Melanie's Week in Review - November 23, 2014

Welcome to winter! I feel for those of you who have had been suffering from all the snow. It has finally started to feel like winter here in the UK (well apart from Saturday). It has been a murky week to have as annual leave and consequently I didn't manage to read very much. So what did I read?

I only managed to finish one book this week (hangs head in shame) but it was a 'goody'. The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey is not your typical zombie fiction. Normally, I don't like horror  - either watching it or reading it but I make some exceptions...mainly for zombies. I love Walking Dead, The Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant and Carey's one off tale of a young girl in the midst of a Z-poc. The story starts with a young girl named Melanie (not the reason why I liked it so much either!) who is held prisoner in a military institution along with a dozen other children. She is held in a prison cell, strapped to a chair everyday by soldiers who hold a gun to her head and only looks forward to the few short hours she attends 'school' and taught by the beloved Miss Justineau. In between lessons on the Greek gods and mythology Miss Justineau also teaches her about the world before the 'hungries', before mankind got decimated not just by zombies but by each other. Everything changes when the installation is over-run by junkers and she is on the run with 2 of the soldiers who kept her chained to a chair, a scientist who was about to dissect her alive and her beloved teacher.  On the run, with no where to hide and nothing to eat, pursued by the junkers and zombies alike Melanie learns who she really is and what she is capable of.

This is a gripping book from page 1. You are immediately drawn into Melanie's life not just from her POV chapters but through the other characters in the main story including Miss Justineau. I couldn't really put it down and I thought that Carey pitched the horror at the right level so that you weren't always being 'grossed out'. I like how Carey interwove the Greek myths both through Melanie's schooling but also from how they started to play out in the story. If you like a good story and don't mind the occasional zombie kid munching someone's entrails then this is an excellent book.

I am super excited that Dragon Age Inquisition was out on Friday. I am a very bad gamer but love role playing games and the Dragon Age series is my favourite. There is also a set of books to accompany the games and I started The Calling by David Gaider, who also writes for the games. This is the second book in the prequel series to the games. So far it is pretty good and written very much like the games. If you are a fan of the Dragon Age games then I urge you to check out the books.

That is it for me this week. I am back to work next week and then I have jury service for 2 weeks. I have been informed that it is highly likely that I will have lots of time to read during jury service.  Wish me luck! Until next week Happy Reading.