Book #609 – The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

Originally published in 2014, the book follows Test Subject Number 1 (Melanie) and her handlers as they move through a world ravaged by “the hungries”. It’s a take on the zombie genre that has the fungus Ophiocordyceps as the main bad guy, making the jump from taking down colonies of ants to vertebrates. If you haven’t heard of Ophiocordyceps, look up Zombie Ants, it’s both fascinating and terrifying. It’s the same fungus that was featured in the zombies of the video game The Last of Us. In fact, if you’ve played the 2013 game, you may notice some similarities.

The book is set in England, and because of my husband and I’s love of disaster movies, I can’t help but compare the book to a mix of Shawn of the Dead (2004) and Doomsday (2008). This is due to a mixture of dry, British humor, and post-apocalyptic horror. I also plan on watching the 2016 movie adaptation of this book, because Glenn Close portrays Caldwell, and it’s like the scientific version of her portrayal of Cruella de Vil.