biological discoveries, Bodeen weaves a conspiracy story around the bioengineering of children who only need sunlight to survive. Despite this scientific angle, which could easily get boring too quickly, the story doesn’t slow down much as Mason takes it upon himself to rescue one of these children and winds up on the run from the people who created her.

On the other there is a plot-by-numbers feel to it and the puppy love Mason has for Laila feels inorganic and wedged into the story. Suspense is feigned; there are tense moments, but it’s easy to predict what will happen next. For instance, when the unnamed girl sees a picture of Dr. Emerson, she immediately recognizes the scientist. When Mason and the girl go to Dr. Emerson’s lecture, surprise surprise, Dr. Emerson takes one look at the unnamed girl and recognizes her. No big deal, until it’s turned into some amazing and earth shattering event. Plus, Mason mentioning how cute Laila (aka the unnamed girl) is every few pages and using it as a way to explain why he’s going to so much trouble for her is clunky. It was already well established in the opening chapters that he has a hero complex and his awe was put on display the first time he laid eyes on her.

The question for me is whether these detriments outweigh the redeeming qualities and so far the answer is no. Right now I’m hovering around a B-/C+ letter grade for this book, but I’m hoping the ending is awesome so I can bump it up to a solid B/B+.

Back Cover of The Forest of Hands and Teeth

In Mary’s world, there are simple truths.

The Sisterhood always knows best.

The Guardians will protect and serve.

The Unconsecrated will never relent.

And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village. The fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

But slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power. And, when the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness.

Now she must choose between her village and her future, between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?

Three Quick Points About The Forest of Hands and Teeth

• Point 1: Love square surrounded by zombies. You’d think there would be plenty of drama when you have two guys in love with the same girl and another girl being in love with those two guys without throwing zombies into the mix, but you’d be surprised.
• Point 2: Storytelling lost to the ages. One thread throughout the book was the stories Mary’s mother told her, yet we the readers aren’t told these stories, only their synopses.
• Point 3: So many unanswered questions. Such is life. You’re presented with a question, but you become sidetracked and you don’t realize you never received an answer until it’s too late.

Full Review of The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Before reading the full review, please note that there may be some spoilers. I tried to keep it vague enough not to spoil the entire story, but be warned. If you’d rather not take any chances, skip the synopsis and go straight to the final thoughts.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth Synopsis

Mary lives in a gated community surrounded by The Forest of Hands and Teeth and in that forest live the Unconsecrated (flesh eating zombies, in other words). It’s the only life she’s ever known.

When her father is bitten by one of the Unconsecrated, Mary and her brother Jed decide to start keeping a closer eye on their mother because they’re not certain she can be trusted to remain sane in the wake of losing her husband.

It doesn’t work, however, because Mary is distracted by a childhood friend, Harry, who declares his desire to court her and lingers with him a little too long allowing her mother to get too close to the fence.

As Mary watches her mother turn and sent out into the forest to join the other zombies, her world comes crashing down around her. She loses her faith in God. She’s being courted by a boy she does not love and the one she does love (his brother) is courting her best friend. Her brother Jed is angry about their mother and refuses to allow Mary back into their home, so she’s forced to live with and join the Sisterhood and that means good-bye freedom.

While in the Sisterhood’s charge, Mary discovers they’ve been keeping secrets, but becomes distracted when her true love, Travis, is brought in with a badly broken leg. Each night she visits with him and tells him stories of the ocean and eventually, their love for one another grows.

By some miracle, Harry decides to go to the Sisterhood and claim Mary. In doing so, she’s no longer required to join the Sisterhood. Unfortunately, Mary’s heart belongs to another and to make things worse, that other belongs to Cassandra, her best friend. Let’s just say things get extremely muddled from there and will not properly render in a synopsis.

Then there’s a breach of the fence. The village is overrun by slow moving zombies and a fast one, which they aptly call The Fast One. Before leaving the Sisterhood, Mary had a brief interaction with The Fast One and discovered her name was Gabrielle and the Sisters had something to do with her turning.

In all the chaos, Mary, Harry, Travis, Cassandra, Jacob, a young boy, Jed, and Beth, his wife and Harry and Travis’s sister, are all forced into the maze of fences that lead into the unknown.

Final Thoughts On The Forest of Hands and Teeth

I have to start off by saying I truly didn’t care for Mary. I didn’t connect to her emotionally and had no idea why she thought the things she thought or did the things she did half the time.

Her mother’s Return was a pivotal time in her life because it seemed as though she was close to her mother, however, we’re not shown the extent of that closeness. Told? Yes. Shown? No.

For instance, Mary’s mother always told her stories of a time before the Return, but we’re not drawn into the stories. Instead, we’re offered synopses of these stories and as a result, we don’t get to see that bonding between mother and daughter. It would have simply been nice to hear the words coming from Mary’s mother’s mouth as a beautiful memory.

Since I didn’t get that emotional bonding, I had to go on blind faith how guilty Mary truly felt about not getting to her mother before she wandered too close to the fence.

As the book progressed, I began wondering what was so captivating about Mary that would make two guys strive for her love as Harry and Travis, two brothers, did. From my point of view, she seemed a little too flighty and a bit whiney for my liking. Of course, that doesn’t make Mary a bad person, just someone I didn’t connect with.

Another area of contention was Cassandra. We’re told how she is, or how she was, by Mary, but never shown this. No flashbacks of moments where she and Cass were being carefree or laughing over Mary’s stories or anything of that nature. All we’re shown is the current Cass who seems somewhat unreasonable and selfish, until the end when my respect for her grew.

All of that notwithstanding, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. The narrative was smartly written. It was the story and the mystery surrounding the Sisterhood, the forest, and the fences that made the book compelling. Frankly, I would have been just as fine if the whole love square thing were hacked right out of it and we were left with five people, a child, and a dog trying to figure out the puzzle.

Their society, in light of events, became ultra-religious and honoured constancy above love. Marriage was one of convenience and survival rather than for love. It was about keeping the bloodlines clean (I assume, of inbreeding) and elaborate binding rituals were created to see that traditions were upheld.

The Sisterhood controlled their secrets and they apparently had many, even from the Guardians and The Guild who were tasked with keeping the village safe and the fences strong.

It’s hinted at multiple times that The Sisterhood has some knowledge of where the Unconsecrated came from and what lied beyond the forest, but in their lust for power and domination, those secrets were fiercely guarded. Mary’s desire to figure it all out is the driving force behind the book.

At the end, Mary does get her answer, but we readers are still left with plenty of unanswered questions. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And though it may sound a little masochistic, I actually like the not knowing. It gave me some hope.

Rating: Get It Used [B-/C+] (?)

Get the Forest of Hands and Teeth at Amazon

*On a completely unrelated note, I have to warn you that the word scrabble is used at least one too many times in this book. Every time my eyes landed on it, I had to sigh and wonder why.