Title: The Girl With All the Gifts
Author: M.R. Carey
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: April 2015
Source: Own
Rating: 4 stars
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 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.
The Girl With All the Gifts is a groundbreaking thriller, emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end.
I am so shocked. Seriously. So this book came to my attention via Maggie Stiefvater's Twitter feed a while back. She said, "The most sure-footed novel I've read all year. A dystopian thriller with a real, beating heart. Recommend. Recommend. Recommend." I added it to my TBR list that moment. On a whim I suggested it to my book group and they said it sounded "promising"... so here I am on the other side of the beginning.
I'm going to attempt to talk about this book without any spoilers. I knew nothing other than the synopsis from GoodReads and what Maggie had said about it. I want to leave you all with that same experience should you choose to read it. If I had known more, I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much as I did.
From page one I was drawn into the story. I love that it started with Melanie. I'm not sure it could have been done any other way and been as intriguing. Why is she in a cell? Why does she have to be strapped into a wheelchair? I'm SO confused!!! Eventually I caught on, of course.
I can't say I loved it like I did in the beginning. But I enjoyed it. It started to lag for me about halfway through, but it picked up again toward the end. I liked Carey's take on a subject that doesn't typically appeal to me. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a well-told story in a dystopian setting.
Have you read it? What'd you think?
Smiles,
B
I loved it. Made my husband read it, even though he's not into that type of book, and he loved it too. It's best to go into it not knowing too much.
ReplyDeleteI'm not into that type of book either. I think if I had known certain things about the book before I picked it up I never would have picked it up to begin with. I'm really glad I didn't know because I would have missed out on a really well-told story.
DeleteI loved Carey's writing, tho. The characters were all real, believable... and I felt like I was everywhere they were. He did a wonderful job.