THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS by M.R. Carey is that rare zombie novel like THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS that stands out from a bloated genre due to the quality of its writing.
In this novel, a little girl lives in a special facility that is half school, half prison, and run by soldiers and scientists. Melanie, the smartest girl in her class, learns about the world outside from books.
What she doesn’t know is the world is on its last legs, overrun by zombies.
What she doesn’t know is who or what she is.
When the camp falls, she travels with two soldiers, a scientist and a teacher in a dangerous trek across a devastated Britain to the main refugee camp.
THE GIRL is extremely well written. The characters are well developed, and most readers will find them endearing, people they can care about. The zombies are portrayed well, as is the setting of a ruined Britain. The pacing plods at times, and throughout most of the middle critical tension seems to be missing, but overall I enjoyed the novel, putting it up there with DUST by Joan Frances Turner.
A great read.
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