The Girl With All the Gifts

by M. R. Carey

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316334754
Publisher:	Orbit
Publication date:	04/28/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	44,545
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 5.40(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

M. R. Carey has been making up stories for most of his life. His novel The Girl With All the Gifts was a USA Today bestseller and is a major motion picture based on his BAFTA-nominated screenplay. Under the name Mike Carey he has written for both DC and Marvel, including critically acclaimed runs on X-Men and Fantastic Four, Marvel's flagship superhero titles. His creator-owned books regularly appear in the New York Times bestseller list. He also has several previous novels, two radio plays, and a number of TV and movie screenplays to his credit.

Editorial 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

From the Publisher

04/14/2014
Comics writer Carey (Lucifer) delivers an entertaining take on several well-worn zombie tropes. Years after the requisite zombie apocalypse (this time caused by a mutant strain of an ant-killing fungus, probably the book’s most original touch), scientists in a remote outpost in England are working on a cure by experimenting on a group of zombified children who retain some of their original emotions and cognitive functions. Although Carey piles on the clichés (beyond the apocalypse and the recently trendy intelligent zombies, there are rogue survivalists straight out of The Walking Dead, scientists willing to cross ethical lines, and the ever-silly notion that people would use any term other than “zombies” to refer to the undead), he builds well-constructed characters—particularly Melanie, one of the zombified children, who comes across as cognitively and emotionally different from the other characters, without feeling like an offensive parody of a person with Asperger’s. The requisite action sequences are also well constructed, and the book will appeal to fans of zombie fiction. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Narrator Finty Williams wisely sidesteps the sensationalistic tone that would be easy to bring to this novel about an intelligent, young Hungry (zombie) named Melanie in postapocalyptic England. Williams's performance stresses the 10-year-old's coming-of-age story as the way she looks at herself morphs from an intelligent book-loving student to a monster who could destroy the people she loves. Avoiding vocal stereotypes, Williams makes it clear that Melanie is a child, full of wonder and curiosity. When the narrative switches to an adult point of view, Williams injects her performance with toughness, cynicism, or optimism, depending on the character. This zombie story is about self-discovery and finding humanity in unexpected places. And Williams's performance is pitch-perfect. C.B.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2015 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2014 - AudioFile

Narrator Finty Williams wisely sidesteps the sensationalistic tone that would be easy to bring to this novel about an intelligent, young Hungry (zombie) named Melanie in postapocalyptic England. Williams's performance stresses the 10-year-old's coming-of-age story as the way she looks at herself morphs from an intelligent book-loving student to a monster who could destroy the people she loves. Avoiding vocal stereotypes, Williams makes it clear that Melanie is a child, full of wonder and curiosity. When the narrative switches to an adult point of view, Williams injects her performance with toughness, cynicism, or optimism, depending on the character. This zombie story is about self-discovery and finding humanity in unexpected places. And Williams's performance is pitch-perfect. C.B.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2015 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2014 - AudioFile

2014-04-02
Carey offers a post-apocalyptic tale set in England in a future when most humans are "empty houses where people used to live." Sgt. Parks, Pvt. Gallagher, Miss Justineau and Dr. Caldwell flee an English military camp, a scientific site for the study of "hungries," zombielike creatures who feast on flesh, human or otherwise. These once-humans are essentially "fungal colonies animating human bodies." After junkers—anarchic survivalists—use hungries to breach the camp's elaborate wire fortifications, the four survivors head for Beacon, a giant refuge south of London where uninfected citizens have retreated over the past two decades, bringing along one of the study subjects, 10-year-old Melanie, a second-generation hungry. Like others of her generation, Melanie possesses superhuman strength and a superb intellect, and she can reason and communicate. Dr. Caldwell had planned to dissect Melanie's brain, but Miss Justineau thinks Melanie is capable of empathy and human interaction, which might make her a bridge between humans and hungries. Their philosophical dispute continues in parallel to a survival trek much like the one in McCarthy's On the Road. The four either kill or hide from junkers and hungries (which are animated by noise, movement and human odors). The characters are somewhat clichéd—Parks, rugged veteran with an empathetic core; Gallagher, rube private and perfect victim; Caldwell, coldhearted objectivist ever focused on prying open Melanie's skull. It may be Melanie's role to lead second-generation hungries in a revival of civilization, which in this imaginative, ominous assessment of our world and its fate, offers cold comfort. One of the more imaginative and ingenious additions to the dystopian canon.

Kirkus Reviews