Erin S. (nantuckerin) reviewed The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking, Bk 1) on + 158 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
I'm not very tolerant of books written in a strong dialect -- especially if it's a voice meant to show a lack of education. Or "edukayshun", as the narrator of The Knife of Never Letting Go would say.
But only a few chapters into Patrick Ness' first volume of the Chaos Walking trilogy, it becomes quickly apparent that what Todd Hewitt has to say is much more important than the words he uses.
The story follows a boy in the days preceding his 13th birthday -- the day that he becomes a man in his settlement, Prentisstown. All of the men in Prentisstown can hear one another's thoughts as a result of the Noise germ, a weapon used by the hostile aliens that were defeated more than a generation ago. Unfortunately, the Noise germ also made all animals speak -- and killed all the women.
But this dark story has a darker backstory, and as Todd -- the last boy in his settlement -- approaches his most important birthday, events are put into motion that reveal a history of deceit and tragedy that still ripples through the community today.
If this review sounds deliberately vague -- it is. The Knife of Never Letting Go has many wonderful twists and turns, and I don't want to risk spoiling any of them. Ness is expert at unveiling details about his characters and the world they live in one morsel at a time, and letting the story unfold naturally. No synopsis paragraphs here. The author makes readers wait and see, and witness the events through Todd's disbelieving eyes.
Todd himself is an interesting character. He's caught on the cusp of adulthood, but innocent in many ways. His best friend is his (talking) dog Manchee, and their relationship is one of the most intriguing in the book. I thought a talking dog was going to be a silly device, but I was proved very wrong.
I think this would be an interesting read to share with an AP English class, science fiction/fantasy book club or other group of advanced readers. There is a lot of symbolism worth discussing -- the repeated use of the knife and its many meanings throughout the book has especially been gnawing at my mind. Overall, a wonderful read. I will look forward to picking up its sequel, The Ask and the Answer, very soon.
But only a few chapters into Patrick Ness' first volume of the Chaos Walking trilogy, it becomes quickly apparent that what Todd Hewitt has to say is much more important than the words he uses.
The story follows a boy in the days preceding his 13th birthday -- the day that he becomes a man in his settlement, Prentisstown. All of the men in Prentisstown can hear one another's thoughts as a result of the Noise germ, a weapon used by the hostile aliens that were defeated more than a generation ago. Unfortunately, the Noise germ also made all animals speak -- and killed all the women.
But this dark story has a darker backstory, and as Todd -- the last boy in his settlement -- approaches his most important birthday, events are put into motion that reveal a history of deceit and tragedy that still ripples through the community today.
If this review sounds deliberately vague -- it is. The Knife of Never Letting Go has many wonderful twists and turns, and I don't want to risk spoiling any of them. Ness is expert at unveiling details about his characters and the world they live in one morsel at a time, and letting the story unfold naturally. No synopsis paragraphs here. The author makes readers wait and see, and witness the events through Todd's disbelieving eyes.
Todd himself is an interesting character. He's caught on the cusp of adulthood, but innocent in many ways. His best friend is his (talking) dog Manchee, and their relationship is one of the most intriguing in the book. I thought a talking dog was going to be a silly device, but I was proved very wrong.
I think this would be an interesting read to share with an AP English class, science fiction/fantasy book club or other group of advanced readers. There is a lot of symbolism worth discussing -- the repeated use of the knife and its many meanings throughout the book has especially been gnawing at my mind. Overall, a wonderful read. I will look forward to picking up its sequel, The Ask and the Answer, very soon.
Jennifer W. (GeniusJen) reviewed The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking, Bk 1) on + 5322 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Reviewed by Candace Cunard for TeensReadToo.com
On a far-flung world newly settled by humanity, twelve-year-old Todd Hewitt of Prentisstown is a boy on the brink of becoming a man.
When settlers came to this world, they found it already inhabited by aliens known as the Spackle, and a war was waged against them to colonize the planet. Now, almost twenty years after the first settlers landed, the world is low-tech but free of the "spacks." However, they left behind them the "Noise germ," a chemical contaminant that causes all the men who come in contact with it to broadcast their thoughts for everyone's hearing--and kills all the infected women.
On the eve of his thirteenth birthday, Todd has never seen a woman. He was the last child born in the settlement before his mother succumbed to the Noise germ and died, and now he's the only boy left in the village of Prentisstown, all the others having turned thirteen and been proclaimed men. Now, with Todd's birthday approaching, the entire town is anxious, and Todd can hear it.
The men of the town are keeping something from him; although they can hear each other think, it's possible to learn techniques that allow one to control the information that others can hear. Ben and Cillian, his adoptive guardians and old friends of his parents, are both worried for him, though Todd doesn't know why.
And then, with less than a month to go until Todd's thirteenth birthday, he stumbles across a secret that no boy is meant to know and all men have been forced to forget, a secret about the history of his world and the lies he's been told. Todd has no choice but to escape from the town he's called his home and the people who have been his parents, on the run from something more terrible than the alien Spackle, and more familiar.
