I think I would've adored this book if it had a slightly different narrative voice. There was a well thought out plot, with good description and the whole world made a lot of sense. It was beautifully written and I loved the small town life vibe with it being a Utopia of sorts, a haven in a world of chaos that our protagonist is just itching to get out of. It starts off veeeery slow and the first quarter of the book is somewhat repetitive. It cycles between Mary pining over Travis, sneaking around the castle, some more forbidden action with Travis and finally, some more sneaking around the castle. Throw in a bunch of talking about the ocean at the most inappropriate times and viola, you have the first chunk. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate she's never seen the ocean, she's curious, wants proof yadda yadda yadda, but it's like every other conversation of hers is nattering on about it. (AND THIS GOES ON THE WHOLE BOOK) I swear I never want to see the sea again, she's killed it for me. And she mentions far too many times holding Harry's hand and how unhealthy it looked . Sorry, because it's soft? Mmkay. Jeez kid. 
 When the action starts happening, the book becomes far more enjoyable. Yet I can't help but think that if we had a different protagonist I might enjoy the book far more. I was screaming at her for so many things, 
 1 I'm Mary I'm going to be selfish and wander around talking about THE SEA 
 2 (view spoiler)[ I have an irrational fixation on the Unconsecrated. I mean does she have a death wish or something?! Oh look a dead person in a bright colour, I must stare at her for hours despite her trying to bite my face off. OOH LOOK a kid with freckles trying to eat me! I'm going to go hug him or some shit. WTF? AND WHEN SHE PICKS UP THAT ****ING BABY, ARRRRGH DIE BITCH DIE. (hide spoiler)] 
 Some kudos to the girl is that she knows what she wants to find out and is pretty determined to get her answers-despite the consequences it could have on her (and everyone else), though this recklessness could simply be due to her feeling she has no options in life and wanting to escape the world she is caged in. Not going to lie, I don't really like Mary. I really wanted to like Travis but I thought he was just too underdeveloped as a character, I mean Argos the dog got as much backstory as him and he was a main character. 
 I think Jed, Mary's brother was in my opinion the most developed character and I understood the way he was. 
 Carrie Ryan did give a really good interpretation of fear and how it changes people which most books gloss over. She showed how people got angry, selfish and didn't think about anything other than what's going on right there right then. I thought the book had some excellent action in and a nice amount of suspense. It was very emotional and I liked the intergration of the forest into the story. There was a real suspense feeling, and yeh, probably not the best book to read at night alone (my bad). I think with a bit more work on character development it would've been amazing. There was some intense emotional sad scenes (death death death) :( but they definitely enriched the plot. I also liked the ending because although it wasn't happy it was what was best for Mary and I wanted that much for her..