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The Girl with All the Gifts

by M.R. Carey (Goodreads Author)

3.92 · Rating Details · 80,917 Ratings · 10,771 Reviews

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her "our little genius."

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.

Melanie loves school. Sh ...more

Paperback, 460 pages

Published June 19th 2014 by Orbit (first published January 14th 2014)

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Lists with This Book

Best Picks: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Novels of 2014

11th out of 272 books — 1,440 voters

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

What Women Born In The 1970s Read In 2015

36th out of 6,221 books — 1,398 voters

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Community Reviews

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Sep 19, 2016 Emily May rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery-thriller-horror, 2015

“And then like Pandora, opening the great big box of the world and not being afraid, not even caring whether what’s inside is good or bad. Because it’s both. Everything is always both. But you have to open it to find that out.”

I have to say that I'm not much of a traditional zombie fan - moaning, slow-walking dead people are neither interesting nor scary to me - but there is nothing traditional about this book.

Firstly, this is not an old school "how to get away from the zombies and stay alive" ...more

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Jul 11, 2015 Jesse (JesseTheReader) rated it really liked it

Creepy, eerie, & unexpected! I enjoyed this one!

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Mar 16, 2016 Wendy Darling rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adult, dystopian-post-apocalyptic-utopian, pn-zombies-biters, horror, sci-fi-or-futuristic, scared-the-crap-out-of-me, made-my-heart-hurt, uk, own-dtb-tbr, action-packed, orbit, june, 2014-publication, gory, read-2014, 2014-favorites, 2014-5-star-books

This is the story of a girl, locked in a room, who is strapped into a chair every morning while a man holds a gun to her head. She’s wheeled into a classroom in which there are other kids strapped into chairs just like hers, where a woman teaches them lessons that they will probably never need to learn.

This book is like a fantastic combination of

the scrupulously researched medical thriller aspects of Mira Grant's Deadline +
the queer, feral curiosity of a child who's not what she seems, like Oct ...more

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Sep 13, 2016 karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: creepy-children, zombies-r-bitey

now no one can yell at me ever again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjGkB...

argh, another tricky-to-review book.

i think it's safe to discuss the fact that this book is about zombies. that cat is outta that bag. but it's one of those new spins on the zombie-tale, like Raising Stony Mayhall and Zone One and The Reapers are the Angels, where the focus is not "run away from zombies aaaaaahhhh," but one which comes at the zombie story from a social philosophy angle as the survivors struggle with t ...more

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Apr 18, 2015 Braiden rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adult-spec-read-and-love

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I was duped.

I thought The Girl With All the Gifts was about a girl who had "all the gifts" and was somehow a modern Lilith (say, like, Lilith in Supernatural as the little girl) and would bring about the apocalypse if she didn't learn to control her gifts.

I was duped. Hard.

And I'm glad I was. I'm glad the premise on the back of the book gave absolutely nothing away, only that we were going to meet a young girl by the name of Melanie, a genius and a very special girl. I'm glad that every detail a I was duped.

I thought The Girl With All the Gifts was about a girl who had "all the gifts" and was somehow a modern Lilith (say, like, Lilith in Supernatural as the little girl) and would bring about the apocalypse if she didn't learn to control her gifts.

I was duped. Hard.

And I'm glad I was. I'm glad the premise on the back of the book gave absolutely nothing away, only that we were going to meet a young girl by the name of Melanie, a genius and a very special girl. I'm glad that every detail about the book kept what's inside hidden away for the reader to discover alone - Pandora's box, if you will. And I don't really care that I was duped. Because The Girl With All the Gifts was a breakout so far for 2014, and I surely will be recommending M. R. Carey's sensational and engrossingly written novel for anyone that dares to question it's worth in the speculative scene.

Opening Pandora's box and unleashing what's inside is the major theme of M. R. Carey's The Girl With All the Gifts, something we should do throughout our lives, unafraid of change or disturbances. Or it could even just mean being open to things in life that contradict your beliefs. This theme existed throughout the story arcs of each of the characters of The Girl With All the Gifts, from young 10-year old Melanie, to the teacher Miss Helen Justineau, Sergeant Parks, Dr Caldwell, and Private Kieran Gallagher.

Carey's credit as a comic and film writer surely does make The Girl With All the Gifts a force to be reckoned with - The Girl With All the Gifts is a thrilling page-turner comprising of fully-realised characters, each with their own aspirations, fears, and pasts. This book is one word: Alive.

Additionally, Carey's zombies, his "hungries," are much different than what is currently on the shelves for zombie enthusiasts. The hungries and the actual biological science behind their manifestations are highly original and intriguing. The hungries are increasingly fascinating as we discover more about the parasite/protozoan that plague the bodies as Dr Caldwell does, as she conducts her experiments, stubbornly and without any outward thought for ethics.

Melanie and the other children in her "school," kept restrained and locked in cells, are infected with the fungus and exhibit behaviours of the fully-formed hungries, yet what makes these children different is that the brain has not been conquered by the fungus. This allows Melanie and the children to be able to emote and think like any ordinary human being, with a conscience. Although Melanie desires human flesh, she controls the hunger. Melanie's ability to experience feelings and emotions allows a bond to form between her and her teacher Miss Justineau. Then the research establishment that the "school" is located within - where Melanie is locked away; where Miss Justineau teaches; where Dr Caldwell conducts her research; where Sergeant Parks orders - is attacked and razed, and this band of individuals, along with Private Gallagher, a group consisting of individuals as incompatible as dogs and cats, must learn to trust and rely on each other if they are to survive and reach Beacon alive, which is perhaps the only remaining town still intact in England.

