Author: Patrick Ness
Series: Chaos Walking #1
Date Started: May 27th 2013
Date Completed: May 30th 2013
Genres: Adventure, Mystery, Action, Dystopian, Romance
Rating: Four stars
Review:
It started slow. And then got interesting. And then it started getting really exciting so I didn't want to put it down. Then it got even better. And then it came to the end and I couldn't bear to leave it there. So I've bought the next one and I'm going to start it right away.
The Knife of Never Letting Go is set on a far away planet that humans have had to escape to in order to survive. The story starts in a small town where Todd is the only male who's still a boy - but his 13th birthday is coming up fast. But there's a strange thing about this town - there are no women. They were all killed off during the war that occurred in the early stages of the planet's invasion. But one day Todd finds a silence - something different to the constant droning Noise of thoughts that surrounds everyone in Prentisstown. When he returns home and his foster fathers start to suddenly pack in a wild desperation, Todd's strange world is turned upside down and he's forced to escape into the wild with something he didn't think existed anymore - a girl.
The writing of this book was obviously aimed at a younger target group than myself, but that didn't make it unreadable as books written for younger readers usually are. I was still able to enjoy the reading and it was reasonably good for a children's book. The words are spelt phonetically which tends to get on my nerves a bit, but the story and characters were good enough to let me forget this for most of the book.
The pace started off very slow. I admit, I was having my doubts near the beginning as to whether I was going to enjoy this book, but actually I'm very glad I kept with it.
I would have preferred the pace to be as fast as it is around the middle for the whole book - rather than slow at the start and then rather fast at the end - but the book didn't suffer too badly for it, and it still engaged me enough to keep reading.
Looking back, not a whole lot happened: the book mainly consists of Todd, Viola and Manchee running from one place to another, thinking their going to be protected and then having to escape after being attacked. Surprisingly, I didn't get bored of this while I was actually reading it, but I do think it would have been better if a more detailed plot line was in place - although for the age group this novel is aimed at, I can see how it would work well.
There were other events that happened in each location, but it didn't have as much of an affect on the protagonists as I would have like. Having said that, I was excited and engaged for the most part of this book, so I can't complain that much.
I fell in love with the characters. There's something about younger heroes in kid's books that just makes me fall in love with them.
I don't usually like the main characters of stories because I feel they're given too much time for the readers to get to know and find flaws in, but Todd is one of the few exceptions to that. His innocence - and lack of it - made him seem very, very real to me. So much so that I felt I knew him by the end of the book. His reactions were so alive, and his growing feelings for Viola were just right to give the subtle implication we were all waiting for.
Viola is also wonderful. She has a speech around three quarters of the way through that I found myself stopping at. It took me a few minutes to realise that she actually sounded like me. That's one of the magical things about books: you read them to know that you aren't the only person that thinks a certain way, but it's rare that you find a character or author that thinks just like you. And in that speech of heres, Viola was that character for me.
Manchee annoyed me at first - as I think he was meant to - but my feelings had certainly grown in time for what Ness had planned. (Sometimes I just hate authors.)
There are a lot of other characters around and about that feature for a short time, that I wished had been in the story longer (e.g. Hildy, Jacob, Ben, Cillian etc). I understand why they didn't, but I don't think it could have hurt to span their involvement for a little longer.
I admire Ness for being realistic about the reactions to death and destruction and loss in a children's book. I think those things are hard to present even in adult books, yet he has succeeded in this novel in a way that's gentle, but still gets the necessary point across - that killing and life isn't all it's cracked up to be.
The end was one of the best cliffhangers I've ever read. Most of the books I read finish on implications of a continued story, and I like that because I don't feel pressured into reading any more. In this case, however, I most definitely feel like I have to finish reading the series because the end was so well orchestrated - and so damn inevitable - that I want to know how it continues on.
(A very good title as well. I usually don't quite understand why certain titles are used - and then sometimes it's just blindingly obvious. But this title was very fitting and intriguing too.)
I would recommend it to any who likes adventures, dystopian, action, romance etc etc. Remember, I wouldn't class this as a Young Adult novel and it's not the most sophisticated thing you're ever going to read. But if you like books that focus on stories and characters, then you should definitely try The Knife of Never Letting Go. And then I'm sure you'll want to read the rest of the series right afterwards. I am.
