The Girl with All the Gifts (The Girl With All the Gifts, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Oct 28, 2013 Christal rated it really liked it

Shelves: shady-government-agency, arcs, multiple-leads, dystopian-post-apocalyptic, zombies-and-ghouls, military, creepy-school-setting, virus-disease, scientists, 2014-favorites

4.5 stars

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I first read a version of this story back when it was called Iphigenia in Aulis and featured in the An Apple for the Creature anthology. I loved how Mike Carey was able to evoke such a visceral response in so few pages so, when I saw that it was being developed into a full-length novel, I was very excited but also curious as to where he could take the story. Well, I was definitely not disappointed and I never would have seen ...more

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Jun 17, 2017 Christina T rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, zombies, 2-5-stars, dystopian, m-g-read, 2017-book-challenge

I have a love/hate relationship with this book. There were parts I loved. There were parts I hated. There were parts I wished would just get over with quickly because I was bored....so bored during them. I read this with a friend who said "Hey, let's start a book club" then failed to finish the book and drove 1500 miles to get away from it. Technically it could have been his summer job in Yellowstone that drove him from our area but the coincidences are too great to ignore.

The Good: I absolutely I have a love/hate relationship with this book. There were parts I loved. There were parts I hated. There were parts I wished would just get over with quickly because I was bored....so bored during them. I read this with a friend who said "Hey, let's start a book club" then failed to finish the book and drove 1500 miles to get away from it. Technically it could have been his summer job in Yellowstone that drove him from our area but the coincidences are too great to ignore.

The Good: I absolutely love zombie books. Even when the book doesn't come out and say "I'm a zombie book" I'm pretty much hooked and going to enjoy it on a basic level. There is something about an apocalyptic event turning people to mindless flesh eating monsters that can be terrifying and totally awesome at the same time. So props to Carey for writing a book that I was super excited for and for making the first half of the book amaze-balls! I was in love with the carefully laid out plot and the idea that the children were not exactly children but weren't zombies either. What an freaking fantastical beginning!

What else did I like? Melanie. I adored Melanie. I liked seeing things from her perspective and her ability to understand she wasn't like Miss J or the doctor. I thought her character was amazing and her growth during the book was well thought out. Melanie was the book, in my opinion.

The Bad: The entire middle of the book bored me to tears. I couldn't care less what caused the apocalypse. I hated all the science-y mumbo-jumbo and honestly, I thought Dr. Caldwell's entire part within the book was boring and annoying. She made the book almost unbearable to me. How were we to believe she was working on a cure yet she didn't know any more about the thing causing the apocalypse than we did and kept ooooing and ahhhhing over the weird zombie plants. Not to mention she was TSTL (to stupid to live) and almost got the surviving handful from the base killed multiple times.

In a Nutshell: My experience was this book....I'm loving this book. Love it. Love it. Love it. I'm going to totally tell everyone to read this book! What's going on...what happened to this book?.....zzzzzzzzzz.....wha...what?....Did I miss something? nope...zzzzzzzz.......oh good she's finally gone....Well that's an interesting twist....That's the end? WTF? I don't know how I feel about this. If only my Book Club Buddy, KJ, would have finished this book so I can discuss it with him!!!!!!! ...more

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Dec 02, 2014 Deyara rated it it was amazing

Shelves: char-zombies

Loved it. Was intrigued by the short in An Apple for the Creature. Review of the short: Iphigenia in Aulis by Mike Carey:
My favourite - excellent story that really draws you in, and really interesting characters and world. Would like to read more, though this story actually felt really nice as a short.

So I was pretty excited to see it got upgraded! Expectations were high, and it didnt disappoint. Melanie is great, and loved the world-building. All-round awesome. ...more

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Jul 27, 2014 Samantha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: zombies, 2014

3.5-stars It was a very slow start for me, but about halfway through I couldn't put it down. The reason for Melanie's condition was an interesting new take on the genre. I'd recommend it. ...more

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