The Girl With All the Gifts
Published: June 2014
Author: M. R. Carey (Mike Carey)
Part of: Girl With All The Gifts (2 books)
Genres: Action, Dystopian, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Movie Tie-In, Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Supernatural, Survival, Suspense, Thriller, Zombies
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Summary:
A variety of the fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, endemic to South America, infected humanity twenty years ago, causing the Breakdown - the end of society as we knew it. The afflicted, dubbed "hungries," lose their mental abilities fast and feast on the flesh of healthy individuals. The illness is transferred by blood and saliva, but it may also be carried through the air via fungal spores. The few uninfected people left in England either dwell in tightly guarded locations like Beacon or roam in gangs of hostile, scavenging "Junkers."
Authorities in Beacon established a secluded military outpost to research a specific group of kid hungries. Unlike others, they can keep their mental abilities and only lose control when they get too close to human scent. The only method to mask the odor is to employ an e-blocker chemical, which is in short supply.
Soldiers, commanded by Sergeant Eddie Parks, track down hungry children and transport them to Hotel Echo, a location 30 miles outside of London and 74 miles from Beacon. The youngsters are schooled by instructors at the base and tested by Dr. Caroline Caldwell, the chief scientist. Helen Justineau, a behavioral psychologist and instructor at the facility, dislikes it when she has to vivisect the kids.
Melanie, a 10-year-old with a genius-level IQ who is enthralled with Greek mythology, namely the story of Pandora, is one of Justineau's favorite children. As a surrogate mother, Melanie adores Justineau. Melanie, like the other kids, has no idea that she is different from the grownups.
Melanie is chosen to be dissected by Dr. Caldwell, who believes she is close to finding a treatment for the fungus. The base is besieged by a gang of Junkers and hungries as Justineau interrupts and attempts to save her; Caldwell is seriously injured, and Melanie consumes flesh for the first time in rescuing Justineau, reawakening the fungus' "hunger." Parks and Private Kieran Gallagher are found and the three escape the base together.
The party chooses to drive to Beacon, which is 74 miles distant, but the grownups disagree over whether Melanie should accompany them. Parks agrees only after the youngster is muzzled, handcuffed, and forced to ride on the tank's roof. Melanie cooperates now that she realizes how dangerous she is to the others.
Melanie is valuable to the grownups since she is not attacked by hungry and can guide them away from humans. While Caldwell continues to regard Melanie as a specimen, the others begin to have faith in her. After many encounters with hungry creatures, including a few adults that exhibit human-like behavior, the party discovers Rosalind Franklin's mobile laboratory. It was created with cutting-edge facilities for testing and attack shortly after the pandemic began, but it vanished while on its research mission. Caldwell, who is dying of sepsis, uses the facility's technology to expedite her study.
Melanie discovers a group of hungry children while she satisfies her hunger apart from the others by eating wild animals. Melanie notices that they keep their mental processes as well, even though they lack a language of their own due to their lack of education. Melanie tells the grownups she spotted a huge bunch of Junkers instead of revealing the truth to Justineau because she is afraid of being experimented on. Gallagher flees the lab because he is afraid of junkies. The clever hungries find him, kill him, and devour him.
Caldwell, concerned with completing her studies before dying, catches one of the intelligent hungries and experiments on him as Parks and Justineau seek for Gallagher. She makes amazing discoveries, but she won't let anybody else in because she's afraid they'll interfere. Melanie discovers a massive clump of fungal fruiting bodies that have increased in size over the years since the infection began; while there are enough spores to infect the whole planet via air currents, the sporangia pods do not open on their own.
Caldwell is duped by Melanie into allowing her in. Caldwell tells Melanie about her findings before she dies: The fungus has neither a cure nor a vaccination. Intelligent hungries are the offspring of hungries who maintained certain human characteristics. People who are born this way keep their mental talents.
Parks and Justineau are surrounded outside the lab by hungry people. Melanie manages to scare them away, but Justineau is knocked down and Parks is bitten and sick as a result. Parks requests that Melanie shoot him before the infection cycle is completed so that he does not develop into a ravenous creature; she complies. She instructs him to blast the spores with a flamethrower, correctly assuming that fire is the environmental trigger that causes the spores to open.
Before Melanie agrees to Parks' request to murder him, she reveals that the conflict between healthy humans and the hungries will continue as long as there are healthy people. Every human must be infected before second-generation hungries may be born and restore the world.
In the Rosalind Franklin, Justineau wakes. Melanie takes her to a group of clever scavengers, to whom Justineau, dressed in an environmental suit, begins teaching the alphabet.
Rating: 95/100
Recommended: 100/100 Yes.
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The Girl With All the Gifts (Rated R)
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