The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick NessBook 46 of 50 for the New Author Challenge
Book 14 of 55 for the Countdown Challenge (2008)
Book 3 for the YA Dystopian Reading Challenge
Awards: Guardian Children's Fiction Prize; Booklist Editors' Choice; Carnegie Medal/Honors; IBBY Honor List; James Tiptree Jr. Award
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Well, there probably isn't much more I could say about this book than has already been said. Most people absolutely rave about this book and I get why. This book is like an action movie. It's intense and fast-paced with a bad guy that just doesn't seem to die no matter what.
The book has a unique premise. Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown which is located in the New World. The males in town make Noise, which means they can hear not only each others thoughts and dreams, but also the thoughts of animals. The women are all gone. Todd was told that they died from a virus because the new planet, inhabited by alien lifeforms called Spackle, was not compatible with females. But so many things Todd has been told turn out not to be true, starting when he hears something that doesn't seem right--silence.
I was definitely sucked in by the plot. But, I was dissatisfied with the character development (I didn't really connect with anyone but the dog), the weird spelling issues (I never got used to it even after 480 pages), the violence and gore (ick) and the cliffhanger ending (the book was just too long to not give me a smidgen of resolution).
Will I read The Ask and the Answer? Most likely. Ness has created an interesting world with moral issues that make you think. It is depressing, but it does have some sweet moments where the good in humanity shines through. It actually reminded me of Ender's Game quite a few times.
The Knife of Never Letting Go is a must-read if you really like dystopian sci-fi, but it just wasn't as good as The Hunger Games for me.
Also reviewed by:
- Presenting Lenore
- Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-holic
- katrina's reads
- Beth Fish Reads
- Book Addiction
- Karin's Book Nook
- Becky's Book Reviews
- The Well-Read Child
- Bitten by Books
- Regular Rumination
- Medieval Bookworm
- things mean a lot
- Bart's Bookshelf
- Reviews by Lola
- Tia's Book Musings
- Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia
- Book Rat
- Book Thoughts
Source: Library
4 comments:
Hmm, I've read a lot of raves about this book too. After your review, I think my husband might like it more than I would.
Yes I have heard people going on and on about it. After reading your review I think I am not so eager to read it anymore. Character development is an important part of liking a book.
And also nothing is going to come close to Hunger Games :) :)
I'm sorry you didn't love it as much as I did. :( But I'm happy to tell you that The Ask and the Answer has MUCH more character development than the first one. So I do hope you get a chance to pick it up because I think you'll like it better.
I do like dystopian lit (as long as it's actually not YA) but I hate cliffhangers and if the only character you can connect to is a dog then I think that I may as well pass this one. I think I will just get it from the library one of the days when I have nothing else to read.
Post a Comment