The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness (#1)

I've been meaning to write this review for some time. I read The Knife of Never Letting Go for the first time a few months before I started blogging so when I wrote reviews for the others ensuing (links at the bottom).

So, as part of the Chaos Walking week in Loving Books, I thought I should finally add my own to Rebecca-Books to celebrate. Check her site out, it's really good. (If you want to join in with the week, click here for the starter post)

This is simply a mini-review as I read it so long ago and am basing some of my thoughts on the next two books.

Synopsis: Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives. 


Review: This book is a killer for someone trying to sleep at night. That is, not in a creepy scary way. But if you read before bed, this book is going to be unputdownable. 


This, for me on reflection, is the UK's answer to the Hunger Games series. The Chaos Walking series was something that really introduced me to the dystopia and science-fiction world that I never quite knew much about. 
The story is set in the near future where a group from another land who have landed on (I think) Earth. However, this is a place with a difference. For starters, there are no women. And the remaining men and animals (such as Todd's dog Manchee) have a disease where their thoughts can be heard aloud for anyone to hear - this condition was not in women, however. From the start, you can sense the corruption and the depth of the secrets hidden from both Todd and the reader. Patrick Ness successfully feeds information to the reader of the underlying secrets of Prentisstown and the world Todd is in. 


Todd himself is someone I continued to like the whole way through the books - he is someone you want as a friend. Viola, I think, is and always be my favourite - perhaps because she is a girl but I just like the way she is presented and how despite losing her family, she kind of gets on with it. The relationship between these two main characters is superb in the way they were written and this is developed and continued throughout the series. 


Written beautifully and originally, this is a book I would recommend to everyone. The lovely characters and plot should give most people a good enough reason to put this up. With twists and turns, this book spits you out at the end, still on the edge with the annoying cliffhanger - making me HAVE to read on. 
There are hilarious moments, heart-wrenching moments (Manchee!) and moments which I cannot describe well for this review. If you haven't read this already, don't doubt it - just go for it and I assure you will be pleased with the outcome!


I give it a 5 out of 5


Author's Website: http://www.patrickness.com/
Pages: 479
Publisher: Walker


Book #2 - The Ask and The Answer
Book #3 - Monsters of Men
Book #0.5 (prequel) - The New World 

THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO is also being made into a film, the rights sold to Liongate who recently made the Hunger Games. 

Monsters Of Men - Patrick Ness

Just as a warning...Monsters Of Men is the third book in the Chaos Walking series so there may be spoilers in this if you cared....




OH MY GOD. If you have actually wade yourself through the older posts, you would know that I, like others, am a HUGE fan of the Chaos Walking series and of Patrick Ness in general. I loved the two books before, The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and The Answer. 
Those were amazing books...this is even more amazing....

First Sentence: "War," says Mayor Prentiss, his eyes glinting. "At last."

Todd and Viola are in New Prentisstown where the Spackle, the army,  the new settlers and the Answer have arrived all at the same time for battle and the only one who can save it is the Mayor....unfortunately. This book is about what happens in the end and how and most important if a) the war finally ends and b) WILL VIOLA AND TODD FINALLY KISS!
I have been waiting 2 long thick books for this....they better.

The book for me has everything a book could want. Love, Romance, War, Violence, Fantasy....it's just a great book. Everyone that's read it has said. It finally draws up conclusions to the mysteries that have been around since book 1 and we finally find out what was said in Todd's Ma's book. Well...it is obvious!
And the ending....was absolutely amazing. Such a good ending.
AND...if that isn't enough...guess what? I'm meeting Patrick Ness! I was on his website looking at something and saw that he was doing a book signing at Foyles, Charing Cross next Thursday and got places for me and 3 of my friends!
There will be, for anyone interested, him, Mary Hooper (!!!!), Anne Fine, Melvin Burgess, Bali Ali, Jenny Valentine and probably other people....I AM SO EXCITED!

Here is also a Monsters of Men trailer which I thought was really good. Enjoy.
Author's Website: www.patrickness.com/

Chaos Walking Trilogy: The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

Sorry I finished this book ages ago but it's Easter holidays here so I was away and then this week I was ill. First, if you haven't read the first book in the series, The Knife of Never Letting Go then, there's no point reading this review until you have. The book does refer to the first one, which was amazing and had me asking some of my friends what happened because I wanted to know so much. They never told me. :(

First Sentence: "Your Noise reveals you, Todd Hewitt."

The trilogy is about a young, nearly 13 year-old boy, Todd Hewitt and a young, about the same age girl from another planet, Viola. They've finally got to Haven, the place where Viola can contact her ships to help them, and as you know from the first book, come face to face with the person they were running away from: Mayor Prentiss. Haven has changed completely. The famous Noise echos again through the town which is full of secrets and violence under the new name of New Prentisstown. As they are separated, Todd is forced to learn the new ways of the Mayor's new order. But where is Viola? Is she alive? Is she under the new mysterious Answer?
Then. The bomb explodes and both are forced to keep their secrets under the most extreme pressure as their relationship seems to develop.
The last book was ended on a cliffhanger as is this book. It isn't as fast-moving as the first book but I liked that. It was less exhausting to read and I prefered it. You get to know Todd and Viola more and see their relationship develop. Which is nice. It isn't a book for those people who want happiness as there are some unhappy bits as well as gory, so you can't watch your thumb bleeding, maybe don't read it. The chapters have Viola's and Todd's point of view which I loved as the first book I think only had Todd's point of view and only near the end included Viola's.
Read it. They are great books. I can't wait for the next one :)

I give it a 4.5 out of 5
Author's Website: www.patrickness.com/