The Girl With All the Gifts

April 14, 2014
Comics writer Carey (Lucifer) delivers an entertaining take on several well-worn zombie tropes. Years after the requisite zombie apocalypse (this time caused by a mutant strain of an ant-killing fungus, probably the book’s most original touch), scientists in a remote outpost in England are working on a cure by experimenting on a group of zombified children who retain some of their original emotions and cognitive functions. Although Carey piles on the clichés (beyond the apocalypse and the recently trendy intelligent zombies, there are rogue survivalists straight out of The Walking Dead, scientists willing to cross ethical lines, and the ever-silly notion that people would use any term other than “zombies” to refer to the undead), he builds well-constructed characters—particularly Melanie, one of the zombified children, who comes across as cognitively and emotionally different from the other characters, without feeling like an offensive parody of a person with Asperger’s. The requisite action sequences are also well constructed, and the book will appeal to fans of zombie fiction.

April 15, 2014
Carey offers a post-apocalyptic tale set in England in a future when most humans are "empty houses where people used to live." Sgt. Parks, Pvt. Gallagher, Miss Justineau and Dr. Caldwell flee an English military camp, a scientific site for the study of "hungries," zombielike creatures who feast on flesh, human or otherwise. These once-humans are essentially "fungal colonies animating human bodies." After junkers--anarchic survivalists--use hungries to breach the camp's elaborate wire fortifications, the four survivors head for Beacon, a giant refuge south of London where uninfected citizens have retreated over the past two decades, bringing along one of the study subjects, 10-year-old Melanie, a second-generation hungry. Like others of her generation, Melanie possesses superhuman strength and a superb intellect, and she can reason and communicate. Dr. Caldwell had planned to dissect Melanie's brain, but Miss Justineau thinks Melanie is capable of empathy and human interaction, which might make her a bridge between humans and hungries. Their philosophical dispute continues in parallel to a survival trek much like the one in McCarthy's On the Road. The four either kill or hide from junkers and hungries (which are animated by noise, movement and human odors). The characters are somewhat cliched--Parks, rugged veteran with an empathetic core; Gallagher, rube private and perfect victim; Caldwell, coldhearted objectivist ever focused on prying open Melanie's skull. It may be Melanie's role to lead second-generation hungries in a revival of civilization, which in this imaginative, ominous assessment of our world and its fate, offers cold comfort. One of the more imaginative and ingenious additions to the dystopian canon.

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May 15, 2014

Melanie can't remember life before she came to the base, but she hopes that when the mission is over she can live a normal life in Beacon, the city that developed in the 20 years since the hungries ravaged England. For now, life for the girl is contained in her cell, the corridor, the shower room, and the classroom. When the base is attacked, Melanie and her favorite teacher, Miss Justineau, escape with the mysterious Sergeant and Dr. Caldwell, the scientist experimenting on the children. As they head to Beacon, Melanie begins to realize that she is not like the others and wonders if the life she dreamed of can ever be a reality. VERDICT Like Max Brooks did with World War Z, Carey (Lucifer; Hellblazer) turns the zombie genre on its head. While the setting is a stark dystopian future teeming with undead, this moving story's real focus is the relationships and growth of the characters, not who or what they are. In a packed field, this fast-paced and haunting tale is sure to stand out.--Portia Kapraun, Monticello-Union Twp. P.L., IN

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