The Girl with All the Gifts

By: M. R. Carey

Narrated by: Finty Williams

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 bestselling 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.

Critic reviews

"Original, thrilling and powerful."—The Guardian

"Unique and terrifying."—Booklist

"An instant favorite."—Boing Boing

"A great read that takes hold of you and doesn't let go."—John Ajvide Lindqvist, author of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

"Heartfelt, remorseless and painfully human...as fresh as it is terrifying. A jewel."—Joss Whedon

"If you only read one novel this year, make sure it's this one, it's amazing."—Martina Cole

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

"...a brilliant work of science fiction, but even people who never read science fiction should absolutely read this one."—io9.com

"A modern classic for the horror genre."—Book Riot

Saturated Market, Good Book on Sale

Zombie fatigue? I love The Walking Dead (at least the first 3 seasons); respect the simple genius of Night of the Living Dead; and enjoyed a few others out there currently. When this title was hyped in Entertainment Weekly, I rolled my eyes and flipped the page. However, when it popped up on sale and with the recommendation of an Audible editor, clicked 2X and began listening. The POV of 3 females: scientist, teacher, 10 year old girl make for a different take on the genre. The explanation of how the virus affects different generations at the end is a nice surprise. There were some slow and predictable parts, but on sale, it's worth a listen.

Zombie books actually CAN buck the trend!

Not one, but TWO “this is how [X] should be!” This is how to not make a child character annoying. This is also how to do a human-aspect zombie novel.

The book only has a handful of characters, and because of that, the author was able to really focus on each of them. These characters are all extremely believable and realistic to a fault. I can’t count how many times I got mad at a character for something they did, only to realize that given the circumstances or the character’s personality, it made total sense. This is an example of impeccable writing if you ask me. Not only that, there are characters that I liked and characters I disliked, but not because they were dumb or badly written, but because they were mean to the characters I did like. Follow all that? It’s great when a dystopian novel is written and not every character is unlikeable on purpose.

The ending fell flat for me, but not for my friend, so who knows there. The book as a whole has a way of sucking you in and making you lose track of time, so it was well worth it in the end for me.

I recommend this to anyone who wants a focused character-driven story in a zombie wasteland. It’s especially good if you liked the game Last of Us.

FLIPPING BRILLIANT

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

It was excellent

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sarge

What about Finty Williams’s performance did you like?

Fantastic at every turn

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was great

Any additional comments?

My heart is still beating 90 miles an hour. So smart and clever and if you think you know what's coming next your wrong. I have read and listened to almost every zombie book out there . I hate to pigeonhole this because it is so much more than that. I thought it was genius . And if you started it and didn't get hooked instantly . Well it's probably your fault . Try again.
If anyone has any recommendations on anything similar
Leave a comment and let me know !

Zombies with a Twist

Fresh take on the zombie. Engaging story, well written and expertly narrated. Characters are well developed and empathetic. I couldn't stop listening to this one. Definitely worth the credit.

that was the end?!

the book is compelling, the charactors are relatable, for good or bad you understand their modivations, and want to see how such a seemingly bleak situation resolves itself, and then boom! it's over. the ending seemed like a copout. The best way I can describe the ending without giving anything away is if it were to happen at the beginning of the book or the end, it wouldn't change anything. made me feel as if everything that happened in between was waisted paper and felt more like erasing a bad script than actually resolving anything. Though the ending disappointed me, it's still worth a read. the book gets a bit technical at points and built up the reason for the logic for the decision at the end. it's purely up to opinion if it was resolved well or not.