Image Source: http://i.imgur.com/kjvq6.jpg
It started slow. And then got interesting. And then it started getting really exciting so I didn't want to put it down. Then it got even better. And then it came to the end and I couldn't bear to leave it there. So I've bought the next one and I'm going to start it right away.
The Knife of Never Letting Go is set on a far away planet that humans have had to escape to in order to survive. The story starts in a small town where Todd is the only male who's still a boy - but his 13th birthday is coming up fast. But there's a strange thing about this town - there are no women. They were all killed off during the war that occurred in the early stages of the planet's invasion. But one day Todd finds a silence - something different to the constant droning Noise of thoughts that surrounds everyone in Prentisstown. When he returns home and his foster fathers start to suddenly pack in a wild desperation, Todd's strange world is turned upside down and he's forced to escape into the wild with something he didn't think existed anymore - a girl.
The writing of this book was obviously aimed at a younger target group than myself, but that didn't make it unreadable as books written for younger readers usually are. I was still able to enjoy the reading and it was reasonably good for a children's book. The words are spelt phonetically which tends to get on my nerves a bit, but the story and characters were good enough to let me forget this for most of the book.
The pace started off very slow. I admit, I was having my doubts near the beginning as to whether I was going to enjoy this book, but actually I'm very glad I kept with it.
I would have preferred the pace to be as fast as it is around the middle for the whole book - rather than slow at the start and then rather fast at the end - but the book didn't suffer too badly for it, and it still engaged me enough to keep reading.
Looking back, not a whole lot happened: the book mainly consists of Todd, Viola and Manchee running from one place to another, thinking their going to be protected and then having to escape after being attacked. Surprisingly, I didn't get bored of this while I was actually reading it, but I do think it would have been better if a more detailed plot line was in place - although for the age group this novel is aimed at, I can see how it would work well.
There were other events that happened in each location, but it didn't have as much of an affect on the protagonists as I would have like. Having said that, I was excited and engaged for the most part of this book, so I can't complain that much.
I fell in love with the characters. There's something about younger heroes in kid's books that just makes me fall in love with them.
I don't usually like the main characters of stories because I feel they're given too much time for the readers to get to know and find flaws in, but Todd is one of the few exceptions to that. His innocence - and lack of it - made him seem very, very real to me. So much so that I felt I knew him by the end of the book. His reactions were so alive, and his growing feelings for Viola were just right to give the subtle implication we were all waiting for.
Viola is also wonderful. She has a speech around three quarters of the way through that I found myself stopping at. It took me a few minutes to realise that she actually sounded like me. That's one of the magical things about books: you read them to know that you aren't the only person that thinks a certain way, but it's rare that you find a character or author that thinks just like you. And in that speech of heres, Viola was that character for me.
Manchee annoyed me at first - as I think he was meant to - but my feelings had certainly grown in time for what Ness had planned. (Sometimes I just hate authors.)
There are a lot of other characters around and about that feature for a short time, that I wished had been in the story longer (e.g. Hildy, Jacob, Ben, Cillian etc). I understand why they didn't, but I don't think it could have hurt to span their involvement for a little longer.
I admire Ness for being realistic about the reactions to death and destruction and loss in a children's book. I think those things are hard to present even in adult books, yet he has succeeded in this novel in a way that's gentle, but still gets the necessary point across - that killing and life isn't all it's cracked up to be.
The end was one of the best cliffhangers I've ever read. Most of the books I read finish on implications of a continued story, and I like that because I don't feel pressured into reading any more. In this case, however, I most definitely feel like I have to finish reading the series because the end was so well orchestrated - and so damn inevitable - that I want to know how it continues on.
(A very good title as well. I usually don't quite understand why certain titles are used - and then sometimes it's just blindingly obvious. But this title was very fitting and intriguing too.)
I would recommend it to any who likes adventures, dystopian, action, romance etc etc. Remember, I wouldn't class this as a Young Adult novel and it's not the most sophisticated thing you're ever going to read. But if you like books that focus on stories and characters, then you should definitely try The Knife of Never Letting Go. And then I'm sure you'll want to read the rest of the series right afterwards. I am.
Image Source: http://i.imgur.com/kjvq6.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment