Order of Carrie Ryan Books

Carrie Ryan is an American author of young adult and middle grade fiction, best known for her dystopian and fantasy novels. She rose to prominence with her internationally bestselling novel The Forest of Hands and Teeth, praised for its atmospheric world-building and compelling exploration of survival, community, and hope. Ryan has since written across multiple age categories and genres, creating stories that blend suspense, adventure, and emotional depth. Her work includes standalone novels, series fiction, and collaborations with other authors.

Carrie Ryan made her debut as a novelist in 2009 with The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Below is a list of Carrie Ryan’s books in order of when they were originally released:

Publication Order of The Forest of Hands and Teeth Books

Publication Order of The Map to Everywhere Books

(with John Parke Davis)

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Dead Air Books

Publication Order of Infinity Ring Books

Publication Order of Stillhouse Lake Books

(with Rachel Caine)

Publication Order of Anthologies

If You Like Carrie Ryan Books, You’ll Love…

• Cindy Pon
• Mira Grant
• Jonathan Maberry

Carrie Ryan Synopses: The Forest of Hands and Teeth is the first book in a series of the same name by Carrie Ryan. In Mary’s isolated village, life is governed by strict rules meant to keep everyone safe from the dangers lurking in the surrounding Forest of Hands and Teeth. She’s always trusted the Sisterhood, the Guardians, and the fence that shields them – until cracks begin to show and a breach throws her community into turmoil. With everything she’s ever known at risk, Mary must make impossible choices about loyalty, love, and her own future. Driven by hope and fear in equal measure, she sets out to uncover the truth about the forest and whether a world beyond her village might still exist.

The Dead-Tossed Waves is the second book in Carrie Ryan’s Forest of Hands and Teeth series. Gabry has grown up safely by the sea, far from the horrors her mother once escaped in the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Their walled town feels secure, but in a world shaped by the Return, danger is never truly gone. When a single night beyond the Barrier leads to disaster, long-buried secrets from her mother’s past begin to surface, shattering everything Gabry thought she knew. Forced to flee and fight for her future, she must follow a trail back into the forest her mother once braved – where answers, and new threats, await.

Bougainvillea by Carrie Ryan is a short story in the Forest of Hands and Teeth series. On the island of Curaçao – one of the last safe places after the zombie apocalypse – Iza lives under the harsh rule of her father, a leader whose unforgiving policies decide who is allowed to survive. She refuses to believe that cruelty is the only way to keep their people alive, but when their defenses fail and rebels capture her, Iza is forced to confront the truths she’s tried to avoid. Caught between privilege and rebellion, and between the living and the ever-present threat outside the walls, she must decide what kind of person she wants to become – and what survival really means.

The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan is the third book in the Forest of Hands and Teeth series. Annah’s life is haunted by memories she wishes she could erase.

The look on her sister’s face the day she was left behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth. The first terrifying sight of the Horde as they overran the Dark City. And most of all, the morning Elias abandoned her – a wound that makes life without him feel no different from the dead that roam the ruined city.

Then she meets Catcher, and for the first time in years, the world seems full of life again.

But Catcher carries secrets of his own – dark, dangerous truths tied to a past Annah has tried desperately to forget. Now she faces an impossible choice: can she survive in a world soaked in the blood of the living, or is death the only escape in life after the Return?