Thursday, January 11, 2018

The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

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The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

First book in the Hungry Plague

3.25 stars

Melanie wakes up in a cell each morning and waits to be strapped in and rolled to the classroom. Melanie love stories and she loves the stories that Miss Justineau tells the class. Melanie love Miss Justineau so much, but she doesn’t like Dr. Caldwell. She especially doesn’t like how her classmates don’t come back after going through the double doors. That’s all I’m going to tell you about this novel because I think it’s really fun to go in blind or almost completely blind. If you look at the synopsis provided by the publisher it gives great hints to what this story is about and I’m sure you can guess. But if you don’t want to be spoiled and want to go in blind then only read this first section.


Carey offers a story that bounces in between intense and gripping and slow and full of infodumps. Most infodumps can be unbearable and overwhelming, but Carey does a great job of presenting them in easy and understandable ways that don’t feel overwhelming. This is not at all what I expected and I wasn’t pleasantly surprised, particularly in the beginning. I personally think the best parts of The Girl with All the Gifts are the beginning, the take over section, and the very end. Anything between the 45-85% could’ve been cut and I would have been perfectly happy with the way this story would have progressed. The biggest thing I would tell would be readers is that this novel is fun, gory, and intense at times, but at others, the pace changes and the story becomes slightly boring and redundant. However, it only falls into this every now and then.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 3

From here on out, I will be discussing the characters and that contains spoilers, so bye.
The main character in this story is Melanie. There are other PoVs and other characters, but this is Melanie’s story and Melanie’s world (which is kind of punny spoiler). Melanie’s character is one of innocence. She has been cloaked and hidden away from the truth of her nature… that she is a hungry- a zombie. Melanie’s urges are controlled with heavy douses of scent blockers and only be fed once a week. This is Melanie’s story of finding out who she really is. It’s a coming of age zombie story. I kind of love that concept. It’s so interesting and beautifully simple because coming of age stories are so popular, but when you pair it with the prospect of something paranormal it becomes unique. Melanie is a strong little girl and I loved her PoVs the most. She is hands down my favorite thing about this novel.


Miss Justineau also plays a huge role in this story and it in a way is as much of her story as it is Melanie. I wasn’t the biggest fan of her PoVs and she was more of Melanie’s green light than a human being. Even in moments where I should feel sympathy for her, I didn’t care too much for her character. However, she does have her moments. Like when she punches Dr. Caldwell in the face.


Dr. Caldwell is a sociopathic doctor hell-bent on slicing and dicing little kids for her research. If the zombie outbreak hadn’t occurred she would probably be a doctor with a God complex. Anyway, I wanted to knock her out as many times and Miss Justineau did, but that ending was so satisfying.


Sergeant Parks holds a tight ship at the compound and he seemed to be a real hard ass at first, but as the story progresses he begins to show simple compassions and understanding towards Melanie. I really began to like him and appreciate him.


There was also another character whose name I’ve forgotten, but damn did he go out with a horrible bang. Goes to show you should never abandon ship out of fear because worse things are waiting for the lone wolf.


Character Scale: 3.25

The Villain- This was done very well. Dr. Caldwell is the main villain in this story, but the hungries are another threat. However, Carey chooses to show the hunpgries in a different light, not only through Melanie, but through science and that was incredibly fascinating.


Villain Scale: 3.5

My favorite scene in this whole novel is a spoiler I was incredibly impressed by the zombie takeover scene at the base. It was intense, heart stopping, and a wild ride. Carey wrote an amazing sequence and it was by far my favorite aspect of this novel and I would recommend this novel to zombie fans alone just because of the sequence.


Overall, this was a fun novel. It wasn’t groundbreaking and I didn’t enjoy it as much as my friends on GR did, but I did enjoy and I do recommend it to zombie fans.


Plotastic Scale: 4

Cover Thoughts: I love this cover. The colors and Melanie are so freaking vibrant.


Thank you, Netgalley and Orbit, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Have you read The Girl with All the Gifts? Have you seen the movie? I haven't and I would like to know if it's worth checking out. Let me know down below in the comments!

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