The relationship between Melanie and Miss Justineau is the heart of this novel - it is beautiful and full of hope and compromise. The narrative is thought-provoking and fast-paced, a lethal combination for any reader after a solid and eventful story. The Girl With All the Gifts is a fantastic addition to the zombie genre and I look forward to reading more from M. R. Carey, particularly his Felix Castor series and the various comics including Lucifer and The Unwritten. ...more

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Aug 18, 2014 Maggie Stiefvater rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adult, recommended

The most sure-footed novel I've read all year. A dystopian thriller with a real, beating heart. Recommend. Recommend. Recommend.

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Jul 18, 2016 Raeleen Lemay rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, 2016-reading-challenge

*3.5/5*

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Sep 30, 2016 Mark Lawrence rated it it was amazing

The last book I read (which was very good) took me 16 weeks to get through.

This one arrived yesterday morning. My wife got her hands on it first and finished it by the evening. I took over and have finished it 8pm on the next day (today). It's not a short book, 460 pages of reasonably small font. It *is* a very compelling book. The opening is the strongest I've read in an age.

It's the first book I've bought in a long time. Publishers and authors send me free books in the hope I'll read them and ...more

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Dec 19, 2014 Regan rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-owned-read

A little different than what I was expecting but still great!

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Jul 06, 2014 Ben rated it it was ok

Ugh.

This book has what might be the greatest first act I've ever read. I can't describe it, because part of its wonderful tension relies on the reader's ignorance of the situation. It's absolutely brilliant though, and tells a story of a tragically fascinating girl and her relationship with her teacher and the world around her. It promises so much.

Then act two begins and almost all of that is thrown out the window for boilerplate thriller territory. It is all well written, tense, and exception ...more

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Dec 19, 2014 Shelby *trains flying monkeys* rated it liked it

Shelves: end-of-the-world, zombies, netgalley, read-2014

Buddy read with the moistest awesome... My drinking buddy Mitchell, Kelly Goldblum and The Book pusher Ed

I had this review all planned out in my head. Then I went to sleep and it's gone. Getting old sucks, kids.

This may be kinda spoilery so read at your own caution. It's hard to not say anything about the book. I went into it blind and that might be the best way to head into it. I didn't even realize it was a zombie book-and don't get me wrong I likes some zombies but I've kinda taken a break ...more

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Aug 08, 2014 Trudi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: apocalyptic-types, survive-this, zombies, group-in-peril, science-fiction, 2014

Despite the gushing praise this book has been receiving -- including a blurb by Josh Whedon -- I approached The Girl With All the Gifts with a fair amount of trepidation. I'm a zombie traditionalist at heart, which means my foray into "experimental" zombie fiction -- literary or otherwise -- has met with mixed results. I normally don't like my zombies to talk, fall in love or have existential crises. Hell, I don't even want my zombies to run; I'm all about the Romero shuffle (though there was so Despite the gushing praise this book has been receiving -- including a blurb by Josh Whedon -- I approached The Girl With All the Gifts with a fair amount of trepidation. I'm a zombie traditionalist at heart, which means my foray into "experimental" zombie fiction -- literary or otherwise -- has met with mixed results. I normally don't like my zombies to talk, fall in love or have existential crises. Hell, I don't even want my zombies to run; I'm all about the Romero shuffle (though there was something truly terrifying and unsettling about Danny Boyle's fast-moving zombies that scared the piss out of me). Even for a traditionalist like me, there's exceptions to every rule. And I found a few more buried like awesome treasure in the pages of M.R Carey's novel.

In case you didn't know, M.R Carey is the not so cryptic pen name for the super-talented Mike Carey. This gentleman knows how to tell a story, where the pulse points live and when to go for the jugular. He also knows that without giving the reader characters to care about your story is gonna have all the pop of a wet firecracker.

A lot of what we get here we've seen before. The world is in the shitter. The zombies (or hungries in this case) have risen up and wiped out humanity. It's about twenty years later and our entry point into the story starts at a fortified base that doubles as a research lab. There are doctors and soldiers, fences and guns. But there are also civilian teachers and children who are their students. And here's where the story takes a bit of a twist: If you do not want to know anything else about this book then beware some mild spoilers ahead under the spoiler tag

(view spoiler)

Like a lot of my favorite zombie stories, this one soon slides into the 'group in peril' scenario. A rag tag group of survivors, including Melanie, are left to fend for themselves beyond the safety of the fences where the hungries thrive. Where will they go and what will they have to do in order to get there in one piece?

I love the chemistry of this group and the characterization. They all start out as stereotypes but as the story moves along, each of them evolves from an archetype into a real person with depth and distinctive personalities. I'm a sucker for character, and I felt I got it in spades here. Another rewarding aspect is the time spent describing the zombie virus. Usually the answer to what makes a zombie even possible is ignored, but not so here. Carey offers up a pretty interesting scenario that for me anyway, leads to a very satisfying climax.

