Homer's Travels: Book: M. R. Carey's "The Girl With All The Gifts"

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Book: M. R. Carey's "The Girl With All The Gifts"

My last book of the year, book twenty-five (just shy of my goal of twenty-six). was M.R. Carey's "The Girl With All the Gifts".  This book is another post-apocalyptic story with some interesting and original ideas.

The story is set in England twenty year after the breakdown of civilization.  The breakdown was caused by a mutant strain of a fungus that usually attacks ants.   Ophiocordyceps is a real fungus and what it does is fascinating.  I won't go into it here but I would strongly recommend you follow the link.

The book follows a group of survivors struggling to get to a safe place.  One of the party is an infected girl (the infected are known as hungries)..  Throughout the book the attitude of healthy survivors toward the hungry changes from antagonism to trust and eventually hope.

Parts of the book, especially near the end, are both heartwarming and heart breaking.  I really enjoyed this book.

I gave the book four stars on Goodreads.  It was close to a five I think but post-apocalyptic stories have been a little over done.  Nevertheless the originality of the premise and the ending made it worth the read.

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