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jeanlikestoread · 4 years

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USE IT THEN...

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

It's very hard to write a formal and detailed review of any book in the Chaos Walking Trilogy without spoiling anything so please excuse my limited way of explaining certain moments in the story. I have huge respect for people who hate spoilers as I am one of them.

The novel centers around Todd Hewitt, a teenager desperate to become a man living in Prentisstown, a small town in the outskirts of New World, a planet where everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an endless stream of what is referred to as "Noise." In the past, all of the women have been killed by alien habitants called the Spackle. A hole of silence is found in Todd's Noise and the Mayor and his people are after him. On the run, he finds a girl with no Noise, the first he has ever seen in his life, and he realizes that everyone in Prentisstown has lied to him.

When I first started to read this novel, I was caught off guard by the grammar and vocabulary of Todd, the narrator, as the story is told from his first person POV. However, I immediately got used to it as it is explained very early in the novel that he was never educated, therefore his grammar and spelling isn't perfectly polished. The first 15-20 pages of the book are not very convincing, as they are pretty focused mostly on introducing the setting, but then the tension suddenly punches you in the face and after that, it just never stops.

Many people classify this as a science fiction novel though I would never classify it as one, even if there are spaceships and aliens briefly involved. There is so much character and adventure and action involved that it's a whole other type of book in the sci-fi genre. It leans more towards the direction of a YA dystopian action thriller and it has everything you might expect from one. Guns, fights, explosions, and 80% of running around in the woods like there's no tomorrow.

My main expectation when I picked up this novel was to get an unputdownable action-packed and character driven piece of work and I got just that in ways I couldn't even imagine. The word "conflict" is written all over this book and I love it. The character development and their choices are beautifully developed and flawless. It is furiously paced with triumphant, violent, and heartbreaking moments. It marks a great beginning to a great series.

Trust me, when I say that a piece of fiction that has a talking dog in it is worth the time, it truly is.

Here are a few of my favorite things in this book. (Not a Sound of Music reference.)

- Geez, that pacing! Just when you think things are gonna slow down, they just don't. It's very rare to find that in books nowadays. Ness is a genius at structuring a story and he adds a touch of suspense and conflict to every point of the story.

I believed and felt every emotion the narrator conveyed and that is something I really appreciate in a book and there was motive behind every decision that had to be made.

Viola. She is a strong character and a great helping hand and friend to Todd. The way she solved problems and helped Todd throughout their journey together was meaningful and sometimes hilarious to be honest. I could honestly relate more with her than with Todd, because in a way, she highlighted and commented how the reader would in a certain situation. She is just amazing. Yes, I think I may have a fictional character crush.

The climax and final confrontation was suspenseful and had me at the edge of my seat wondering what the heck was gonna end up happening.

Manchee. What the hell? He is just such a darn cute dog. I felt bad for him because Todd didn't treat him all that well though.

Now that we got all of the fanboyish love out of the way, here are the few cons I encountered throughout the book:

Todd's evolution and development as a character throughout the entire trilogy is beautiful, however in this book, this is his most annoying phase. I couldn't help but roll my eyes every time he whined about how he wanted to become a man so desperately and how he counted down the days until his 14th birthday. And I get that he wasn't educated but, dear Lord, is he stupid. I understand that to develop a character, you have to highlight their flaws first, but not to a point where I end up sometimes loathing the main narrator of the story.

There is an underwhelming amount of antagonists in here: Mayor Prentiss, Preacher Aaron, Davy Prentiss Jr., Matthew Lyle (this character shouldn't have existed AT ALL by the way). I wanted to slap them all in the face and tell them to take a hike. Like I said, there are many conflicts in this book and I get that a book should set obstacles for the main characters to face, however, I remember having felt at some point that the main characters should've been given a break. They couldn't breathe without getting harassed by someone the next second.

There is a good over 50 pages halfway through the book that shouldn't have been in there whatsoever. I'm not gonna spoil but if you want to see for yourself, anything with the word "Farbranch" didn't help the story at all if things were gonna go back to the way they were in the first place. I get what Ness was trying to do but it could've been presented in a different way.

Every Chaos Walking fan dreads page 350. Come on, now. That happened WAY too early. It just broke my heart and I couldn't help but cry.

And finally, here is the part that I find difficult to explain. There are a few underwhelming moments here and there where it felt like the story was kind of headed the wrong direction, and that brings me again to that unnecessary big chunk in the midpoint. There is also a moment near the climax after heartbreaking page 350 that I felt drove the story all over the place.

Overall, this marks a great beginning to the trilogy, and it brings people excited for the long run. It is my least favorite book in the series though, not at all because it is bad, but because of the few unnecessary characters and moments halfway and the tropes that made it seem like it is still slightly trying to figure out its place and genre. However, this doesn't stop it from being a great and suspenseful read.

Again, don't come to this book expecting a "space opera, alien invasion, laser gun" type sci-fi, because it barely resonates the clichéd tropes of the genre.

This gem is definitely worth the read. Don't let the unnecessary moments catch you off guard. Continue reading!

8/10

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