The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So. This was a YA title, right?

Then hell yeah, nothing sends up the best message to any ten year old girl reading this that if you can't sporulate your handlers, then by all means, shoot them in the head. It's gotta be better to kill off the human race and start over as bright zombies anyway.

Honestly, I loved it. I did get the feeling, right as we got to the point where our bright little ten year old showed us how much of a genius she was, that it would be a nice twist if she became the inheritor of the world. It was just a fleeting thought, and I might have really enjoyed that kind of ending. She was, after all, very thoughtful and caring for a genius-level zombie.

Little did I know, right?

I loved this book. It wasn't just a solid read from beginning to end, with wonderfully developed characters who actually change and deepen as it progresses. It had pathos, good and bad shot through every person, and so many pertinent dilemmas to push through. There was never a truly extraneous line of text in the whole novel. It was tight and very well edited to the point that it has become a bright star of truly fantastic quality.

I took it easy while reading this because I didn't want it to end. It was very smooth going down.

Other things that stood out, of course, were the solid extrapolations of the fungal vector, the quality of the sub-genre entry, and the uplifting endnote.

Okay, maybe some people wouldn't see the end as uplifting, but I pretty much rooted for the fungus during the entire novel. I mean, just imagine: strength, speed, amazingly reduced caloric intake, and a whole world to dominate once they managed to scramble up from the dark ages. I couldn't believe how JEALOUS I was.

Yep. I was green with envy. It wasn't the tint of my skin. I swear.

I totally recommend this for all you zombielovers out there. I've read more than my fair share, and I have to rank this up there with at least my top five, if not my top four.

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