I enjoyed the first book in this series, The Girl With All The Gifts, even though at times the story felt a bit slow. Unfortunately, I could not get into this story. The character descriptions felt devoid of emotion and I was unable to invest in the story.

As much as I enjoyed The Girl With All the Gifts, this book drags. The first book was an adrenaline race, and this one is easy to put down.

Rating: 3.5. I didn't enjoy this as much as The Girl with All the Gifts. But it was interesting to get a view of the world in the beginning of the outbreak. However, I felt like the first 2/3 of this book were so slow moving. Not a lot happens apart from Stephens plot line. I liked the characters but was interested in what happened to some at the end. I am glad I read The Girl first because it gave me more context for this book. I think the last few chapters and the epilogue really saved this book for me. Overall, it kept my attention but did feel too long for what was presented.
I received and ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved The Girl With All The Gifts so I was excited to read this prequel book. I was hoping that some of the characters would connect to TGWATG, but I ended up really excited that we get to find out what happened to the Rosalind Franklin - Rosie - before she makes an appearance in TGWATG. The beginning of the book was a stunner, the middle was slow and expected, the ending was great and the epilogue was AWESOME. I was hooked in the beginning but the middle of the book was your basic zombie story - things go wrong and minor characters die. I was bored and I skimmed through those parts because I really wanted to see where this book was going. I would still recommend it to anyone that loved TGWATG.

I wanted to like this book more, but the middle was slow. I really only connected with Stephen & Dr. Khan. I was also really excited to see how this book was connecting Rosie back (forward) to The Girl With All The Gifts. The beginning, end, and epilogue were great.

Rosie is a heavily armored vehicle that carries soldiers and scientists from a place called Beacon. They are on their trip to get samples from "hungries" (zombies) to try to find a cure for the dreaded disease that creates "hungries." As they travel to get several different samples, they find a boy who has survived. How did he survive? A scientist insists that they take the boy with them. He appears to be autistic but also very smart. Will the crew of Rosie survive?

Though this novel is written after the novel "The girl with all the gifts," it can be read as a standalone novel. The author has written a novel that grows with a type of creepiness due to the fact that the people on Rosie don't always agree on what is the best thing to do on their incredible journey. Every person on the Rosie has been well described and seem alive to me. This novel had me hooked from the beginning. The increasing suspense and danger had the words flying off the pages for me. I couldn't put this book down until I finished it. It makes me want a third novel -- will there be one? I can only tell you not to miss reading this exquisite story!

This is from an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

I'd read two novels by this author prior to starting this one, and he was batting a .500. I really liked The Girl With All The Gifts which I reviewed back in May of 2014, but I really didn't like Fellside which I reviewed in November of 2016. This one, I'm afraid, fell on the same side and delivered no gifts despite evidently being the second volume in The Girl With All The Gifts series. This is why I don't like series, generally speaking. Instead of plowing a new furrow, a series typically sticks in the same rut that's already been plowed.

I think writers choose this fallow ground because it's easy to navigate - just write between the lines! It's a lot simpler and less work to warm-over existing characters than to set forth against a sea of plots and by embracing, write them. I certainly wasn't expecting a zombie apocalypse novel and if I had been, I wouldn't have requested to review this. Zombie apocalypse stories are low-hanging fruit appealing to the lowest common denominator and they make absolutely no sense whatsoever. The blurb, which writers admittedly tend to have little to do with unless they self-publish, delivered nothing on the topic: "Once upon a time, in a land blighted by terror, there was a very clever boy. The people thought the boy could save them, so they opened their gates and sent him out into the world. To where the monsters lived." That doesn't say zombie apocalypse to me! It really doesn't say much at all.

The author never actually uses the word 'zombie'; instead, he calls them 'hungries', which is a cheat, because the name wasn't natural. Even people who can't stand zombie stories, such as me, for example, are familiar with the basis of them, and if this really did happen as it's told here, no one would ever call these things 'hungries'. They would call them zombies. Or flesh-eaters, or cannibals, or something more commonly known. 'Hungries' simply isn't a natural word that would have come into common use, so suspension of disbelief was challenged early and lost quickly.

