The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey

This is a book best discovered blind, without knowing the plot or even genre. But if you already know, or don't mind mild spoilers, read ahead. 

"That's Pandora...she was a really amazing woman. All the gods had blessed her and given her gifts. that's what her name means, the girl with all the gifts. So she was clever and brave and beautiful and funny, and everything else you'd want to be. But she just had the one tiny fault, which was that she was very, and I mean very, curious."

This is a book that, on its face, is about an apocalypse. But it's also about well-meaning people who make mistakes. Is there a pandemic? Yeah. Is there a quest to find a cure? Of course. Are there great explanations for its cause and future prognosis? Yup.  

But what I like are the characters, and the fact that there aren't really good guys or bad guys. While there are those who seem like they fit one category or the other, Carey blurs those lines and gives her characters more dimension as you get further in. 

"The infection was bad...so were the things that the important decision people did to control the infection, And so was catching little children and cutting 'em into pieces. Even if you're doing it to try to make medicine that stops people being hungries. It's not just Pandora who had that inescapable flaw. It seems like everyone has been built in a way that sometimes makes them do wrong and stupid things."

Much like Pandora, whose legacy is really maligned, Carey describes her as a gifted, wonderful person, with just a tiny flaw. But aren't we all like that? And the more I thought about it, the more I realized Carey isn't just making this comparison to one character. I saw Pandora in a lot of her characters. She has many who are gifted in their own way with their own flaws that, some would argue, are worse than others. How will each be remembered? What is their legacy? And I think whether the legacy is good or bad depends on who survives the apocolypse that has unfolded.

It's a thought provoking read and also just a really great story. There is also a movie that is pretty good as well, but barely scratches the surface when it comes to covering what is in the book. There is also a prequel, The Boy on the Bridge that came later. Might be worth checking out.