oooh, goodreads choice awards semifinalist for best horror! what will happen? 
 the bleak philosophy of the post-apocalyptic world: 
 aEUR|he doesnaEUR(tm)t see whataEUR(tm)s so great about leaving your mark on things. You have a life and then it ends and youaEUR(tm)re dead. Living it is the point, not proving to other people that you were there. The whole thing is really just water pouring down a plughole, but thataEUR(tm)s absolutely fine. Standing water gets stagnant. 
 iaEUR(tm)m sure this is something i knew and just forgot in the period between when i first heard about this book and when i got my hands on an arc, but this book is a prequel to The Girl with All the Gifts. got that?? a PREQUEL. so donaEUR(tm)t be like me, spending the first 2/3 of the book in a state of panic, fretting that youaEUR(tm)ve forgotten charactersaEUR(tm) relationships to each other during the three/four years' worth of books you've read since then, struggling to even remember what happened in The Girl with All the Gifts beyond the very memorable stuff, because for the most part, none of that matters. thereaEUR(tm)s an exciting little blip of an event at the end that ties the two books together, and no doubt there are smaller connections that will be noticed by readers who have read these closer together, but i can personally reassure you that they are seasoning only, and forgetting details from the first book will not hinder your appreciation of this one. 
 phew.