Even so I might have got into it had the story not been so slow and pedantic, and made so little sense. Despite it being an apocalyptic story of disease run rampant through the population, largely turning it into mindless flesh-eating 'monsters', it was far too plodding and it failed to convey any sense of adventure or danger, or even offer any thrills. The main character was flat and uninteresting and the story plodded painfully and simply did not draw me in at all. The 'science' they were supposedly doing made no sense.

It began with a handful of scientists and a handful of soldiers on an expedition in the zombie wilds, picking up test materials that had been left out there by a previous expedition. The method of making this journey - in a vehicle rather than a helicopter - made no sense either and was apparently designed merely to put these people into conflict with the zombies. What the hell this trip was even supposed to do wasn't really ever made clear, and whatever it was quickly became lost anyway in the endless detailing of people's activities and mindsets including the tediously irritating politics between members of the expedition. The painful, story-halting sorties into each character's psyche was totally uninteresting and did nothing to move the story along. It was like the author was much more interested in holding the reader's hand and spelling everything out instead of relating the kind of story where we would see what was going on without having to be told, and want to read more.

This was yet another apocalyptic story which took place in complete isolation from the rest of the world. When Americans write these stories, only America matters. The rest of the world not only doesn't matter, it also doesn't exist. It's the same thing in this story except that this writer is British, so only Britain exists - this septic isle, the only nation on planet Earth - which again destroyed suspension of disbelief.

I had thought this was a new or relatively new novel, so imagine my surprise when I saw this in audiobook form on the shelf of the library! I picked that version so I could listen to it instead of reading it, and the voice of the reader, Finty Williams (aka Tara Cressida Frances Williams!), made the story almost bearable, but in the end, even her determined and earnest reading couldn't hold my interest, so I DNF'd this novel. Life is too short to have to read books like this one, and I cannot recommend it. It's nowhere near the standard of The Girl With All The Gifts.

A very interesting take on the zombie apocalypse scenario. While I have some extreme reservations on the speed of the infection due to the vector, I find the use of the vector novel and at least bound in some semblance of science. How the mutation of the vector occurred would be an interesting backstory to discover. The characters are fairly well fleshed out, you can get the feeling that they have been under stress for years prior to being chosen for the second expedition to recover sample caches left by a prior lost expedition. During the time of the expedition you come to find that the PTB have not sent the best of the best, with a few exceptions. Some are sent to remove them from power positions, some because they fall outside of norms. The reader can see early on that the power structure within the expedition is set up to be antagonistic at best and fatally flawed at worst. That being said there are some stand out characters who are heroic in their own way. A solid read. I believe that this is by the same author as "The Girl With All The Gifts" although I have not read that nor seen the movie based on the book

( 2.5 Stars )

I finished The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey with an underwhelmed feeling. I really enjoyed the first half of the book, but I found myself dragging my feet towards the end. That’s likely why I didn’t realize there was a follow up book, The Boy on the Bridge, and didn’t choose to read it until I was sent a copy to review. Thankfully I took some time to read a bit about it before getting to far into it, because The Boy on the Bridge is a prequel, not a sequel, which could be super confusing had I not read that in a review prior to starting.

Like TGWATG, the description of this was intriguing, but for me things started out a bit slow. It wasn’t until we were introduced to Steven that my interest started to grow. Steven was very interesting, I loved how he thought, I loved his scientific curiosity, he certainly made the pace of the book pick up.

However, that’s where things climaxed for me. I followed this band of people on their hopeless journey for a cure, but I felt more like I was blindly following them. My interest ebbed and flowed and my connection to the characters didn’t seem as vibrant as with TGWATG.

There were of course some great moments and some great scenes. The ending was quite solid, Carey creates very unique perspectives when she builds her characters and plot lines, and the book itself asked a lot of the similarly themed questions about morality and state of life. All of this I usually quite enjoy, but for some reason, everything in between dragged for me again. Something wasn’t compelling enough to keep me fully hooked through the middle.

A virus threatens to erase all mankind. It turns people into ‘hungries’ who need to eat other living beings to survive, but if bitten, you are turned into a ‘hungry’. A mobile laboratory makes regular trips out to take samples from the ‘hungries’ hoping to find a cure. The story is brilliant, the characters completely unlikeable, which I think is necessary in this story. The ending is amazing!

