Melanie attends to classes every day. Every morning, she waits in her cell for soldiers to come strap her in wheelchair at gunpoint, then be taken to the class down below surface of earth. But it is all worth it because her favourite teacher Ms. Justineau who means the world to Melanie. 

 

But Melanie and other children are different. They are studied and researched in one of the last facilities after the world ended. Years ago Ophiocordyceps, a fungal parasite struck mankind, turning people into bloodthirsty, zombie-like creatures called hungries. 

 

When their base is raided by herd of hungries, Melanie and Ms. Justineau escape the premises with help of Dr. Caldwell and Sgt. Parks who also escape the facility. Set alone in hostile territory without proper gear, they start their dangereous journey towards Beacon, one of civilization’s last strongholds.

 

Hungries

If you have played Sony Playstation’s exclusive masterpiece The Last Of Us the setting seems really familiar because the Cordyceps played important role in the game too. But the two are complete different stories with their own world so no assumptions should be made of these two being set in the same world. Nevertheless, both stories are brutal yet beautiful stories of people surviving after shocking end of the world.

 

The abandoned world is described realistically. From desolate countryside to overgrown cities, the runaways find evidence which tell of the lost battle. One of the most depressing scenes in book is area where everything is still dead and burned after military ran bombing runs with chemical incendiaries, killing more civilians than hungries. 

 

One special mention about the book is how realistically the Ophiocordyceps fungus invading the brain is described. Combined with the fact that Ophiocordyceps is a real fungus that turns ants into mindless zombies in the nature, the story gets a lot more frightening. Most zombie stories don’t tell the origin of the infection but The Girl With All The Gifts does it, and it does it well.

The Girl With All The Gifts is a fantastic book. With fascinating characters, well balanced story and interesting post-apocalyptic world with fresh take on zombie genre, this book is a real page-turner. And if you are fan of The Last Of Us and have been searching for a book similar to the game, you should definetly get this book in your library.

 

Movie adaptation of The Girl With All The Gifts was released in 2016.

 

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