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The Girl with All the Gifts (The Girl With All the Gifts, #1)

M.R. Carey

Start date: July 8, 2014

Finish date: August 5, 2014

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Aug 21, 2014 Benjamin added it

Shelves: audiobook

An expansion of Carey's story "Iphigenia in Aulis" in An Apple for the Creature, this book takes most of that premise for the first half or so of the book: in a post-collapse Britain, on an army/research base, half-zombie children are taught by a kindly teacher, bullied by a no-nonsense military guy, and dissected by a cold scientist who is only interested in knowledge.

The zombie plague here is related to Orphiocordyceps, the brain-hijacking fungus; but while this creates pretty typical zombies An expansion of Carey's story "Iphigenia in Aulis" in An Apple for the Creature, this book takes most of that premise for the first half or so of the book: in a post-collapse Britain, on an army/research base, half-zombie children are taught by a kindly teacher, bullied by a no-nonsense military guy, and dissected by a cold scientist who is only interested in knowledge.

The zombie plague here is related to Orphiocordyceps, the brain-hijacking fungus; but while this creates pretty typical zombies in some ways (infectious bites), the half-zombie children are in a weird half-state: they would bite you if they could, but they also enjoy Greek myths. Or at least our star pupil does. Which sets up a pretty funny dichotomy between this half-zombie who lives in a fantasy world of double-decker buses and 100-pence-to-a-pound-after-1971 and the young post-collapse soldier--and the renegade junkers who never submitted to the new government regulations--who live in a very different world.

That's one of the things that differentiates this from zombie adventure novel: throughout the adventure and the fights between the characters, there's a steady thread of "What kind of world do we live in? What kind of future could this world have? What kind of world do you want to live in?" Additionally, Carey makes most of the characters interesting; the book has that R. R. Martin structure of revolving around a set of characters, with limited third access. So, when we're in the POV of the cold scientist, we know her thoughts, but not the thoughts of her opposition, the kind teacher. This is a smart structure for this sort of book since we get to see the multiple aspects of each character, so if the events change them--or make them more like what they were--we see that. Enough beating around the bush: the cold scientist is almost a parody of that stereotype, almost out of a 1950s alien invasion movie where curiosity about the enemy is wrong and we should all just listen to the military man.

I don't want to spoil the rest of the book, since there are a few genuine surprises, but there are also some archetypal zombie plot beats: problems with other humans, searches for safe haven, scavenging, the one guy who panics and runs into danger, etc.

And that's not to knock the book. In a way, Carey has pulled off something very impressive, keeping some of the structure/tropes of the zombie story while overlaying his own interests and themes. ...more

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Jul 07, 2014 Tracey rated it really liked it

A very interesting take on the genre. It had a slow start, but picked up and really drew you into the characters. I also found that each time I guessed where it was going, I was just wrong enough to make the plot twists really enjoyable.

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Oct 24, 2016 Brian rated it it was amazing

I think we reached peak zombie about 5 years ago. Having said that, I started reading this book without knowing anything about it and I was hooked from page one. Yes it's zombies, but the story is fresh and the writing is excellent. I especially enjoyed the very different writing styles between the different POV characters. I'd recommend it to anyone with a tolerance for good writing and a little bit of gore. ...more

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Oct 07, 2015 Jo rated it really liked it

This book just devastated me. Really evocative writing, a very unique spin on a post apocalyptic genre that had been growing stale. Interesting take on humanity and what makes us human. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though it is definitely not for everyone.

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