After finishing The Girl With All The Gifts, I was pretty sure that it couldn't be topped by any sequel or prequel that Carey released. This book was astounding and came close to beating out The Girl/Gifts. I am continuously impressed by Carey's ability to make me fall right into his narratives. I just want Carey to continue writing about this zombie universe so I can never stop reading it.

I could NOT wait to get my greedy little eyes upon this book. Yet I waver now as to whether this was a good book or just an okay book. I loved the book, Girl With All of the Gifts and this was the prequel. The book starts off 10 years after the hungries have taken over the world. The book is a journey book that gets bogged down by the journey, the cast of characters, and the places that they visit.
After reading the entire book there is still no clear answer as to how Melanie came to evolve. I was disappointed that there wasn't any clear answer from the book.
The epilogue was the best part and made me wanting to know more about the time in between.

I really love this dystopian world by M.R. Carey. Its nothing like what I'm used to with zombie stories. You think all the characters will get eaten, but then something you aren't expecting happens. Some are eaten, some are not. Some zombies are zombies and some are not. And then at the end, your world is turned on its head and a whole new zombie world emerges. Its amazing. Loved this book!

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

The Boy on the Bridge by author M.R. Carey is a prequel/sidequal to his zombie apocalypse tale, The Girl With All the Gifts. The first book tells the reader about the disease that caused the apocalypse, the hungries as the zombies are called for their insatiable appetite for fresh protein, and the efforts to find a cure. It includes the manning of the Rosalind Franklin (Rosie), an armoured mobile science lab, by a crew including a young Hungry named Melanie. This second book tells us what happened to Rosie’s original crew.

This earlier crew includes an uneasy mix of military and scientists who have undertaken a journey to try to uncover caches of hungry tissue samples that were buried in a variety of locations by an earlier expedition that has since disappeared. The hope is to discover an ecosystem in which the fungus cannot survive. Among the crew is a fifteen-year-old scientific genius named Stephen Greaves. Whether he is on the autism spectrum or suffers from PTSD due to early trauma, Stephen has trouble dealing with others. It is this inability to communicate that pushes much of the story forward. It is also my biggest problem with this book - he makes an important discovery but, despite putting himself and everyone else in danger for it, he refuses to tell anyone including Dr Samrina Khan, a scientist who has been like a mother to him.

Despite this criticism, The Boy on the Bridge is a very compelling read. Although the story is told in a third person narrative, it provides various points of view giving an interesting insight into how different people respond to the disaster differently from those who sincerely want to find a cure to those who see it as a means to advance themselves even as the world collapses around them. It has interesting characters especially Rina and Stephen and plenty of tension as well as action. It is also almost unremittingly bleak. If you have read the first book, you will know not to expect a happy ending here – where The Girl With All the Gifts was, at heart, a dystopian thriller, The Boy on the Bridge is a tragedy.

Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

There are children among the zombies... and from reading <i>The Girl with all the Gifts</i> we know why.

I just DNF this book (at 20%) because I am not engaging with any of the characters. The boy hasn't still appeared and I'm not in the mood to read any more. I thought the book would take where the first one left but it is the opposite. I do not one to read backwards. I already know what the virus is about and what happened so...

The Boy on the Bridge is a worthy precursor/sequel to The Girl with all the Gifts. It follows the original journey of "Rosie," the mobile science lab discovered later by Melanie and her group, and eventually follows up the events of Girl (so Girl with all the Gifts should really be read first). The group in this book are an equally eclectic set of companions, scientists mixed with military, gathering data in an attempt to understand the Hungry plague enough to create an antidote/vaccination. The story concentrates on Dr. Khan, who is pregnant, and her protégé Stephen, a 15-year-old genius with autism (the boy of the title). Their adventures are every bit as harrowing as Melanie's, especially as the reader who has read the 1st novel will know more than the characters about hungries. Whereas the first novel was about the nature of humanity, this one is more about communication, and its necessity for survival. I found much of the story excruciating, wanting to shake the characters into revealing what they know. I realize it was hard for Stephen to open up because of his autism, but the problem was not just with him; most everyone would go off half-cocked on their own. I suppose it is a sign of how well the characters are rendered that I became so emotionally involved with them. A great story - not quite as good as Girl - that was a truly profound 5*. This is an outstanding 4 1/2*.

