As a fan of The Walking Dead from the very
beginning, I was looking forward to reading M.R. Carey’s The Girl with All the Gifts. One
complaint I’ve had about TWD lately is that it just doesn’t seem as original as
it once did, with the writers recycling stories over and over. Readers don’t have to worry about that with
this novel though, as Carey energizes the zombie genre with a fresh new
approach.
Decades ago, the world has
basically ended with the Breakdown, and “hungries” are roaming the
land. Most of them are like the way
zombies are traditionally portrayed – always looking for their next meal. But a group of children are different; they
can talk if they’re taught, learn, and be somewhat controlled. Melanie is one of these kids, waiting every
day to be collected from her cell on the base so she can go to “school.” Her best days are when her favorite teacher,
Miss Justineau, is in control of the classroom; however, this is not your
ordinary school. They are taught only
because a research scientist, Dr. Caldwell, needs the data. When the base is compromised, the survivors
set their sights on Beacon, where there might be some way to start new lives.
Carey manages to do
something I’ve never seen in a zombie novel, and that is to add an enormous
touch of humanity into it. Even though
Melanie is still a functioning hungry, she wants so badly to make Miss
Justineau proud of her, and it is this teacher/student relationship that is
truly at the heart of The Girl with All
the Gifts.
MY RATING - 4
