Ten-year-old Melanie is good-humored and a star student, but she lives in closely guarded lockdown. This partially zombified child has been kept alive as a medical experiment subject after an undead apocalypse laid waste to much of the planet. Early readers of The Girl with All the Gifts have praised it as a horror story with a human touch and as a novel perfectly described on the jacket as a cross between Kazuo Ishiguro and The Walking Dead. To quote the novel itself, "In an age of rust, she comes up as stainless steel." Definitely worth recommending.
04/14/2014
Comics writer Carey (Lucifer) delivers an entertaining take on several well-worn zombie tropes. Years after the requisite zombie apocalypse (this time caused by a mutant strain of an ant-killing fungus, probably the book’s most original touch), scientists in a remote outpost in England are working on a cure by experimenting on a group of zombified children who retain some of their original emotions and cognitive functions. Although Carey piles on the clichés (beyond the apocalypse and the recently trendy intelligent zombies, there are rogue survivalists straight out of The Walking Dead, scientists willing to cross ethical lines, and the ever-silly notion that people would use any term other than “zombies” to refer to the undead), he builds well-constructed characters—particularly Melanie, one of the zombified children, who comes across as cognitively and emotionally different from the other characters, without feeling like an offensive parody of a person with Asperger’s. The requisite action sequences are also well constructed, and the book will appeal to fans of zombie fiction. (June)
"Original, thrilling and powerful."—The Guardian
"Unique and terrifying."—Booklist
"An instant favorite."—Boing Boing
"A great read that takes hold of you and doesn't let go."—John Ajvide Lindqvist, author of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
"Heartfelt, remorseless and painfully human...as fresh as it is terrifying. A jewel."—Joss Whedon
"If you only read one novel this year, make sure it's this one, it's amazing."—Martina Cole
"One of the more imaginative and ingenious additions to the dystopian canon."—Kirkus
"...a brilliant work of science fiction, but even people who never read science fiction should absolutely read this one."—io9.com
"A modern classic for the horror genre."—Book Riot
Narrator Finty Williams wisely sidesteps the sensationalistic tone that would be easy to bring to this novel about an intelligent, young Hungry (zombie) named Melanie in postapocalyptic England. Williams's performance stresses the 10-year-old's coming-of-age story as the way she looks at herself morphs from an intelligent book-loving student to a monster who could destroy the people she loves. Avoiding vocal stereotypes, Williams makes it clear that Melanie is a child, full of wonder and curiosity. When the narrative switches to an adult point of view, Williams injects her performance with toughness, cynicism, or optimism, depending on the character. This zombie story is about self-discovery and finding humanity in unexpected places. And Williams's performance is pitch-perfect. C.B.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2015 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
Narrator Finty Williams wisely sidesteps the sensationalistic tone that would be easy to bring to this novel about an intelligent, young Hungry (zombie) named Melanie in postapocalyptic England. Williams's performance stresses the 10-year-old's coming-of-age story as the way she looks at herself morphs from an intelligent book-loving student to a monster who could destroy the people she loves. Avoiding vocal stereotypes, Williams makes it clear that Melanie is a child, full of wonder and curiosity. When the narrative switches to an adult point of view, Williams injects her performance with toughness, cynicism, or optimism, depending on the character. This zombie story is about self-discovery and finding humanity in unexpected places. And Williams's performance is pitch-perfect. C.B.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2015 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
2014-04-02
Carey offers a post-apocalyptic tale set in England in a future when most humans are "empty houses where people used to live." Sgt. Parks, Pvt. Gallagher, Miss Justineau and Dr. Caldwell flee an English military camp, a scientific site for the study of "hungries," zombielike creatures who feast on flesh, human or otherwise. These once-humans are essentially "fungal colonies animating human bodies." After junkers—anarchic survivalists—use hungries to breach the camp's elaborate wire fortifications, the four survivors head for Beacon, a giant refuge south of London where uninfected citizens have retreated over the past two decades, bringing along one of the study subjects, 10-year-old Melanie, a second-generation hungry. Like others of her generation, Melanie possesses superhuman strength and a superb intellect, and she can reason and communicate. Dr. Caldwell had planned to dissect Melanie's brain, but Miss Justineau thinks Melanie is capable of empathy and human interaction, which might make her a bridge between humans and hungries. Their philosophical dispute continues in parallel to a survival trek much like the one in McCarthy's On the Road. The four either kill or hide from junkers and hungries (which are animated by noise, movement and human odors). The characters are somewhat clichéd—Parks, rugged veteran with an empathetic core; Gallagher, rube private and perfect victim; Caldwell, coldhearted objectivist ever focused on prying open Melanie's skull. It may be Melanie's role to lead second-generation hungries in a revival of civilization, which in this imaginative, ominous assessment of our world and its fate, offers cold comfort. One of the more imaginative and ingenious additions to the dystopian canon.