Is this a perfect read? Nope. There are a few incredulous moments (view spoiler) and a few places where the narrative dips and nearly stalls; however those instances are rare. For the most part this is cinematic zombie gold. It's a heady mix of tension and release, adrenaline and emotion. A must-read for all zombie lovers and the zombie curious. ...more

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May 17, 2014 Susan rated it it was ok · review of another edition

To be fair to this book, it is not really the sort of thing I would normally read – however, it was chosen by my book club and the initial description looked quite promising. Melanie is ten and, when we meet her, she is in a base – her entire world consisting of her cell, a corridor, a shower room and a classroom. Five days a week, Melanie is strapped into a wheelchair, fastened securely and wheeled into the classroom where she, and her fellow classmates are taught. Melanie is a bright and engag To be fair to this book, it is not really the sort of thing I would normally read – however, it was chosen by my book club and the initial description looked quite promising. Melanie is ten and, when we meet her, she is in a base – her entire world consisting of her cell, a corridor, a shower room and a classroom. Five days a week, Melanie is strapped into a wheelchair, fastened securely and wheeled into the classroom where she, and her fellow classmates are taught. Melanie is a bright and engaging little girl, who has an enormous crush on one of her teachers, Miss Helen Justineau. However, we are obviously aware that things are seriously not right and the world as we know it has changed beyond recognition. Although Melanie is content enough with the world that she knows, she is concerned when two children from her class suddenly disappear; taken by the aggressive Sergeant Parks to Dr Caroline Caldwell’s lab, never to return.

Although this begins as an interesting dystopian novel, it soon descends into a fairly basic zombie story and, once I fell in with the plot, my heart began to sink. A group of characters, including the doctor, the teacher Miss Justineau, Sergeant Parks and a young private Kieran Gallagher, plus Melanie, find themselves on the run in a hostile environment. The strong female characters in a genre which is very male oriented led the story in a more interesting way and Melanie’s realisation of who, and what, she is, is very well done. However, I found it difficult to retain interest in the plot and it did become rather wearing, and rather ridiculous, towards the end. By far the strongest part of the novel is at the beginning, when you are not sure of why Melanie is being kept and caged like a laboratory animal. Towards the middle it became rather a slog to the finish and I got to the end with relief. Still, if you do like this kind of zombie horror book, with a more female slant, then this might be for you, but the book as a whole does not live up to the premise it suggests.

...more

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Oct 02, 2015 Carol. rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: apocalypse fans

Shelves: sci-fi, apocalypse, zombies, should-buy, arc

One mark of a great book is how it plays with reader expectations. The strategy of taking a conventional genre story and turning it sideways often works. Sometimes it can fail, coming across as little more than a clever gimmick. But sometimes it succeeds beyond imagining, particularly in the hands of an author with talent like Carey’s. The Girl With All the Gifts uses lovely prose to explore the growth of ten year old Melanie, a child of the apocalypse who seems to be shuttled between a cell, a One mark of a great book is how it plays with reader expectations. The strategy of taking a conventional genre story and turning it sideways often works. Sometimes it can fail, coming across as little more than a clever gimmick. But sometimes it succeeds beyond imagining, particularly in the hands of an author with talent like Carey’s. The Girl With All the Gifts uses lovely prose to explore the growth of ten year old Melanie, a child of the apocalypse who seems to be shuttled between a cell, a classroom and a shower.

It is a story about discovery. Melanie is particularly fond of Miss Justineau, a teacher who exposes them to wonderful ideas: Greek stories and mythology, playing a flute, the kings and queens of England, and even the population of all the British cities (allowing her to figure probable population density, but she has the feeling her figures need to be updated). The day they read the Light Brigade (presumably The Charge of the Light Brigade) and start asking Miss Justineau about death, and families, and ideas spark.

“Melanie knows her classmates well enough to be sure that they’re turning Miss Justineau’s words over and over in their minds, the same way she is–shaking them and worrying at them, to see what insights might fall out. Because the one thing they never learn about, really, is themselves.“

It is a story about a innocence. We learn about Melanie the same way that she does; in bits and pieces as she assembles the puzzle of her world around her. Her day always begins in her cell, with Melanie sitting in a wheelchair, waiting for the Sergeant to point his gun at her while his two soldiers buckle straps around her wrists, ankles and neck. She’s wheeled into a classroom with other kids who appear to be similarly restrained. As Melanie describes her teacher, the facility, the relationships around her, both she and the reader start to build the world. Perhaps the reader will draw inferences faster than Melanie, being older, more experienced, and more cynical. An interesting tension is created as the reader waits to see if her conclusions are correct.

It is a story of contrasts. In the beginning, the austerity of the cells and the barrenness of the compound countered in the moments Melanie is exposed to the outdoor world. Early on, when Miss Justineau brings spring flowers into the classroom for the first time: “The children are hypnotised. It’s spring in the classroom. It’s equinox, with the world balanced between winter and summer, life and death, like a spinning ball balanced on the tip of someone’s finger.”

It is also a story of identity. Narrative is largely Melanie’s experience, but there are also chances to experience the world from the perspectives of Miss Justineau, Sergeant Parks and Dr. Caldwell. The characters come to discover and learn to define themselves, leading to moments of profound awareness: “The second is that some things become true simply by being spoken. When she said to the little girl ‘I’m here for you’, the architecture of her mind, her definition of herself, shifted and reconfigured around that statement. She became committed, or maybe just acknowledged a commitment. It has nothing to do with guilt for earlier crimes (although she has a pretty fair understanding of what she deserves), or any hope of redemption. It’s just the outermost point on an arc. She’s risen as far as she can, and now she’s falling again, no longer in control (if she ever was to start with) of her own movements.”

