Short but not all that sweet - Hare Moon by Carrie Ryan

Tabitha can’t shake the feeling that something exists beyond the fences of her village. And when she sneaks out, past the gates and down the path into the Forest of Hands and Teeth, she meets a boy who teaches her heart things she never knew. But love in a world surrounded by so much death doesn’t come without its sacrifices, and Tabitha gradually realizes just how much she’ll have to give up to live among the Unconsecrated.

I really enjoyed the Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy by Carrie Ryan, so I was more than just a little excited about revisiting the series and reading Hare Moon on my lovely new kindle (as far as I am aware Hare Moon is only available in e-book format). 

Hare Moon is set before the Forest of Hands and Teeth and is a novella (rather than another novel) and a short one at that, I read it in well under an hour.

When I first realised that the short story would be all about Tabitha my first thought was – Wow - Carrie Ryan chose a great character to write a short story about.

Tabitha was certainly a memorable character from the first book and was a character that I did want to know more about. In the Forest of Hands and Teeth, Tabitha, was an old lady and leader of the Sisterhood. But, she wasn’t a loved leader among her people, she was a bit of a tyrant and someone that you wouldn’t want to cross. Personally, I didn’t like Tabitha in the Forest of Hands and Teeth and after reading Hare Moon I STILL didn’t like her.

In Hare Moon I struggled to get my head around her decisions, I know what Carrie Ryan was doing and she was writing, she had a specific ending in mind. After all we already know that Tabitha was a rather mean, stubborn and downright scary old women who ruled over the sisterhood and did what needed to be done to keep the village isolated and safe. I just struggled to believe the actions of the character, I wanted her to make different decisions and although I did get why she made the decisions she did – as it makes all the loose ends come together – it didn’t feel like the real actions of someone in love.

Sorry to be cryptic, I just don’t want to give away any spoilers. But, in Hare Moon Tabitha has an extremely difficult choice to make and I whole heartedly think she makes the wrong one, I just didn’t like it and more importantly I didn’t believe it. Carrie Ryan was trying to do the impossible and create a character that we would like and empathise with and then have her turn around and do something out of character because it then suits her later character...argh...am I even making any sense now?

To sum, I thought the beginning seemed a little weak and more like a first attempt rather than a polished product, the middle was ok and the ending was a disappointment.

Overall, I don’t think that Hare Moon adds anything to the trilogy as a whole. I wouldn’t recommend reading this unless you are very determined. It’s quite expensive considering how little reading time it takes and it was a huge disappointment to me.

Although this has mostly been a negative review, I really did enjoy the full length series of novels. In fact, the forest of hands and teeth was some of the first YA that really opened my eyes to what I had been missing. I am still looking forward to reading what Carrie Ryan produces next. 


 

Genre – YA, Zombies
Published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers (April 2011 - £1.28)
Source – I purchased a copy of Hare Moon by Carrie Ryan