The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

by:  M. R. Carey
published by:  Orbit
publish date:   June 19, 2014

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 Parks 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.

Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad. 

From that description, I really didn't know what to expect.  I thought it was going to be some kind of horror novel.  Maybe like a creepy kid psychological thriller.  Nope.  Post-apocalyptic zombie book.  Really?  Really.

I was a little bit aggravated that the book ended up being that kind...yet again.  Seriously, we're not done with that yet?  I really like those kinds of books and I'm burnt out on them, I felt a little betrayed to be blindsided with one.  Melanie is a captured zombie that has  the ability to learn, but she's elite among these types of zombies, she's a genius.  That makes her the focus of the work being done at the military base they're all staying at.  Of course, things go wrong and their happy haven is at risk.  

Begrudgingly, I ended up liking this book.  It was a good storyline and the characters were likable in the end.  This book did have a unique idea for how the zombie virus was spread and in the end Melanie's actions  with the zombie virus was surprising.  I would recommend this book for people that enjoy these types of books