Yet despite the engrossing story, I have, perhaps, two issues with the book. First, Melanie’s voice feels mature, even though it lacks sophistication in interpretation. I’m not a giant fan of books starring a young protagonist, so while it is hard to precisely identify the source of discontent, I feel fairly certain it is there. Secondly, the ending was not precisely satisfying. However, I’m willing to give Carey that one; after all; it was appropriate as well as consistent with his genre-challenge.

I’ve never made any secret of being a (view spoiler) fan. In my old age, I’m finally allowing myself to be unabashedly enthusiastic. The Girl with All the Gifts is one of those rare genre entries that will satisfy most readers regardless of their feelings about(view spoiler)

“And then like Pandora, opening the great big box of the world and not being afraid, not even caring whether what’s inside is good or bad. Because it’s both. Everything is always both.
But you have to open it to find that out.“

Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing me an advance e-reader copy. Quotes are taken from a galley copy and are subject to change in the published edition. ...more

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Mar 17, 2015 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2014, everyone-loved-it-but-me

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

“Then like Pandora, opening the great big box of the world and not being afraid, not even caring whether what’s inside is good or bad. Because it’s both. Everything is always both. But you have to open it to find that out.”

Melanie has been a prisoner for a long time. All of her days are the same. Guards come to her cell, strap her securely into a chair and wheel her down the hall . . . . to a classroom? Obviously Melanie isn’t your a ...more

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Aug 11, 2014 Jenna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, audiobook-immersion-reading, contemporary-fiction, fiction, 5-stars-baby, you-ll-love-this-one, buddy-read

Buddy Read with the lovely Anasylvia :)

I must admit that I went into this read blind...completely blind. I had no earthly idea what it was about but I noticed the high ratings and I was a bit intrigued by the title. Had I known the genre, I would have avoided it at all costs and that may be the reason why the synopsis is slowly revealed throughout the book.

I absolutely loved the build up of the story and throughout most of the book, I wanted to know what would be revealed next. I found this book ...more

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Apr 05, 2016 Will M. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Sci-Fi and Zombie fans

Shelves: sci-fi, crime-mystery-thriller, books-i-own, zombies, 2016, best-of-2016

It's not usual that I enjoy zombie related books. I haven't read much, but I've seen a lot of movies and several tv series about it. When I first bought this book months ago, the only thing I knew about it was that it's about zombies. I was a bit reluctant to buy it, and also read it a few weeks ago, because I didn't see how an author could make a zombie book standout. M. R. Carey managed to do one of the more difficult things to do, and that is to make a zombie novel astounding.

When it comes to It's not usual that I enjoy zombie related books. I haven't read much, but I've seen a lot of movies and several tv series about it. When I first bought this book months ago, the only thing I knew about it was that it's about zombies. I was a bit reluctant to buy it, and also read it a few weeks ago, because I didn't see how an author could make a zombie book standout. M. R. Carey managed to do one of the more difficult things to do, and that is to make a zombie novel astounding.

When it comes to zombie stories it's all about being unique. Apocalyptic elements are always present when it comes to zombies, and honestly that's the only way to go. You can't create a zombie story without tackling on the apocalypse. It always starts with someone making something infectious, and that's where the whole plot starts.

The thing with The Girl with All the Gifts is that it is original. The author did a bit of a different take in the zombie genre. It's hard to feel something for a zombie character, but I learned to like Melanie early in the novel. I know that she is not your typical zombie, and that is what made her standout. I don't think it is a spoiler to call her a zombie because the summary at the back of the book says it all.

What is amazing about this novel would be the characters. It is not just Melanie who made this novel amazing, but all the other supplementary and fellow main characters. Even Dr. Caldwell made this great for me. Without her brutal and heartless experiments, Ophiocordyceps would forever be a mystery to the story. Parks and Justineau obviously plays a major role in the novel. I don't want to tackle much on the plot as spoilers always ruin the experience.

Another thing about the characters is that they developed perfectly. It's a different kind of development for each one, but I really like how they changed. I liked all of them all throughout the novel. I didn't dislike anyone, not even the normally annoying ones.

I'll be honest and say that I tend to love character-driven novels, and this is one of them. I can gladly say though that aside from having terrific characters, the novel also has an amazing plot. When I was reading chapter 67, I thought I was going to loathe this novel. There were only a few pages left and the story felt tremendously unfinished. I was dreading those final pages, but the author gave the novel a proper closure. I really like how he ended things. It can either be open-ended, or that's it. The major plot-twist in the end is an indicative fact that anything can happen in literature.

The writing is exquisite. The flow of the story is commendable, and the length is perfect. Like I said above, I thought the ending will suck, but fortunately the author knew what he was doing.

5/5 stars. Once again, I really don't want to spoil anything, so all I can say is go ahead and read this amazing novel. I can't wait to read more novels written by M.R. Carey (also known as Mike Carey in the comic book world) ...more

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Jul 13, 2014 Amanda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: blog, cover-worse-than-book

When Joss Whedon says, "read this," I heed the call.

Only 10 years old, Melanie is brimming with curiosity about the world and unabashedly enthusiastic about school. Blessed with a genius intellect, a kind heart, and a love of mythology, it's easy to fall in love with the precocious protagonist of The Girl With All the Gifts. However, despite these gifts, the world is very afraid of Melanie--every morning, two armed guards arrive at her cell, strap her by the legs, arms, and neck to a wheelchair, When Joss Whedon says, "read this," I heed the call.

