"Original, thrilling and powerful."The Guardian"Unique and terrifying."Booklist"An instant favorite."Boing Boing"A great read that takes hold of you and doesn't let go."John Ajvide Lindqvist, author of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN"Heartfelt, remorseless and painfully human...as fresh as it is terrifying. A jewel."Joss Whedon"If you only read one novel this year, make sure it's this one, it's amazing."Martina Cole"One of the more imaginative and ingenious additions to the dystopian canon."Kirkus"...a brilliant work of science fiction, but even people who never read science fiction should absolutely read this one."io9.comAbout the AuthorM. R. Carey has been making up stories for most of his life. His novel The Girl With All the Gifts was a USA Today bestseller and is a major motion picture based on his BAFTA-nominated screenplay. Under the name Mike Carey he has written for both DC and Marvel, including critically acclaimed runs on X-Men and Fantastic Four, Marvel's flagship superhero titles. His creator-owned books regularly appear in the New York Times bestseller list. He also has several previous novels, two radio plays, and a number of TV and movie screenplays to his credit. what is the best selling book in 2018 The Girl With All the Gifts
482 of 516 people found the following review helpful. An exceptional story, but ignore the synopsis; it's nothing like the writing in the bookBy Inspiring InsomniaThe Girl with All the Gifts might be my favorite book of 2014 (so far). Its certainly in my top 5. Before I discuss the book, I have to discuss the synopsis. I feel like Ive been complaining about synopses a lot recently, usually because they dont reflect the tone of the book. This is probably the most egregious example. The synopsis is written as though a very young child with a very limited vocabulary is speaking. You would rightfully assume that the book would be written in this same manner, but you would be wrong. WHY do marketers do this? Are they intentionally trying to turn off readers? I heard about this book from somewhere other than Goodreads, and Im sure I would never had chosen to read it if he synopsis was all I had to go on. The main character is a 10 year old girl named Melanie, and I could understand the desire to write the synopsis in a young voice IF the MC had that same voice in a first person narrative. But that is not the case here. Melanie is a very intelligent girl, and the narrative is written with an intelligent tone in the third person and doesnt reflect her voice at all.Sorry to go on and on about this, but I dont want the odd choice for the synopsis to discourage anyone from reading the book. Because ALL of you should want to read The Girl with All the Gifts, and Im going to do my best to tell you why. Im going to keep it vague, because you need to discover the secrets of the book for yourself.The story is set in a post-apocalyptic society in the U.K. Melanie and other children attend school classes, which seems normal enough on the surface, but it soon become apparent that something is not quite right, both with the children and with this school. We get hints of the nature of these differences early on, but it takes some time to learn what caused the apocalypse and how Melanies world reached this point.Melanie has what could be called a childhood crush on her favorite teacher, Miss Justineau. Miss Justineau sees something in Melanie that stands out from the other children, and she cant help responding to Melanies adoration, even though she tries to keep an emotional distance. Miss Justineau differs greatly from the other adults in Melanies life who treat her with apathy, at best, and shocking cruelty, at worst. Its not hard to see why Melanie feels such affection for her teacher. The scenes between Melanie and Miss Justineau are heat-breaking. Melanie craves physical and emotional affection, just like every child deserves. But Miss Justineau can only do so much without risking her life and Melanies.The Girl with All the Gifts starts out so strongly, and I thought that there was no way the story could maintain this pace. I was wrong, because the latter part of the book was even better. Melanie makes a decision at the end that has enormous implications. It affected me so much that it took a little while before I could even pick up another book. But was it the right decision? I think so, but that doesnt mean that I was emotionally prepared for it.Public service announcement: The Girl with All the Gifts is published by Orbit, a division of Hachette, the publisher that is battling. If you choose to buy this book (and you should!). think twice about buying from . Aside from the obvious reasons, is selling this at list price. BN, Powells, and possibly your local indie, too, are selling it for significantly less.Note: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.606 of 656 people found the following review helpful. However many words there are for brilliant this is all of them!By Liz BarnsleyMelanie 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 dont like her. She jokes that she wont bite, but they dont laugh. Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the childrens cells. She tells her favourite teacher all the things shell do when she grows up. Melanie doesnt know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.So. Mr Carey. I have been waiting for another book in another series, some folks will know what I mean, but I thought hey, this one will do to be going on with. Especially when good blogger friend Kate waxed lyrical about it and told me I must read it. Frankly it wasnt a hard sell..This is an INCREDIBLY difficult book to review without spoilers I had no idea why Melanie was so special going in, and Im not going to tell you either, but special she is. And not just because this is a clever, fascinating, addictive story about ha see you nearly had me its about THINGS OCCURRING - but because she is ridiculously easy to love, so well written is she. In fact all of the characters pop right off the page for one reason or another.You will either want to protect them with your life or shoot them in the head. Often with no inbetween.Its a horror story. But not really. Its a fantasy. But then, no not really. There is certainly love there. And loss. And some stand out scene setting. And a heck of a lot of jaw dropping moments. And dont start reading it just before bed time. You wont sleep. For various reasonsnot all of which will have to do with how eager you are to find out what happens.When I read a book like this it reminds me why I love to read. Utterly compelling, taking you away from the madness of the real world and into the madness of anotheroffering a new twist on a popular theme and getting you right at the heart. RIGHT at the heart. Its only the end of January but I would be MOST surprised if this one doesnt end up in my top 5 of the year. And trust me, choosing last years top 5 was hard enough..PLEASE be careful which reviews you read of this one before you dive in my reading friends. It really is best arrived at with a beautiful blissful ignorance.Highly Recommended. HIGHLY.Happy Reading Folks!**HardBack Version purchased via UK**0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. It'll keep you hungry for more! ;)By a customerAn entertaining, fast paced, thrilling, keep-you-wanting-more read. The Girl With All The Gifts is a post apocalyptic tale with heart. It's a unique take on the whole zombie thing that'll suck you in with the first few sentences. I found it hard to put the book down. Without giving too much away and getting too philosophical on you, it'll make you think about where you stand and what's more important to you. Towards the end it gets a little bleak and depressing when you realize things can't ever go back to what it was pre-apocalypse, but I love the way the author ended it. He shows us that world we know and its inhabitants will never be what it once was but maybe it can be better. You're given a glimpse of the future and it's left to you to decide if you find hope or dismay.