I was intrigued by The Boy on the Bridge due to M. R. Carey's other novel, The Girl With All The Gifts, which I absolutely loved. This one takes place prior to TGWATG and adds a lot more detail to this post-apocalyptic world with the "hungries".
A group of scientist, including Dr. Khan, and military to protect them, travel and live in an outfitted tank/vehicle, trying to collect samples to cure the "hungries," or at least make life easier to survive.
The first half seemed a bit clunky, and it took me awhile to get into the rhythm of the story. Once I did though, I was hooked. The pivotal characters had enough dimension to explain their actions, though I would say I wish there was more overall character development. The action and suspense left me needing to know what would happened next, and the epilogue left me wanting more of this world.
Overall, a great companion piece to The Girl With All the Gifts.

This is a well written post-apocolyptic novel that draws the reader in from the beginning. Even readers who don't traditionally read sci-fi will love this series!

I have to be honest here when I first began to read The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey I was feeling disappointed. I had read his previous story The Girl With All the Gifts and was hooked at the get-go. This one was coming across flat. But, there was something there that made me curious enough to continue on and boy, am I glad I did. All of a sudden, the hook was in and I couldn’t put it down.

Set in a time period several years after the apocalypse, “hungries” now have the upper-hand. The survivors reside in a compound called Beacon Muster somewhere along the south coast of England. It’s a bleak world where scientists are sent out periodically with an armed escort in search of a way of curing the virus that has taken so many lives.

This latest excursion is where the story begins…

Traveling in a tank-like RV dubbed Rosie the crew of 12 have been on the road for a while now. Unbeknownst to the others, Dr. Samrina Khan has just found out she is pregnant. Khan, being one of the scientists, has the responsibility of keeping an eye on Stephen Greaves, a young man she has taken under her wing since finding him as a traumatized child. An odd one he comes across as an autistic savant, yet he was the one who came up with a way to block human scent from the hungries, and so he is allowed to travel as one of the scientists.

Stephen has a habit of sneaking out and exploring his surroundings whenever the crew makes camp, it is on one of these forays that he discovers a new breed of hungries. His reluctance of sharing his findings brings on disastrous results.

The crew finds themselves being hunted relentlessly and try to make their way home, but there is subterfuge lurking amongst their midst thwarting the way to safety. After sustaining a major attack Khan gives birth to a baby boy. But the joy of a new life is short-lived when they find they have been lead into a trap by one of their own. It is here that Khan with the help of Stephen makes a life-changing decision as an ultimate sacrifice to save the lives of her crew and child.

I’m not sure if I am doing justice to this story with this review, but I really don’t want to give anything away. There are so many little twists and unexpected turns that really make this story unique. If like me you think whoa, this is a slow-moving story, don’t stop reading! It’s only a matter of a couple more pages and Boom, the story unfolds brilliantly!!

Set about 20 years prior to The Girl With all the Gifts. I was never quite sure of the timeline and it is not truly a factor. It is enough to know that it was several years prior.

Set about 17 years prior to The Girl With all the Gifts. This is the timeline I was able to surmise. The beginning and the end are all action and exciting. The middle was all about learning our characters with a few fully developed and a few like the "redshirt" characters on Star Trek.
I see many reviewers were put off by the lack of development of the "redshirt" characterization. That's life folks. We get to know the characters that move the story along and we don't get to know any more than role played by the undeveloped members of the cast. In this respect Carey went beyond most writers which should be praised. Everyone had a job and a name and a purpose.
Greaves is the main character and I feel that I know him well and he is unforgettable. That is all that counts. Dr Shan was his connection to this world. Everyone else was background.
No, this book is not quite as 'good' as TGWATG. How could it be. It is a prequel and a damn good one. We bring a future knowledge base with us as we read this book. We, the readers, know more than the characters. Again, well handled by M. R. Carey. I am leaving this book desiring to know even more about the children and for this reason I need a pre-prequel to satisfy all my questions about their development. Well played. (less)