Only 10 years old, Melanie is brimming with curiosity about the world and unabashedly enthusiastic about school. Blessed with a genius intellect, a kind heart, and a love of mythology, it's easy to fall in love with the precocious protagonist of The Girl With All the Gifts. However, despite these gifts, the world is very afraid of Melanie--every morning, two armed guards arrive at her cell, strap her by the legs, arms, and neck to a wheelchair, and escort her to her classroom. This is fine with Melanie as it's the only world she's ever known and as long as her favorite teacher, Miss Justineau, is there, Melanie has everything she needs. It's not until the outside world comes crashing in and Melanie is saved by Miss Justineau that she learns how truly dangerous she is to others . . . and to herself.

I'm working hard here to avoid spoilers as most of the enjoyment of The Girl With All the Gifts comes from the fact that M.R. Carey plays his cards close to the vest during the first fourth of the novel. It's also obvious that the publishing company went to great lengths to keep the secret with that awful cover and perplexing title. To be honest, had I known what the book was about I would have never bought it because this genre (view spoiler) isn't my bag, baby. I go out of my way to avoid it and it's hard for me to express how much I detest this genre, both in literary and movie form. Still, despite my strong bias against it, I enjoyed The Girl With All the Gifts immensely.

Part of the reason as to why I was able to lose myself in a book I'm hardwired to hate is that, despite there being some of the obvious genre tropes, there are plenty of inventive twists. Carey has developed a believable world, complete with a devastating history and scientific origin for the tragic events that unfold (I really appreciate that there is a "why" offered instead of going with a "who-cares-how-it-just-did-so-let's-move-on-to-the-awesome-stuff" explanation).

The other reason I enjoyed it is because of the strong characterization of Melanie and her ability to constantly adapt as the world she knew crumbles around her. The novel's title is a reference to Melanie's favorite myth, that of Pandora, whose name means "all gifts." Melanie is a mystery to herself and, as she begins to open the box of who she is, she finds both the capacity for terrifying evil, but also for strength and resilience. The other main characters (Helen Justineau, Sergeant Eddie Parks, Dr. Caroline Caldwell, and Private Kieran Gallagher) are given depth by the same moral duality and by pasts that haunt them as they move into an uncertain future.

The quick narrative pacing and the inventive spin on a tired genre make The Girl With All the Gifts well worth a read.

Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder ...more

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Jun 10, 2014 Mogsy (MMOGC) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, zombies, horror, favorites, review-copy, post-apocalyptic, arcs-and-galleys

5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.blogspot.com/201...

I confess, I’m not very good when it comes to pulling information out of book descriptions. But all I know is, when I first heard about The Girl with All The Gifts, it piqued my interest right away. Here you have a story about a bright young girl named Melanie, who for some reason everyone seems deathly afraid of. Being held at gun-point while being strapped into a wheelchair just to go to class? Judging by level of parano 5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.blogspot.com/201...

I confess, I’m not very good when it comes to pulling information out of book descriptions. But all I know is, when I first heard about The Girl with All The Gifts, it piqued my interest right away. Here you have a story about a bright young girl named Melanie, who for some reason everyone seems deathly afraid of. Being held at gun-point while being strapped into a wheelchair just to go to class? Judging by level of paranoia with which she’s treated, you’d think little Melanie was Hannibal Lecter. The book jacket may be a little scarce on details, but there’s definitely something strange going on.

So it really shouldn’t have surprised me when this book turned out to be Horror, and yet it did. Finding out about the genre, however, just made me even more excited to read it. And just when I thought things couldn’t get any better, OH HELLO, THEY DO!

By now, I gather it’s pretty safe to explain why I had myself a personal little freak-out when it hit me just what I was in for with this story. After all, the revelation comes very early on in the novel and is hardly a spoiler, not to mention the book has been out in the UK for months now and the cat is out of the bag. But avert your eyes now if you would prefer to know absolutely ZIP about the book going in. Anyway, my excitement levels exploded when I realized that The Girl with All The Gifts…has zombies.

And I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet. What makes this a great zombie book – a great book, PERIOD – is the science. Ah, gotta love science. Like I always say, if you want to see some scary stuff, look no further than Mother Nature. Heck, some of the most frightening, bone-chilling things I’ve ever seen in film aren’t in horror movies, but are in those dang Planet Earth documentaries. Who could forget the “Jungles” episode and the importance of fungi as illustrated by the life cycle of Ophiocordyceps unilatertalis? Oh, the sheer horror of watching the parasite take over an ant’s brain before the fruiting body explodes out of the back of its victim’s head, all while Sir David Attenborough goes on calmly narrating in those smooth, dulcet tones. That sequence was beyond traumatizing – but also fascinating. I remember being obsessed with the idea, thinking to myself, holy crap, someone pleeeeease write a zombie book based around this!

Well, even though the video game The Last of Us might have done it first, M.R. Carey ended up granting me my wish. And he does it in such a spectacular way, wrapping this fantastic idea around a story filled with mystery, action, and lots of gut-wrenching heartbreak. The Girl with All The Gifts is everything I look for in a zombie book – tight, energetic pacing with all the savagery, suspense and tension – but it’s also so much more. For me, this book is the next step in zombie fiction, delivering on the survival and post-apocalyptic elements we all know and love, while pushing the envelope with new ideas and deep characterization.

