The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey
Genres: Fantasy,Horror,Sci-fi
Pages:460
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."




This is not your usual zombie book. Its not like the walking dead, with mindless zombies that you need to kill to survive, all though they do exist in this book, it's not about them. This book is about a very smart little girl named Melanie. Melanie is full of love and excitement and curiosity- she's also a zombie.


This book starts out in the point of view of Melanie and the other children who are being held for testing. Because of this, we see right from the start that she is sentient, worthy of love, more than just a test subject who should be dissected for the greater good.

This book delves into complicated things like good vs evil and what it means to live and be human. Not what you's usually expect from a zombie book. It does, however, also have plenty of running from mindless zombies that want to eat you, because not all zombies are sentient like Melanie is, its only children, and only some of the children.

The story was believable, the science made sense without being too complicated for the average reader, and the main characters were incredibly well rounded. We got to see both good and bad of every character, and even the worst of the bad guys turned out to have redeeming qualities. The author does a good job of showing us the intent behind every persons action.

I think the book ended perfectly. I don't think I could have hoped for a better ending, it was both terrifying and uplifting. Bittersweet and full of hope. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a different take on the usual zombie story.