The Girl With All The Gifts

This is a guest review from artist Pat Koelmel:

I never miss an episode of The Walking Dead, the AMC TV series, and I absolutely loved, loved, loved the box office hit World War Z. Based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Max Brooks (see Rick O’s review dated February 18, 2011), I honestly couldn’t resist seeing Brad Pitt pitted against zombies.

Surprisingly, though, as much as I enjoy zombies on the big … or little screen, I’m not so keen on reading about them. As far as I’m concerned, even the best that literature can offer can’t top the living breathing characters and stark visuals of The Walking Dead. So where is this leading? Had I known that The Girl with all the Gifts (a 2014 novel by M.R. Carey) was about a zombie apocalypse, I would never have given it a second look. 

So how did I get hoodwinked into picking it up? The book jacket summary was deceiving to say the least: “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.
After reading that, I was instantly intrigued. Who was Melanie and what were her gifts? And why was everyone so terrified of her? I couldn’t help but shudder. For me, there’s nothing more chilling than a scary old person … or a scary child.

So naturally, I was disappointed when I discovered it was about zombies. Yet, I forced myself to read on. After all, I still wanted to know about the girl with all the gifts. And, lo and behold, before I knew what hit me, I got sucked in by this book a second time. That’s right, sucked in by a book about zombies. And, by book’s end, I was even ready to eat my words. With that said, how’s about a taste of the plot? 

The story opens on a military base in England twenty years after the Breakdown. The Breakdown refers to the onset of the infection which caused most of the population to turn into hungries (a name the author has given to the zombies). The base is protected from the hungries by a fence and armed guards led by Sergeant Parks.

Besides ten-year-old Melanie (the girl mentioned in the book jacket tease), there are about twenty other children just like her who pretty much live out most of their days alone in their respective cells, which is why Melanie enjoys school so much. Melanie also has a crush on one of her teachers, Miss Justineau. Unlike her other teachers, Miss Justineau is kind and reads the class stories like Winne-the-Pooh. (Hmmm, I bet you’re curious to know more about Melanie and her classmates just like I was. Sorry, mum’s the word. If you want to know more, you know what you have to do.) 

Meanwhile, on the same base, Dr. Caldwell, is busy in her lab. Her job is to find a cure. Much to Miss Justineau’s dismay, Dr. Caldwell uses the children for her research.    

And then there are the junkers, humans who preferred (since the Breakdown) to take their chances on the outside. Junkers, by the way, are as much a threat to what’s left of civilization as the hungries. So, when the base topples, and Miss Justineau, Dr. Caldwell, Sergeant Parks, and Melanie are left stranded with limited resources in a cold, cruel world ruled by junkers and hungries, it goes without saying that they are in for a bumpy ride.  

Okay, for some of you out there (especially the zombie aficionados), this storyline may seem like nothing new, but don’t be fooled. Trust me, there is an interesting twist. (Yes, it has to do with the children.) And for this reason alone, I would recommend this book. However, there’s more. Despite my earlier misgivings, The Girl with all the Gifts gives The Walking Dead a run for its money. It is indisputably well written, well thought out, and clever. Carey provides vivid descriptions and worthy scientific explanations with regards to the infection. As for the surprise ending -- yes, there is a surprise ending -- if you listen real carefully, you might still be able to hear my applause.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: I also have read many Zombie novels and wonder when these authors will run out of fresh ideas. But Pat's review kinda makes me want to read another, or should I read another Dracula novel? Maybe another Frankenstein novel? Or maybe another Jaws novel? I am getting confused. The fact is that horror will live for ever, just like the above mentioned novels. Have you seen the latest Halloween movie?