The Girl With All the Gifts

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.

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448 pages

Average rating: 7.21

166 RATINGS

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15 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

kinugawa
Aug 26, 2024
10/10 stars
I really enjoyed the gradual reveal of the world, first from Melanie's very limited point of view in the facility, and then later from all of the perspective of the adults. It was especially interested to see the moral struggle that Ms. Justineau faced (mostly in the beginning), and then watching as her moral compass and compassion won out againt her self preservation. The fact that Ms. Justineau was such a complex and nuanced character who was mostly driven by her love and care towards children was something I really appreciated, because it really punches the whole 'angry black woman' stereotype in the gut.
(I hate that the movie switched the races between Melanie and Justineau. The woman who is considered the most beautiful and amazing person by the protagonist is played by a white woman, while the little girl who isn't considered human by most is played by a black girl. A little telling of the cast directors, no?)
The ending was bittersweet, though how bitter or sweet seems to wildly fluctuate depending on the character's perspective.
Overall, I really dug this book. If you like well thought out monsters and believable survival stories, you'll probably like this.
CHare!
Jul 02, 2024
5/10 stars
Different kind of zombie story. Not bad but slow.
Paukku
May 25, 2024
10/10 stars
Hot damn! Now this is a great zombie tale. I am a fan of Carey's Felix Castor series (under the clever pseudonym of Mike Carey) so was hoping this would have the same punch and power. And it does. Clever, thought-provoking, and alarming. This is a scary book, both viscerally and intellectually, while remaining thoughtful, exactly what a good horror story should be. Carey does not reduce zombies to the lowest sum of shambling dumb, yet he uses that bottom layer to build up an even scarier, formidable undead.
Anonymous
Mar 23, 2024
8/10 stars
Although I don't normally like zombie books/stories, I went into this not knowing it was a zombie story, but I actually enjoyed this one. I think a big reason for that was because it was such an original story, not like all the other zombie stories out there, and it was also a quick and easy read. I also liked how (most) of the group ended up as a bit of a found family of sorts. This was definitely a story about character development, which is my favorite type of story.

I particularly liked Melanie's character development as she grew into her own identity. She starts out the book as a child, and although the main story really takes place over less than a week, you get the sense that she's grown into the world and has become an adult able to take care of herself by the end. Her relationship with the teacher and how that changed as time went on was also nice to follow (it actually made me think a bit of Matilda and Miss Honey), and I enjoyed the kind of bittersweet ending and how everything was resolved with the hope of a better future, but without a definite "fix".
Anonymous
Dec 27, 2023
8/10 stars
Excellent! I'm not too sure about the ending, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

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