The Girl with all the Gifts by M. R. Carey

The Girl with all the Gifts by M. R. Carey

The Girl with all the Gifts  by M. R. Carey

This book was wonderfully terrifying! 

Melanie is a very smart little girl who goes to school and tries very hard to impress her teacher.  She loves listening to the books that her favorite teacher, Miss Justineau reads to her class.  Books about the Greek myths, Winnie-the-Pooh, and history.  Melanie is incredibly smart and can memorize all sorts of facts about math, geography and populations.  We learn as the book progresses that the world Melanie learns about in her classes is not the world found outside.  

Melanie is not like other little girls.  Melanie doesn't know this.  

Melanie and her classmates live on a military base with soldiers, researchers, and scientists.  The children are all kept locked in their cells at night and strapped in to wheelchairs during the day.  We learn very quickly through Melanie's descriptions of her daily life that she is not a normal child.  She has guns drawn on her, takes chemical showers, and is fed only once a week. 

There is no touching.

As the book progresses, we learn how the world fell apart.  How humanity has tried to hold on and rebuild.  Dr. Caroline Caldwell, head scientist on the base, believes that Melanie and her classmates are the key to humanity's future.  It is only when Melanie is brought to Dr. Caldwell to assist in an experiment that we learn how low humanity has fallen.  

While Melanie is strapped to an exam table, the base is attacked by hungaries.  These hungaries were once human and are now just a vehicle for a mysterious and deadly fungal infection that has destroyed the human race.  With the help of Miss Justineau and two soldiers, the surviving members of the base embark on a journey to find safety.  

Any more and I'll spoil the book.  This was an intense and amazing read.  The audio book version that I listened to was narrated by Finty Williams.  I firmly believe that a narrator can make or break an audio book. I have DNF'd many audio books because the narration was horrible. Williams' performance was incredible.  Listening to her polished, British accented voice describe human dissection was chilling.  

The Boy on the Bridge  is book #2 in the Hungary Plague Series.