The sheer intensity of the story Ness tells kept me reading straight through this book, despite its length and occasionally hefty prose. Todd's first-person, present-tense narration has an inexorable pull that places the reader within the context of the story and keeps you turning the pages. The plot is full of twists and turns, the world is immaculately and innovatively crafted, and the characters' pain and longing seeps from the pages.
My largest complaint with this book was the way in which it ended, without resolving some major issues that had been significant throughout the story. It is the first book in a series, so this sense of incompleteness may be slightly forgiven, but I felt like I'd spent the entire book hurtling forward into empty space only to be slammed at the last minute against a brick wall.
That said, I'd recommend THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO to anyone who enjoys dystopia or slightly darker fiction, and I know I can't wait to see what happens next!
On a far-flung world newly settled by humanity, twelve-year-old Todd Hewitt of Prentisstown is a boy on the brink of becoming a man.
When settlers came to this world, they found it already inhabited by aliens known as the Spackle, and a war was waged against them to colonize the planet. Now, almost twenty years after the first settlers landed, the world is low-tech but free of the "spacks." However, they left behind them the "Noise germ," a chemical contaminant that causes all the men who come in contact with it to broadcast their thoughts for everyone's hearing--and kills all the infected women.
On the eve of his thirteenth birthday, Todd has never seen a woman. He was the last child born in the settlement before his mother succumbed to the Noise germ and died, and now he's the only boy left in the village of Prentisstown, all the others having turned thirteen and been proclaimed men. Now, with Todd's birthday approaching, the entire town is anxious, and Todd can hear it.
The men of the town are keeping something from him; although they can hear each other think, it's possible to learn techniques that allow one to control the information that others can hear. Ben and Cillian, his adoptive guardians and old friends of his parents, are both worried for him, though Todd doesn't know why.
And then, with less than a month to go until Todd's thirteenth birthday, he stumbles across a secret that no boy is meant to know and all men have been forced to forget, a secret about the history of his world and the lies he's been told. Todd has no choice but to escape from the town he's called his home and the people who have been his parents, on the run from something more terrible than the alien Spackle, and more familiar.
The sheer intensity of the story Ness tells kept me reading straight through this book, despite its length and occasionally hefty prose. Todd's first-person, present-tense narration has an inexorable pull that places the reader within the context of the story and keeps you turning the pages. The plot is full of twists and turns, the world is immaculately and innovatively crafted, and the characters' pain and longing seeps from the pages.
My largest complaint with this book was the way in which it ended, without resolving some major issues that had been significant throughout the story. It is the first book in a series, so this sense of incompleteness may be slightly forgiven, but I felt like I'd spent the entire book hurtling forward into empty space only to be slammed at the last minute against a brick wall.
That said, I'd recommend THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO to anyone who enjoys dystopia or slightly darker fiction, and I know I can't wait to see what happens next!
Melissa B. (dragoneyes) -
Helpful Score: 2
I've been wanting to read this book for awhile. I hate when I do this too because I always get myself pumped up for the book and I expect a lot from it. Then it turns out not to be able to live up to my expectations. This books wasn't one of those. It was by no means a let down. I was a little confused at the beginning. Not sure what was going on. It also intrigued me to keep going. I'm so glad I did. I never wanted to put this book down. My family is so glad to see that I've finally finished it and will no longer neglect them. (They don't know there is 2 more books in the series).
It's about Noise. Yes... Noise. And lots of it. It's about a colony of people who came from another planet looking for a better life. When they landed on this new planet they found they had been infected with Noise. You can here everything. People speaking, people thinking, animals speaking. The Noise never stops. It can drive someone/anyone insane. It infected everyone except the women didn't get infected as bad. They can hear the Noise but others can't hear them. This makes women dangerous to some and wise to others.
Todd is a young boy that was born on this planet. He experiences Noise just like everyone else but unlike the adults, he was born with Noise and never knew what it was like without it. He does like the quiet though and when he gets a chance to go out to the swamp for apples, he takes the chance. No one goes out there. There is still Noise from the wildlife (cause there is always Noise) but no more thoughts of men bombarding his brain. Once he out there though he notices a void of silence. Never had he heard silence before. Soon he'll discover what that means and his whole world will change.
I totally enjoyed this book. The short chapters almost always ending with cliff hangers kept me glued to the book. I look forward to reading book 2.
It's about Noise. Yes... Noise. And lots of it. It's about a colony of people who came from another planet looking for a better life. When they landed on this new planet they found they had been infected with Noise. You can here everything. People speaking, people thinking, animals speaking. The Noise never stops. It can drive someone/anyone insane. It infected everyone except the women didn't get infected as bad. They can hear the Noise but others can't hear them. This makes women dangerous to some and wise to others.
Todd is a young boy that was born on this planet. He experiences Noise just like everyone else but unlike the adults, he was born with Noise and never knew what it was like without it. He does like the quiet though and when he gets a chance to go out to the swamp for apples, he takes the chance. No one goes out there. There is still Noise from the wildlife (cause there is always Noise) but no more thoughts of men bombarding his brain. Once he out there though he notices a void of silence. Never had he heard silence before. Soon he'll discover what that means and his whole world will change.
I totally enjoyed this book. The short chapters almost always ending with cliff hangers kept me glued to the book. I look forward to reading book 2.
