Review of The Dark And Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

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?

Honestly, this book made slogging through the first two worth it. While Mary and Annah's twin sister Gabry spend most of their time whining and letting everyone else fix things for them, Annah seemed much more independent after being left in the Dark City by Elias three years ago. She's by far my favourite character of the three girls and really made the read worthwhile, particularly towards the final pages.

Elias and Gabry did not come across as well however. There was one particularly memorable scene where Annah asks Gabry how she's okay with Elias essentially handing over people to be tortured to death and she's like... Yeah but the dick is really good *shrug* Plus Elias decided that fucking off and leaving a teenage girl in a city with no law enforcement and a fuck ton of zombies was actually an okay idea.

We spend most of our time on an island of soldiers trying not to get raped, which was just lovely. It did give some good bonding moments between Gabry and Annah, and Catcher and Annah which I did really enjoy. The first and last parts of the book were quite fast paced and binge worthy, but the middle did slog.