Book Review: The Girl With all the Gifts

The Girl with All the Gifts
by M.R. Carey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I waited much, much too long to enjoy this! Listening to most of it as an audiobook (I have a goal for 2023 to learn to do audiobooks better) and the narrator was fabulous! Changing her voice slightly to do ‘voices’ of characters, without sounding ridiculous.

I’m going to be ordering a paperback copy of this ASAP so it can be on my shelf, and so that my husband can read it. The Girl with all the Gifts is really his class of book, zombie horror. Except MR Carey has given us a real twist on the zombie story that was so popular for awhile.

There’s still gory descriptions, infections, bites, food scavenging, utter destruction of society, and all the ‘fun’ things that come with a dystopian horror zombie story; but there is also a little girl who is gifted beyond what you might believe. This is really her story. There are adults around her; including: veteran military man, schoolteacher, and a scientist. And these adults react to her in very different ways. Ultimately her voice is that of which we experience most of the story from and also the most important to allow for the brilliant ending.

We also get quite a bit of science to go along with this story. Kind of like Max Brooks meets Michael Crichton. I always appreciate a well thought out plot; and usually that means adhering to or explaining the science. In this case, as we have an infectious situation, the science is critical. While no specialist myself, it all felt in line with what we know about pathogens today; and the Poe nod with the use of fungus is a nice touch. It also made me realize it’s my fifth fungus book in two years! Glad I finally read House of the Fall of Usher (by Poe) to understand the origin of this idea.

Normally horror story endings are why I am disappointed upon conclusion. I find most endings lame, convenient, cheesy, or just completely implausible based on the rules set-up previously (cheap) in the horror genre. Carey has written an ending that is not only poignant, and believable, but truly 100% brilliant!! It solves so many problems; makes so much sense, and yet leaves readers in utter shock. Or at least it did for me. Obviously you’ll need to read the book to learn what it is.

I can’t wait to get to the sequel of this book and plan to listen to it on audiobook as well (hoping it’s the same narrator). If you are one of the very few, like I was, that didn’t consume this story when it was super hyped; do it NOW!! You will not be disappointed in its overall uniqueness and brilliancy in a fairly overdone and mundane genre grouping.

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