The Girl With all the Gifts

Locations
Call Number: Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / General / Carey, M. R
On Shelf At: Pittsfield Branch, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / General / Carey, M. R	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / General / Carey, M. R	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Not every gift is a blessing. 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 is a very special girl. Emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end, The girl with all the gifts is the most powerful and affecting thriller you will read this year.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Scary Dystopia submitted by sdunav on June 12, 2015, 4:56pm Truly scary and fast-paced story that reminded me a bit of The Stand. Really interesting characters (including a female villain that is one of the creepiest I've read about for ages), and amazing world-building. I had a hard time putting this one down once I started it - and the ending did NOT disappoint.

Interesting premise submitted by lbootzin on July 20, 2015, 2:26pm An intriguing take on the post-apocalyptic zombie story.

A non-traditional zombie apocalypse story. submitted by eknapp on October 4, 2015, 2:36pm Melanie is a genius ten-year-old whose world consists of a tiny cell, physical restraints, unfriendly men with guns, daily calculus and history classes...and a weekly bowl of grubs to eat. When the military base that (it turns out) she lives at is overrun by "hungries", she and three other survivors set off through hostile, zombie and raider-infested England toward Beacon, the last known human settlement.

The beginning of the book is marvelous. Melanie's innocence, her treatment by the soldiers and scientists, and her ominous condition pack an emotional wallop. Carey writes her extremely well, using phrases and terms that she'd overheard or read in textbooks in ways that only a criminally deprived ten-year-old would. It's powerfully tragic.

Once the survivors hit the road it becomes a more generic survival horror story. It's not bad but it loses the magic that it displayed early. Very solid, but it could have been amazing.

Mixed feelings submitted by Isabella Giviyan on July 16, 2016, 8:16pm An unusual idea for the apocalypse, and a solid plot. That said, some characters, such as Parks and Gallagher, will well-developed, while Caldwell is excessively simplified and Melanie and Justineau are idealized.

Brilliant submitted by amym on June 17, 2017, 9:55pm I normally don't like post-apocalyptic stories, but I really loved this book. The ending bothered me at first, but I keep thinking about it and have decided that it was perfect.

Hmm submitted by anacoluthon on July 12, 2018, 10:54am It started out amazing and different, but then it turned into a regular zombie apocalypse story.