This is a complicated one to review for me -- the film adaptation is one of my favorite movies of all time, and easily one of the best zombie films ive ever seen, and i really hoped the book would be the same. ultimately it did pick up at the end and i felt myself genuinely caring for the characters but most of the time as i read it i just kept thinking "they did this way better in the movie" or "that made more sense in the movie". small things, like the tone of the text not fitting the characters (why is sergent parks talking about the air being full of "bad vibes"?) and how weirdly horny it got at times not towards melanie or in her povs, but still a bit much for the setting). mainly, however, it was the timeline and in universe explanations of its events. the timeline of the movie is pretty clear: the apocalypse happened and melanies generation is the result of

their mothers being infected before coming to term and the babies getting a partial form of the infection through their mothers, and they then crawl and tar and bite their way out of the stomachs of their mothers.

and can i be real here. that rules. and it sets a up a clear timeline for the length of the apocalypse so far: melanies generation

was conceived before it, therefore its about as old as them.

in the book things are... messier.

the apocalypse happened much further back and melanies generation is assumed to be... the various children of survivors who were also infected with their parents (despite having no bite marks). that makes no sense, but it doesnt have to: its instead revealed that they are the children of hungries (zombies) who (because some pattern in their brain retained the memory/muscle memory of the act) continued having sex after being infected. what. huh. what. especially because the only hungries we see stuck in human motions are those doing the things they were doing when infected (pushing a baby carriage, looking at a photograph). are you telling me a couple got infected while boning and their corpses just kept going at it? and does that mean the zombies can ejaculate? its also implied at the end though (same as in the movie, though it makes more sense there) that melanie might be sergent parks daughter because she kind of looks like his dead(presumably) girlfriend/wife? which timeline wise makes no sense considering the apocalypse has been raging since long before melanie was conceived: gallagher was born post-breakdown and hes a full grown, if young, adult. but maybe parks was just speaking metaphorically, saying that he feels like melanie is like a daughter to him. or something. so i guess were just left with zombie sex.

the most glaring difference between the book and film is the race swap given to both melanie and miss justineau. i knew that melanie would be white in the book (

i thought it would mean the sergent parks daughter reveal would make more sense. it really doesnt.

). i did not realize just how much theyd mention it. its mentioned on the first page, and basically once a chapter for the early stages of the book. no one can stop talking about how pale and blonde and not dark she is. while this was offputting as i cant imagine melanie as anyone except the actress who protrayed her in the film, it was expected. what was unexpected was miss justineau being black in the book. they switched them for the film, for some reason i kind of cant figure out. i dont know if theres a criticism for that or not. i guess its on the movie for white washing but maybe its equivalent exchange? maybe? the main highlight of the book over the movie for me though was the elaboration on gallaghers character. in the movie hes... fine. he seems like a nice enough guy. in the book, the complicated set up of

two post-breakdown generations

leads to some genuinely fascinating introspection on his part.

his death scene in the book is uniquely hesrtwrenching in a way the movie never manages to achieve with the character. in his last moments he refuses to hurt the hungry children eating him thinking "in a perfect world, he would have been of them". this perfectly encapsulates it. he was just born a little too early (he doesnt know about the hungry sex, its just an age/time thing to him). it also seems to foreshadow melanies ultimate choice. in the "perfect world" of the future only the hungry children come out on top. nature progresses and humanity, even gallagher, on the cusp of making it out, is left behind.

TLDR if you are interested in the premise this book presents, watch the movie. normally not advice i would ever give but the movie paints a much clearer portrait of the setting, as well as having genuinely phenomenal acting and sound design. read the book if youre still interested after that, but prepare to be a little disappointed.