The Girl with All the Gifts

By: M. R. Carey

Narrated by: Finty Williams

Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

In the ruins of civilization, a young girl's kindness and capacity for love will either save humanity - or wipe it out in this USA Today best-selling thriller Joss Whedon calls "heartfelt, remorseless, and painfully human."

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 keeps his gun pointed 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.

©2014 M. R. Carrey (P)2014 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Original, thrilling and powerful." (The Guardian)

"One of the more imaginative and ingenious additions to the dystopian canon." (Kirkus)

"A great read that takes hold of you and doesn't let go." (John Ajvide Lindqvist, author of Let the Right One In)

Much better than the movie

I almost skipped this book because I became bored with the movie after the first part but the book is so much more. I felt connected to the story and characters throughout this book. The writing and narration are both absolutely beautiful.

The zombie horror survival novel youre looking for

This novel had everything I wanted in great zombie horror: an original concept, great characters, fun plot twists and plenty of undead mayhem.

Given the proliferation of zombie movies, shows and books, it's not a simple thing to stand out from the crowd but this novel delivered on everything I wanted in brain eating fiction.

The author takes many of the conventions of the genre and pushes them in new and interesting directions that didn't feel derivative. The plot was exciting and propulsive.

Ending was truly fantastic as well. Delivered a satisfying but unexpected conclusion.

A different kind og zombie story

Based on the same original short story as Last Of Us (game and TV series). But goes in it's own direction. Doesn't disappoint.

wow this book was a complete roller coaster. definitely worth the credit

this is truly a roller coaster of emotions. The captivating narrative skillfully weaves together moments of intensity, leaving listeners on the edge of their seats. I completely resonate with the indescribable feeling of satisfaction and dread after finishing this audiobook. It's a testament to the author's ability to engage the audience and create a memorable experience. A definite must-listen, definitely worth the credit.

Spoiler-free review below - Amazing book!

Where does The Girl with All the Gifts rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Near the top. The narration isn't perfect, but the story is so fabulous, this is in my top five.

What other book might you compare The Girl with All the Gifts to and why?

I don't want to give too much away. I would say if you like science fiction or horror with really excellent characterization, relationships, and well-earned emotion, you will love this. People who like John Scalzi, or Let Me [the Right One] In will probably love this.

Also, this story is chock full of female characters who are fully realized and not valued primarily for their sex appeal. I don't feel like Carey set out to write a feminist novel by any means, but he seems to respect and like women and realize that we are people too, and can carry a story that will appeal to both sexes. It was a delight to read a gripping story that passed the Bechdel test effortlessly, without feeling strained or political about it.

Have you listened to any of Finty Williams’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES! I looked forward to waiting in line or doing menial chores, so I would have more opportunities to listen.

Any additional comments?

Finty Williams does a very good job overall. She gives the correct emotional tone to each passage, and the characters are easy to differentiate. The one thing that bugged me to no end was her pronunciation of Justineau (which is one of the most common words in the novel, unfortunately). I don't know if it was a bad attempt at a really authentic French accent, or ignorance of how "eau" is pronounced, but it comes out "Justinoo" and it annoyed me throughout.

Okay, but Audie Winner for Best Paranormal???????

STORY (paranormal fantasy) - The Girl with All the Gifts is set in England sometime in the future after a strange infection has turned people into "Hungries." Not zombies, but very similar in that they eat humans, and there are very few humans left on earth. I'm not a zombie fan, but I was drawn to this book by the awards and the fact that it is supposedly written with a different slant on the genre. That is true to some extent. Don't want to give too much away, but one of the main characters is a Hungry, which gives a different perspective, and there's more interesting science in this book than in the usual zombie story. (But then I've only listened to two or three.)

I like the first and last of the book the best, the first because you don't really know what's going on, and the last because -- well, let's just say it's chilling and somewhat unexpected! There are some parts in between that are exciting and parts that are sweet, but for the most part it's just the usual zombie cr@p. Excuse me, they're called "Hungries" in this book.

PERFORMANCE - Miss Williams has a lovely voice and a British accent. She does a very good job.

OVERALL - I suppose men would like this book, but I think it might have a little too much girly stuff in it for some guys (like my husband). It's an easy listen, as there are only a few main characters to keep straight. Lots of zombie killing and gore and quite a bit of bad language as well. Very mild sexual references.

Fun short unconventional zombie story

Very well done. Gripping, rich characterizations. Ending is fitting and well-achieved, yet fresh.

Haunting

Where's the movie adaptation of this awesome piece of lit? No forced teen romance plot to be seen either. A pinnacle of the dystopian trend

Overcomes Zombie-Apocalypse Cliches!!

My initial thought was this book was YA (maybe from the summary?) and that a story told from a zombie perspective would be too cheesy for me. A zombie protagonist seems to be more in the realm of comedy than anything else. I thought, little girl doesn't know she is a zombie and in the end finally discovers the truth. But that is not this book at all!!! I was so pleased that it turned out to have characters with depth and a storyline that really did overcome the zombie-apocalypse cliche for me. Of course there are still some cliches here, small pockets of humanity trying to survive in a world over run with zombies... zombies that must have a clever nickname ( in this case they are called "hungries"), and typical human-eating zombie behavior. There are enough unique variations on the zombie archetype in this story to keep it interesting, and the complexity of the characters fleshes it out very well. The zombie protagonist, Melanie, puts me in mind of a hero in a Joss Whedon or Luc Besson film. She does have all the gifts and her destiny is to save her friends and the world, but thankfully the ending is not what you would expect.

Spoiler free review

If you've seen some spoilers on here about this book- read it anyway. I really enjoyed it and enjoyed all of the characters. It was a thought-provoking book as well. As I described it to someone else - it's a book that you might not THINK you would like because of it's subject matter - but it has appeal outside of it's genre.