About the Book: Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her “our little genius.”
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh.
Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children’s cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she’ll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn’t know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.
The Girl with All the Gifts is a sensational thriller, perfect for fans of Stephen King, Justin Cronin, and Neil Gaiman.
Standalone
Sci-Fi/Horror
Orbit | June 19, 2014
“The truth is the truth, the only prize worth having. If you deny it, you’re only showing that you’re unworthy of it.”
All over the blogosphere I see people talking about how they’re getting in the mood for Halloween. Part of me is really interested, feeling like I should be looking for epic scary reads to suit the frightening holiday. Thing is, I wasn’t planning on it. I had no intention of doing anything special for Halloween, at least not when it comes to reading. My Halloween energy is going into helping my daughter put her demon costume together, and then walking around (again) in the wet cold of Halloween night.
Then, as I started thinking about my review for The Girl with All the Gifts, I realized that what I have here is a Horror book! So, surprise! Happy Halloween!
The Girl with All the Gifts was really really well written. Honestly. Technically speaking, I have absolutely no complaints at all. It was also well created. The science behind it felt sound, and the world we were reading about made sense. In a weird, twisted way even the reason Melanie was kept locked up was understandable too, even if Ms Justineau and I were mostly of the same opinion.
I really feel like The Girl With All The Gifts should have been a slam dunk in the success basket. I should be all over this book! I don’t understand why I’m not. Actually, that’s a lie. I completely understand why I’m not.
It grossed me the eff out.
It freaked me the eff out.
And not in the good way. I wasn’t grossed or freaked out in the fun Halloween way. It was in the, “WTF, who thinks of this crap!” kind of way. I don’t want to spoil it, but let’s say that there are two things that are just too gross for me to contemplate. One, I don’t do worms of any kind. Two, Hell No on anything fungal! Just, ew…
In addition to that, I wasn’t a fan of how the book ended. On a higher level, I get it. I understand the message, and I even agree with it. I thought it was a brave ending; unexpected. It just wasn’t what I was hoping for, or where I thought it was going.
Basically I guess my lower rating is purely due to my own little reading triggers. I know that you guys will probably devour and adore this book, and I’ll applaud you for it. You should definitely read it.
Me, I went into this one with the intention of reading it so that I could watch the movie. Now, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to watch it. You watch it for me. Come back and tell me if it’s as gross as I’m imagining.
I’ll be right here waiting.
“It’s not just Pandora who had that inescapable flaw. It seems like everyone has been built in a way that sometimes makes them do wrong and stupid things.”
Birdie Bookworm 
I loved this book but I think I went in with the expectation that the ending would not be a happy one so I thought it was perfect. I was also a little freaked out by the fungi related stuff (it’s hard not to give spoilers, isn’t it?) but I like a horror story that freaks me out a little.
I haven’t seen the film and don’t really want to. The casting just feels all wrong to how I imagined the characters and that puts me off.
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I actually loved the casting. Though I saw the trailer before I read the book. The only casting that didn’t seem to fit to me was Glenn Close, but that’s because she’s so tough looking in the movie and she was a bit of a wimp in the book. I didn’t mind that they swapped Melanie and Justineau’s ethnicity. The only reason I’m hesitating to watch the movie is because of the fungi, haha.
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YES. I actually DNF’d this book, sadly, I adore the characters and the writing style– but it was far too graphic for me. I felt physically ill at one point. I wish I could have finished it!! My Sig read me the last chapter (sans gross parts), and I thought it was a perfect ending.
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The thing is, I thought it was the perfect ending too, it was just…I hate saying I was looking for a happier ending, because I like books that have interesting endings, but I think I would have preferred it if … okay, this is a spoiler but I’m going to say it anyway… Justineau’s situation at the end made me very very sad.
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I completely agree!! But, it was a better ending than she could have had in the situation she was in. I just appreciate that everyone came to accept the reality of their situation.
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That’s true.
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I have this book waiting patiently on a shelf…not sure I want to read it now! Like you, I’m not overly fond of graphic or gross scenes. Great review! Thanks for sharing your thoughts 🙂
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I’d hate for you to not read a great book because of me! Maybe you’ll be one of those that love it. It is really popular. (Though it is definitely graphic and gross.)
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I’ll give it a try and hastily skim read the gory, graphic parts 😛
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Thank goodness. I don’t want that on my conscience! 😀
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I loved this book! And what was weird for me was that I had no idea that it was going to be a zombie book — I thought it was about a girl with superpowers or something! Still, I really liked it (I guess I have a high tolerance for gross), and actually want to re-read it one of these days. 🙂
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I read a lot of zombie books. I handle that fine, it was just the fungus, haha. I know that’s weird
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No, I get it! It was pretty gross. There was something I read recently that had a similar type of organism responsible for a world-wide plague. Ick.
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