Due to its nature, it’s not surprising that the zombie-apocalypse survival subgenre tends to feature ruthlessness and characters with hard hearts who show no pity. But seeing the themes of mercy and compassion enter into the equation here is a nice change of pace. A lot of this is due to Melanie. If you also guessed from the description that there’s something different about her character, you’d be correct. Melanie is definitely a special little girl, and she’s part of what makes this book such an exceptional, atypical zombie novel and such a joy for me to read.

Even though I can probably go on for another couple pages about why I loved this book, I really don’t want to give too much away. There are lots of surprises, including an unpredictable ending that truly stunned me. I loved this book to pieces. Haunting, powerful and poignant, The Girl with All The Gifts is a novel I would recommend highly and without reservation. ...more

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Jul 14, 2014 Jareed rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction

The Girl with All the Gifts is the book with all the treats.

Deciding what to have for supper was a subtle battle of attrition. The fact that Pasta won is a victory I could have lived with. Working within the defined limits of cooking, I prepared everything that was needed, left the Pasta boiling, and waited. Everything was going smoothly, almost asking, begging, that something go wrong, just as it does every time I walk into this alien dimension called kitchen. I should have stuck there, waited The Girl with All the Gifts is the book with all the treats.

Deciding what to have for supper was a subtle battle of attrition. The fact that Pasta won is a victory I could have lived with. Working within the defined limits of cooking, I prepared everything that was needed, left the Pasta boiling, and waited. Everything was going smoothly, almost asking, begging, that something go wrong, just as it does every time I walk into this alien dimension called kitchen. I should have stuck there, waited for the pasta to be firm, except that I went ahead and read this, and that's when everything started to go pleasantly wrong. The only conscious act I seem to remember aside from reading is flipping through the introduction. Before I knew it, I was 1/3s done, with it, an indefinable black mass. Alas, I have burned the victor beyond recognition, and necessarily induced a palatal fit of sadness. No worries. This is, after all, the book with all the treats, if anything, it will get me through the night. And it did, for if night is defined by nothing else but a natural state of rest during which our eyes are closed and one becomes unconscious, it was then a very foreign concept in that limited instance. I went to bed, but not to sleep. I stirred and turned a page, I changed positions and turned another. And then again, as if sucked by this ineluctable book-induced vacuum where time is but a word and urgency a concept, I turned the final page. I just finished reading The Girl with All the Gifts and it brutally severed me from my reading reverie. It was 4 A.M. I have not prepared my arguments for today's moot court practice which will surely lead to a mediocre if not a laughable performance, I did not slip out of my clothes which left me aching on undesirable regions, my eyes were unsuitably watery, my eyelids were falling as if tied down with concrete barriers, I was so lightheaded as if I myself was walking on air. I did not sleep at all. No worries. After all, I just read The Girl with All the Gifts. And it has made all the difference.

And yes, it's that GOOD.

disclaimer: (view spoiler)

caveat: (view spoiler)

This review, along with my other reviews, has been cross-posted at imbookedindefinitely ...more

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Jun 10, 2016 Elyse rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Ten year old Melanie, a bright curious, lovable child looks forward to the days that
Miss Justineau teaches class. She never knows what day that might be, but whatever day that is-- is the happiest of all.
Melanie notices that Miss Justineau is different from other teachers. For one thing she is always wearing 'something' which is 'red' in color. Melanie notices everything about Miss Justineau. Melanie especially loves the Greek Mythology stories that Miss Justineau reads the class. She learns t ...more

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Jul 02, 2016 Maxwell rated it liked it

Shelves: i-own-it, audiobook, sci-fi, 2016

Great world building and a unique premise, but it was a bit listless in the middle. The audiobook narration is great, and overall I enjoyed the ending. I can't say much about the story because this is definitely one which you'll want to go into with no prior knowledge; it's more fun that way. Just expect lots of violence and moral dilemmas. 3.5 stars

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Mar 28, 2016 Carmen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Horror fans

Recommended to Carmen by: LTWF

Shelves: fiction, horror, science-fiction, traditionally-published

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I was really looking forward to this book. I had heard so many great things about it. A little girl zombie! Post-apocalypse! Ethical concerns! Wow.

And a great cover, by the way. It's very striking.

The book started out great. I was only beginning to get glimmers of disappointment around page 344. This is about 85% of the way through the book. So it is a strong book. However, I had some complaints.

FIRST, WHAT I LIKED:
- Great plot. Wonderful idea for a story. The characters felt fleshed-out and i ...more

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Dec 20, 2015 Madeline rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction

"Her name is Melanie. It means 'the black girl', from an ancient Greek word, but her skin is actually very fair, so she thinks maybe it's not such a good name for her. She likes the name Pandora a whole lot, but you don't get to choose. Miss Justineau assigns names from a big list; new children get the top name on the boys' list or the top name on the girls' list, and that, Miss Justineau says, is that.
There haven't been any new children for a long time now. Melanie doesn't know why that it. The "Her name is Melanie. It means 'the black girl', from an ancient Greek word, but her skin is actually very fair, so she thinks maybe it's not such a good name for her. She likes the name Pandora a whole lot, but you don't get to choose. Miss Justineau assigns names from a big list; new children get the top name on the boys' list or the top name on the girls' list, and that, Miss Justineau says, is that.
There haven't been any new children for a long time now. Melanie doesn't know why that it. There used to be lots; every week, or every couple of weeks, voices in the night. Muttered orders, complaints, the occasional curse. A cell door slamming. Then, after a while, usually a month or two, a new face in the classroom - a new boy or girl who hadn't even learned to talk yet. But they got it fast.
Melanie was new herself, once, but that's hard to remember because it was a long time ago. It was before there were any words; there were just things without names, and things without names don't stay in your mind. They fall out, and then they're gone."

It's time to admit, as a society, that the zombie craze is finally on its last legs - if it's not over already. And honestly, I think we're way overdue anyway. I was tired of hearing about the damn things around the time I stopped watching The Walking Dead. Going into this book and knowing that it dealt with zombies (as will anyone who reads even three pages, so for anyone preparing to charge into the comments and accuse me of spoiling the entire book: shut up), I was pretty sure that I knew what I was going to get. There are only so many ways to tell a zombie apocalypse story, and I had seen/read enough variations to be able to guess what was coming.

So I'm delighted and grateful to report that yes, MR Carey has managed to tell a zombie apocalypse story in a new way. It's not just his unconventional choice of narrator - he knows better than to let his entire novel rest on a single gimmick. The Girl With All the Gifts rexamines and reinvents several staples of the zombie genre, and does something new with them. Considering how oversaturated the market has become, it's pretty astonishing that he manages to take so many familiar tropes and do something new with them. I won't go into more detail, because the less you know about the circumstances of the story going into it, the better. Start with the premise everyone knows - this is a book about zombies - and let yourself discover everything alongside the characters.

And there's plenty to discover. Carey is apparently most well-known for his work writing comic books, and it shows - the book is over four hundred pages long, and he keeps the action zipping along at a consistently maintained clip. Even when the characters aren't running from one (very well staged and described) action setpiece to another, there's no real downtime. Even when characters are just standing around and talking, their conversation addresses hidden drama or results in a tense confrontation, and there's no time for the reader to get bored. Like me, you'll probably tear through this in a matter of days, because every time a chapter ends you'll have to read the next one.

Carey made the wise decision to let multiple people narrate his story, so we aren't just confined to Melanie's extremely limited knowledge base. By letting us into the heads of people who know way more than Melanie does about the circumstances of the zombie plague, Carey lets his readers get all the information they need, while still maintaining suspense. And the ending (again, no spoilers) was possibly the best ending to a zombie apocalypse novel I've ever found, not counting Shaun of the Dead. Carey's ending acknowledges the true hopelessness of a zombie apocalypse, but manages to resolve his story in a satisfying way. It's impressive, to say the least.

I had a very cheesy line worked out about how MR Carey has managed to reanimate the dead zombie genre (haha, see what I did there?) but I came up with a better one: the zombie genre is Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction, MR Carey is John Travolta, and The Girl With All the Gifts is the syringe of adrenaline, sending a jolt of life back into a tired and dying genre. The zombie craze is on its way out, but The Girl With All the Gifts makes a great final encore. ...more

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Sep 07, 2014 Phrynne rated it liked it

I'm giving this book three stars because I did enjoy reading it. However it did not live up to all its hype as being the best break out novel of the year or some such. I read somewhere that it started life as a short story and then was expanded into a book. The premise of the story certainly deserved more than a short story to tell it fully, but it did not warrant 406 pages. As a consequence, although the beginning and the end are good, it drags badly in the middle with far too much attention be ...more

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Sep 25, 2016 Poonam rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror, paranormal-or-fantasy, futuristic-or-dystopian

This is my Book Of the Month- September 2016, with GR group- Owls Be Reading.

**Mild Spoilers Ahead**

This book definitely surpassed my expectations. This is the first time I have read a Zombie book. Frankly speaking I never found Zombies very scary but after reading this book my perspective has undergone a HUGE change.

Zombies are known as Hungries here and just imagine an apocalyptic world filled with them...Cannibalism all around and it gave me the jitters... The way Hungries have been describe ...more

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Oct 08, 2014 Mr. Matt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dystopia, horror, favorites, 2014, zombies

I knew next to nothing about this book other than it was lighting up Goodreads with very positive reviews. I decided to give it a shot. It is the story of a very special little girl, Melanie, and her flight from a government compound after it collapses. It is also my vote for best book of 2014.

This book avoids all of the zombie apocalypse ruts that make survival horror (sometimes) a bit of a chore to read. Yes, there are rogue bands of survivors who are, in many ways, worse than the infected, b ...more

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Sep 08, 2016 Francesca rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015-reading-challenge, i-own-a-copy, horror, science-fiction, fantasy, romance, favourite-female-characters, favourite-male-characters, feminist, emotional-reads, thriller, 3-dimensional-characters-with-depth, male-authors, 400-to-600-pages, drama, my-fictional-boyfriends, my-fictional-best-friends, paperback-owned, 5-star-reads

As a huge horror fan, I have a confession to make. I've never been a massive fan of the zombie genre as a whole. I absolutely love The Walking Dead but my love for it actually has very little to do with the zombies. I love it for the characters and the humans in it. Their stories are what keep me gripped, and while I love Shaun of The Dead and I thoroughly enjoyed Zombieland and although I have really liked a lot of zombie films ([Rec] is my all time favourite horror movie after all), I just gen As a huge horror fan, I have a confession to make. I've never been a massive fan of the zombie genre as a whole. I absolutely love The Walking Dead but my love for it actually has very little to do with the zombies. I love it for the characters and the humans in it. Their stories are what keep me gripped, and while I love Shaun of The Dead and I thoroughly enjoyed Zombieland and although I have really liked a lot of zombie films ([Rec] is my all time favourite horror movie after all), I just generally find it quite a hard genre for me to get into. It can often get quite repetitive and a lot of the stories/films are fairly similar in most aspects. I generally find it quite strange that my main focus and enjoyment of a book/film/series is usually centred around character development and yet horror is my favourite genre, and a lot of horror lacks good character development. However, with this book I didn't feel any of that. This story was a very fresh and original take on a genre that has recently been at it's very peak of popularity. There were a few parts of the book that felt like they could've come from any zombie flick but even they were approached with something slightly different that meant that they remained interesting.

I'm going to talk about my favourite element of the book now and that was the characters. First of all, I love books that feature different POV chapters for the characters. Different POV chapters, for me, give me so much more from a book. My love of a book depends on the characters. If I hate all the characters or am completely uninterested in them then I will not enjoy the book. Being able to have the different POV it allows the reader to get more of an insight into each character and what goes on in their mind and I love this. Great POV chapters can completely mould or change my opinion of characters and I love the depth that comes with them. The 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series is another example of this being used to perfection (for me at least). In the case of this book, there are five main characters whose POV we get to take a look into. The characters start off as the zombie flick stereotypes. We have the tough alpha male soldier Sergeant Eddie Parks, we have the doctor whose logical mind blocks out any empathy Doctor Caroline Caldwell, we have the kind hero Miss Helen Justineau, we have the nice but weak guy Private Kieran Gallagher, and finally we have the outcast/the misfit Melanie. The fact that in this flick, the outcast/misfit is already a zombie is the key difference to most other zombie stories already. Throughout the book these stereotypes are broken down and explored, and the different POV allows us to see the reasoning behind certain decisions that the team makes. I ended up loving Sergeant Parks, which at the start I definitely did not think I would, and I was able to understand his reasons for doing and saying the things he does. I even still liked Caldwell for the most part (she still did a few things that made me angry) because I was able to understand where she was coming from. Gallagher I absolutely fell in love with, he was just adorable and I ended up feeling very protective over him despite the fact that I had figured out early on that he was definitely (view spoiler). Helen Justineau was also a very interesting one. She started out as the obvious hero, and although she did very much remain the hero (especially to Melanie), we still got to see other sides to her. The sides that weren't perfect and that made mistakes, giving her more depth and making her a far more interesting character than if she'd just been the perfect Mary-Sue hero that I worried she might be. Melanie was a delight to read. Her chapters had the innocent voice of a child mixed with a naïveté of someone that is unaware of the outside world or the way it used to be (although she's not alone, as Gallagher was also born after the world changed, which sets up a wonderfully sweet scene between the two of them when they spot an object that neither of them has seen before and both stare at it in amazement). Despite the childlike innocence and the naïveté, she was also very wise and she used her wisdom to help the group when they were faced with a problem. The group worked well together. The relationships that changed and developed were done very realistically and beautifully. Fear was the main thing that drove each character and the way they thought, and it was very interesting to see how different people cope with that level of fear and what they decide to do with it.

This book is extremely thought-provoking and fascinating. I loved the science that they used to explain the 'virus' and I thought that was also a very interesting way of explaining it that I hadn't heard before and that I could buy into. The book was a thrill to read from start to finish, and that ending gave me chills. Overall I thought it was excellent and I highly recommend it. ...more

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Oct 04, 2015 Melissa Martin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, fantasy-all, zombie

www.melissa413readsalot.blogspot.com

I have had this book for quite sometime and just now getting it finished! It is very nice to finally get to a book and love it so much. I did read reviews before I got the book so I already know it's a zombie book and you will too if you read mine or anyone else review.

But...wow.. there is fungus among us.. Yeah, I said that and not I'm not going to talk about it! :)

These poor kids are brought in during the week to their class all strapped down in chairs. I ...more

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Aug 20, 2015 Shelby rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Shelby by: Jessica

Shelves: post-apocalyptic

This book really surprised me. It had been on my TBR shelf for a little while, but my friend lending it to me bumped it up the list. This story is more than just a thriller or horror work; it is a progressive, original spin on a popular and recently overworked post-apocalyptic theme. Post-apocalyptic thrillers are one of my favorite kinds of stories to read, and Carey did not disappoint. While stories such as this one can sometimes read as trite and predictable, the seamless writing and well-exe ...more

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Bookworm Bitches : October 2016: The Girl with All the Gifts	1	1	4 hours, 47 min ago
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About M.R. Carey

Mike Carey is the acclaimed writer of Lucifer and Hellblazer (now filmed as Constantine). He has recently completed a comics adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, and is the current writer on Marvel's X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four. He has also written the screenplay for a movie, Frost Flowers, which is soon to be produced by Hadaly Films and Bluestar Pictures.

Also writes as Mike Carey

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“you can't save people from the world. There's nowhere else to take them.” — 140 likes

“Melanie thinks: when your dreams come true, your true has moved. You've already stopped being the person who had the dreams, so it feels more like a weird echo of something that already happened to you a long time ago.” — 95 likes

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