When this book popped up as the next to be read in my book club, I had no idea what to expect.
See, I like jumping into book club books without reading about them first. I don’t read the synopsis on the inside cover if there is one, and I don’t look up any details online. Is that nuts? There’s just something about not having to lift a finger to choose a book, then being totally surprised at what happens. My fun was spoiled slightly this time, though, when our fearless book club leader mentioned that she had started, and that there were…dun dun dunnnn…zombies.
Zombies?? Oh no. I leave all the apocalyptic, dystopian, zombie story reading to LQ contributor Whit. But, with a desire to be able to talk about the book at book club, I dove in, expecting to not enjoy it much.
However, against all odds, I began to enjoy the book, from page 1 until the end. In fact, I really liked it!
All of you out there who think you don’t like zombie books, listen up. This story was such a whirlwind of an adventure. The writing was good, the story exciting, and the characters well-developed. It’s such a different side to traditional zombie stories. M.R. Carey takes zombies (“hungries”) and gives them such an enthralling human element. Of course there’s the crazy mad scientist, the buff protector man, a romance element, several strong female leads…this book has a little bit of everything.
Sure, there were a couple graphic scenes of life being extinguished in ways I don’t care to recount, but even though I didn’t particularly enjoy reading those, they were elemental to the story, so I was ok with it. Heck, I couldn’t put the book down during those parts!
Overall, I’d recommend this book to readers with similar interests to my own. If you’re looking for something fun, slightly sci-fi, and unputdownable, pick up The Girl With All the Gifts.
3 comments
I’m glad you’ve come over to the zombie genre side. Maybe you’ll…dare I say…deliberately seek out horror/zombie/apocalyptic reads now?
Haha! Doubtful. Unless I know beforehand that they’re fun, insightful zombie stories like this book was, rather than the slay them all!!! kind.
[…] guys, I was so looking forward to this one! One of my first book reviews here on LQ was The Girl with All the Gifts, which I was VERY surprised to enjoy. I’m not a thriller/sci-fi/fantasy reader, so I was […]