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Heather Nixon on 17 Oct 2016
“I have wanted to read this book for a few months, as the movie looks great and I really wanted to read the book before I watched the movie. I was very kindly sent the book to review from Social Book Co which is a book price comparison website which is so useful as books can be quite expensive and we all want a good deal and to find the best price possible! This post contains an affiliate link.

I have The Girl With All The Gifts which is published by Obit and it's 460 pages long although this edition has an interview with the author and an excerpt from The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August which I have already read and loved - I think this must be the same author but with a different pen name which is annoying as I'd love to read more from this author.

Firstly, I love the cover! It is so simple but colourful, striking and unique - it also doesn't really give away anything about the storyline (also the blurb doesn't give away much either) and it's great that you go into it quite blind. Text on the cover states that it is a thriller and I think it is a little but I'd personally classify it as a dystopian, apocalyptic and an action read, not really a thriller as such.

"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 is a very special girl." From Amazon

This little section may contain a could of minor spoilers so just skip to the final paragraph. The book follows a curious, intelligent and...very unique young girl called Melanie and other very unique children like her. The soldiers take extra care with her and the others, it follows her life and what happens when the...stuff hits the fan.

I didn't know this book was written by the same author as The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August (which is one of my favourite books of 2016 so far) and I do see some similarities as both as so quick and easy to read even though they aren't short books. The writing style for The Girl With All The Gifts is a bit more simplistic, to the point and refreshing especially as some of the views/perspectives are of Melanie who is only a child.

I love Melanie's character as well as Miss Justineau, their friendship is just so sweet and caring, unlike all of the other relationships in the book. Then there were some awful characters such as Dr Caldwell and Sargent Parks, although I came to like him in the end. It was interesting to find out about the world in the book, the worldwide disaster and the wide reaching effects on individuals and society - I haven't read anything exactly like it before. I found the mystery element make it a real page turner and I managed to read the book in just under two days which I think it quite quick especially as it's 460 pages long (not including the interview or extract).

Overall, it was a quick, easy and entertaining read and I loved it much more than I thought I would. It's great to go into it blind, it kept me wanting to read on and on and it is perfect for this time of year. It is a little gory and gruesome at times, which I wasn't fully expecting, and it has strong apocalypse/dystopian themes so if that's not your thing then possibly skip this book but if you like action, adventure and dystopian books with some fighting, survival and more then definitely check it out! My only main problem is that although the ending was quite heart felt and emotional, it was also a little convenient for me and I still had a lot of questions when I finished reading.”