From the Bookshelf of Fantasy Buddy Reads…

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

M.R. Carey

Start date: October 1, 2025

Finish date: October 14, 2025

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What Members Thought

Oct 19, 2016 Mary ~Ravager of Tomes~ rated it really liked it

Shelves: 4-star, year-2016

Actual Rating: 4.5 Stars

Before reading this I didn't even glance at the synopsis. This is a bad habit of mine, if a bunch of people I trust have liked a book I sometimes don't even bother seeing what it's about before adding it to my TBR. In this case, avoiding the synopsis was this book's saving grace because I'm not sure I would have picked it up if I hadn't.

It's well known among my friends that I very much dislike the "zombie/virus" theme. I just really don't find it interesting for the most ...more

68 likes · Like · see review

Oct 26, 2023 Michael rated it it was amazing

Although I read this years ago, I broke it out again because of it being a /r/Fantasy BotM pick. I had forgotten many of the details, but thoroughly enjoyed it the second time around. (A sign of a good book). I'm a character drive person, and the characters in this book were all quite good even if the Parks was a little sterotypical. Well worth the re-read and great for the seaons. I'm not generally a "zombie book" person -although I enjoyed this as well as World War Z, but for very different re ...more

35 likes · Like · see review

Oct 26, 2017 Silvana rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scary-stuff, sci-fi, stand-alones, reading-with-friends

A fresh take on the zombie subgenre, the book grabbed me from the start. Emotional and suspenseful. Around 30%, while the action kicked in, it became a typical apocalyptic road trip with lots of running around and repetitive conversation among all characters. Lucky, there were some character development moments that made some of them less clear cut and created sympathy. While some questions still lingered, the ending was particularly strong.

15 likes · Like · see review

May 27, 2017 Kirsten rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: made-me-cry

Wow! Uh.... wow!!!

I admit I have been known to tip my foot into the zombie pool. But the books are usually just Twinkie fare. This one is more like a nice piece of cheesecake!!

This is one zombie book you can sink your teeth into. The storyline, the backstory, the character... they are all spot on and grab you and don't let go.

The thoughts of Melanie (our thinking and caring zombie) and Miss Justineau (her schoolteacher) are very compelling and the ending is perfect. It had me wanting more. (The ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Jul 29, 2014 Shelli rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: expected-more, ni-group-read, read-in-2014

This started out pretty good and got to a point where I thought it was both exciting and interesting.(possibly heading to a 4 star) I really liked the characters and was pulling for them. Then when I thought some really interesting stuff could have happened…it didn't. It hit a wall. Literally in the story the characters hit a big grey wall and from that point on, it lost all of its excitement for me. For me it went from an exciting dystopian style to more of a not very good horror story. It had ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 29, 2014 C.S. Daley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror

I loved this book. It was sweet, and sad, and horrific, and full of melancholy. I cared so much for the main characters that I dreaded every page of this book and yet I couldn't put it down. It really struck a chord with me and is easily my favorite book of the year. I am going to write a longer review later for my website but I wanted to get this down just in case someone is looking for something great to read this weekend. Carey is one of my favorite writers. His novels and his comics always g ...more

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Jun 20, 2014 Justyna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, horror, post-apocalyptic, year-2014

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book is so much more than the synopsis says.

Melanie, the girl with all the gifts, is such an intelligent girl and she acts so mature for her age. It’s easy for a reader to figure out what she really is but there is still a bit of a surprise when all gets revealed at the end.

I was actually really happy with the ending. It was different from what I thought it was going to go. The author didn’t stick to the clichés and maybe the ending isn’t as hopeful as we’d like, but it’s very satisfying, n ...more

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Dec 20, 2015 mina rated it really liked it

Stunning.

[SPOILERS AHEAD. I warned you :) ]
I cannot believe I am saying this to a book about zombies. Or shall we say 'zombies'? Para-zombies? I have been successfully avoiding to read all kinds of zombie books (even if I have World War Z on my bookshelf) until I got fascinated by the short synopsis of this book. I am hoping for a psychiatrical story of mentally-deviated children. But several pages into the book, I let out a swear word. But it's too late, I was already hooked.

The characters! I
Stunning.

[SPOILERS AHEAD. I warned you :) ]
I cannot believe I am saying this to a book about zombies. Or shall we say 'zombies'? Para-zombies? I have been successfully avoiding to read all kinds of zombie books (even if I have World War Z on my bookshelf) until I got fascinated by the short synopsis of this book. I am hoping for a psychiatrical story of mentally-deviated children. But several pages into the book, I let out a swear word. But it's too late, I was already hooked.

The characters! I hate Miss Justineau the most, thinking she's the holier-than-thou kind of person. Even when I knew that she had a reason for it. I think it is really fit that she is the one who needs to "suffer" at the end. For other characters, they are more grey, and I like them because of that. Especially Parks who's progressing to a better person. Or maybe he's a better person since the beginning.
I love it that the book did not waste time with unimportant characters. It really zeroed in to only 5, with each person's given an opportunity for perspective of his/her own in looking at their life, even the 'zombie' kid, Melanie, who struggled to understand who she is, who she will become, and who she wants herself to be. We understand what motivates each person doing what they are doing, and we ultimately appreciate their choices.

Scariest moment is when I found the combination of zombie and alien-ish thing in the concept of the tall fungus tree sprouting out of a "dead" zombie. I think it is so eerie, surreal, and fascinating. And when we get to know what is the fungus wall made of, I am even more awed.

And the ending! I developed my own ending when the story got to the part of the fungus wall, but even at that time I realized that my ending was a bad one. I do not know whether it is sad or happy one, but I think the ending given by the book is the best. An acceptable one. Maybe we have defined a human being in a very narrow definition all this time.

But of course before you get to the ending, you will have to go through all the pains and boring story of running away from zombies, much like when you watch a zombie movie or TV series (I still do not understand why people are torturing themselves watching several seasons of running away from zombies. Masochism, perhaps?). Not that I watch them. I only saw one, and it is not even a good zombie movie: Warm Bodies, all because the main actor is the gorgeous Nicholas Hoult.

I am torn between giving this book a 3.5 or 4. I decided to give it a 4, because of a peek into Melanie's mind and the superb ending.

Must-read, must-owned.
This author is soooooo into my list now. ...more

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Aug 01, 2017 Samantha rated it liked it

Shelves: written-review, distopia, sci-fi, dnf

I honestly DNFed this book, but not because I thought it was bad. I just didn't realize it was a zombie apocalypse book. I detest zombies. However, I thought the characters were compelling and interesting. The book made me think a little. The prose was decent. I skipped about a third of the book and read the ending and thought it drew a satisfying conclusion based on what I had read and expected. This book really just had the misfortune of falling into the category of books I'm predisposed to di ...more

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