While this novel was already on my radar, it moved up my TBR list when it was recommended to me by someone on Litsy as an audiobook. I’ve started to listen to more audiobooks in the past year, and I was told Finty Williams delivers an excellent reading for this book. The recommendation couldn’t be more true. Before I get into her performance, let me address the book itself.

M.R. Carey has created a book with a unique spin on the zombie apocalypse concept. What sets it apart is the idea of the children who are zombies but still intelligent. They know that many of the people in the world have been turned into seemingly mindless zombies (called “hungries”), but they don’t realize they are also zombies. The best scenes of the book focus on the child Melanie. She’s a genius intellect, and her right to live and not be dissected as a science experiment to find a cure for the disease makes up a large chunk of the plot.

The questions that linger for the reader when it comes to Melanie (and thus, the other children like her) are: Is Melanie the human girl? Is Melanie the monster? Does the answer make a difference? And should it make a difference? I many ways, I would have been all right with the answers never being provided, but M.R. Carey does indeed answer the mystery of how these children manage to be different, and it’s not something I ever considered. Bravo to Carey for that!

The ending works perfectly for me. There’s a logical symmetry to it that is horrifying all by itself.

If there’s any gripe I might have for this book, it’s when the focus shifts away from Melanie to incorporate the points of view of the survivors Melanie stays with and their effort to avoid and survive encounters with the hungries. The tension of these scenes are well-written, but they don’t really feel as fantastically original when compared to Melanie’s struggle to survive and protect her teacher, Ms. Justineau. Ms. Justineau is the only one who recognizes Melanie’s humanity and her right to live as something more than a clever lab rat. As a champion for Melanie, it’s difficult not to cheer for her. Likewise, the relationship between the two creates some of the best moments in the book. So really, anytime the focus shifts away from Melanie to these more mundane characters hoping to survive the zombie apocalypse, things stop

I think one of the best supporting characters ends up being Sgt. Parks. M.R. Carey does such a great job giving unexpected layers to this character. On the surface, he seems like a monster of his own, and making a military figure into more of a mindless butcher isn’t all that original, nor is turning him into an overly heroic boyscout. Sgt. Parks manages to embody and reject both clichés. The reader hates him, at first, but as the story progresses, it’s difficult not to sympathize with him. That shocking twist happened for me well before he eventually comes to accept Melanie as more than just an overly smart hungry that’s nothing but a threat. The journey his character takes is by far the most fascinating, especially in regards to his changing relationship with Melanie.

Now, back to Finty Williams. Her reading elevates the book for me, especially in the places where it might have dragged. Her reading does such a fantastic job of giving each character their own voice without overdoing it. She’s just fantastic, and I would definitely seek out more audiobooks with her as the reader (I plan to do just that after I finish posting this review). She fit so well for this book, giving the entire story a kind of dark fairy tale quality. I would have enjoyed this book a lot, even if I’d just read it in print or ebook, but Williams gives it an added bit of heart that’s one part building terror and love.