The Girl With All Gifts

The Girl With All Gifts opens just like the title. There's a girl. She seems pretty smart and may well be gifted. Her name is Melanie and she appears initially to be much like any other child. She goes to school, she has a favourite teacher and she enjoys stories. There's just one big difference. Melanie lives in an underground army base. Every morning she is muzzled and strapped into a wheelchair. Along with the other children that live at the base, they’re tested to see what information is retained and understood. Carey tantalisingly drip feeds information, keeping the real truth hidden for a considerable amount of time. You're drawn into the strange world that Melanie inhabits.

Melanie is presents as innocent and alone, struggling to understand the cold and hostile environment she regards as home. Carey controls the reveal skilfully, so when it's revealed, you're already completely sucked into the story and wholeheartedly cheering Melanie on.

Then the narrative switches gears, focusing on a variety of perspectives. Here the book loses its pace. The other character are fleshed out generic post apocalyptic archetypes. Have the grumpy soldier, a narrow minded doctor, the outsider who cares to much and the guy who will die first. Carey gives enough layers of complexity and meaning to these characters, but they’’re never as full realized as Melanie. I can't say I was invested in them enough for them to live. Except the grump soldier, I did grow to like him and his “I’m too old for this shit’’ approach to helpfulness.
 
The horror here is graphic in it descriptions, painting a world of sombre dread. The book builds ideas on violence, endurance and survive against all the odds to create a vividly post apocalyptic world. Eventually the books narrative and characterisation settles into a predictable pattern halfway in. With the inevitable demise of various characters. However by this point I was engaged enough to be continue reading. The book quests was fairly predictable, except the ending which Carey delivers with both pathos and a sense of detached irony. Carey presents you with hope but it comes at a price, challenging you to think about boundaries and the darker side of our instinct to survive.

3 and a half lonely post apocalyptic waffles out of 5