Book Title: The New World
Author: Patrick Ness
Series: Chaos Walking #o.5
Series: Chaos Walking #o.5
Date Started: June 23rd 2013
Date Completed: June 23rd 2013
Genres: Sci-Fi, Dystopian, Action, Thriller
Rating: Four stars
Review:
I think this was a really nice prologue to the Chaos Walking trilogy. It set up the story for people who have yet to read the series, and also cleared up a few questioning points for people who have already read the books.
The New World is a short story about how Viola made her way to Todd's planet. It shows her life on the ship, and then the disaster that happened on her arrival at the planet.
Ness' writing is again, very good. He knows how his characters think and is then able to portray them appropriately and realistically to the reader in their various situations. There isn't much chance to show off his imagery here, although I feel a little more detail could have gone into her first impressions of the new planet (although I have a feeling this was left out to enforce her shock from the previous events).
I think this could very easily have been just about her flight through the atmosphere and down onto the planet, but actually a lot more detail about life on the ship and her relationship with the other people is added in in parts along the way. Each section proves a little bit about how Viola feels and reacts to what her parents and everyone else says.
I've always liked Viola, and felt I could relate to her. In this little novella we get to see more of how she became the strong, stubborn character we know from the trilogy. I also really enjoyed seeing her relationship with her parents; since it's not as perfect as we're led to believe in the trilogy. (I think this was handled brilliantly. Viola acts how the majority of children do; questioning their parents and denying that they understand everything like they seem to say - but he also shows how actually a lot more affection is actually hidden behind those words, and how scary it is to lose something like that).
Viola's parents aren't really how I expected them: I had always pictured a lot more demanding characters that knew what they were doing all the time - these versions were a lot more hopeful and smiley, but they actually seemed quite frail and naive. I liked that.
I'm also very happy Bradley had an appearance. We do get a sense that he and Viola were very close (not romantically - as friends, another thing I'm proud of in this series is the strong ties of friendship as well as love) and we really get to see this relationship in this novella.
I think the ending was really quite sad. You definitely sympathise with Viola when you first hear about her story in The Knife of Never Letting Go, but reliving it brings it to life quite a bit more. I think it can sometimes be hard to recreate a story you're thought of, and have mentioned so many times it's turned into something of a story you tell people commonly - but Ness managed to actually tell his story again without it being predictable and boring.
The Chaos Walking series has always found a way to have morals in them, and even in this tiny collection of passages, there's still a reality about our impression of hope. As so wonderfully put by Viola's father 'hope is terrifying', 'but life is more terrifying without it'. I'm always impressed by how Ness can include these simple, but true points in his writing without losing his exciting plot.
I would recommend it to anyone who likes the Chaos Walking trilogy, and sci-fi, dystopian books. It's quite good if you just want to try out Patrick Ness' writing, although his actual series' are better, since you get to see the characters develop as they go on their journey.
Image Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqxp9A2O1EDKMqZ2wF3hzNlhr50zMwJQyeL9cbdLBhU3KkBiT1FIzHFrTQREow6K6XuQ9R5c7910FijSjHAVT6AhfJDyThZPSDFfrkAjA27A1DF3hq15pkEXsIpvAZ80txsT0GG2nhe1AX/s1600/TheNewWorld.jpg
I think this was a really nice prologue to the Chaos Walking trilogy. It set up the story for people who have yet to read the series, and also cleared up a few questioning points for people who have already read the books.
The New World is a short story about how Viola made her way to Todd's planet. It shows her life on the ship, and then the disaster that happened on her arrival at the planet.
Ness' writing is again, very good. He knows how his characters think and is then able to portray them appropriately and realistically to the reader in their various situations. There isn't much chance to show off his imagery here, although I feel a little more detail could have gone into her first impressions of the new planet (although I have a feeling this was left out to enforce her shock from the previous events).
I think this could very easily have been just about her flight through the atmosphere and down onto the planet, but actually a lot more detail about life on the ship and her relationship with the other people is added in in parts along the way. Each section proves a little bit about how Viola feels and reacts to what her parents and everyone else says.
I've always liked Viola, and felt I could relate to her. In this little novella we get to see more of how she became the strong, stubborn character we know from the trilogy. I also really enjoyed seeing her relationship with her parents; since it's not as perfect as we're led to believe in the trilogy. (I think this was handled brilliantly. Viola acts how the majority of children do; questioning their parents and denying that they understand everything like they seem to say - but he also shows how actually a lot more affection is actually hidden behind those words, and how scary it is to lose something like that).
Viola's parents aren't really how I expected them: I had always pictured a lot more demanding characters that knew what they were doing all the time - these versions were a lot more hopeful and smiley, but they actually seemed quite frail and naive. I liked that.
I'm also very happy Bradley had an appearance. We do get a sense that he and Viola were very close (not romantically - as friends, another thing I'm proud of in this series is the strong ties of friendship as well as love) and we really get to see this relationship in this novella.
I think the ending was really quite sad. You definitely sympathise with Viola when you first hear about her story in The Knife of Never Letting Go, but reliving it brings it to life quite a bit more. I think it can sometimes be hard to recreate a story you're thought of, and have mentioned so many times it's turned into something of a story you tell people commonly - but Ness managed to actually tell his story again without it being predictable and boring.
The Chaos Walking series has always found a way to have morals in them, and even in this tiny collection of passages, there's still a reality about our impression of hope. As so wonderfully put by Viola's father 'hope is terrifying', 'but life is more terrifying without it'. I'm always impressed by how Ness can include these simple, but true points in his writing without losing his exciting plot.
I would recommend it to anyone who likes the Chaos Walking trilogy, and sci-fi, dystopian books. It's quite good if you just want to try out Patrick Ness' writing, although his actual series' are better, since you get to see the characters develop as they go on their journey.
Image Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqxp9A2O1EDKMqZ2wF3hzNlhr50zMwJQyeL9cbdLBhU3KkBiT1FIzHFrTQREow6K6XuQ9R5c7910FijSjHAVT6AhfJDyThZPSDFfrkAjA27A1DF3hq15pkEXsIpvAZ80txsT0GG2nhe1AX/s1600/TheNewWorld.jpg
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