The Girls With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey

THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS
by M. R. Carey

Orbit
January 14, 2014

From Goodreads:

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. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children’s cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she’ll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn’t know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.

Me and zombies go back a long way. Books, movies, TV shows, video games, my own writing, and even a halloween costume one year. Despite how much I’ve seen/read/experienced, I’m usually always up for more. It’s one of the few subjects I can’t seem to get enough of. That being said, I was pretty sure no one was going to come along and show me something new in the field of zombies. I. WAS. WRONG.

This is a zombie tale of a whole other colour. Entertainment levels through the roof, and highly unpredictable throughout, including the ending and a very unconventional, but heart-warming, love story.

First surprise: Children who learn, think, love, socialize, and… are zombies. WHAAAA?!

That in itself was enough to make me stand up and take notice. Add to that the fact that we spend most of our time with one of these children: Melanie. We’re privy to her every thought and desire. Every question her brilliant little mind comes up with, the reasoning she comes up with, and the internal struggle that happens whenever she’s dealing with ‘the hunger.’

When the book begins, there are a number of characters who all seem like they’re just there until they can be eaten by zombies. I’ve learned to detect these people early on. They’re either instantly detestable, making it satisfying to see justice served, or they’re instantly likeable and end in tragedy. This was my next surprise. Because these characters stayed around. They fleshed out. I learned more about them. I found out the detestable had redeeming qualities while the likeables had some dark secrets that makes you think twice.

By the end of the first act, I had no idea what was going to happen next. Ever. I can’t recall a single time from that point forward where I could predict a single thing. All the way up to the ending that I didn’t predict, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. NO SPOILERS. You’ll see what I mean when you get there.

If you’ve ever enjoyed anything with zombies in it, you NEED to read this.

Fun fact about this post: There’s also a movie out for this one. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve been told by another zombie aficionado that it’s very good.