The Knife of Never Letting Go
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness is the first book of the Chaos Walking Trilogy. At first, you are not aware of the genre of the novel, but as you continue to read you realize this is a science fiction book, specifically a dystopian novel. The story is told in the first person by 12-year-old Todd Hewitt, as the life that he has always known is turned upside down.
Todd lives in Prentisstown, a small colony on "New World". He is the last boy living in Prentisstown but will become a man in one month on his 13th birthday. There are only men living in Prentisstown because all the women who used to live there were supposedly killed by a native species called Spackle. The men on New World are infected with something called the Noise germ which causes them to emit thoughts, memories, and images from their brains involuntarily. Every man can "hear" what the other man is thinking and we experience that feeling through Todd's story.
One day Todd and his dog, Manchee are out in the swamps and notice a spot that is silent. Todd had never experience silence before and runs home to tell his adoptive parents, Ben and Cillian. After this, he is forced to leave town. Ben and Cillian had planned this all along, but after Todd noticed the silence, they rushed him out right away with a rucksack that contains his mother's journal.
Todd begins the journey for his life running from Aaron (a crazed preacher) and the other men from Prentisstowm that want to kill him. He soon discovers that the source of the silence was a girl named Viola. Todd begins to question everything that he was taught living in Prentisstown after discovering that not all women were actually dead. Todd and Viola continue to run together so they can stay alive.
Todd and Viola encounter run-ins with Aaron, Davy Prentiss Jr., and Mayor Prentiss. They also learn there are other colonies on New World. Mayor Prentiss is on a mission to overtake New World and declares himself president. Todd surrenders to him and the novel ends on a cliff-hanger with Todd suddenly unable to hear the Noise.
I was not a fan of this book when I started reading it. The writing style and the misspelled words put me off for a bit. The more I read and then began to listen to the audio version, the more I accepted it as "Todd's words". I recommend listening to the audiobook read aloud by Nick Podehl. His voice brought the book to life and made it even more entertaining. Even if science fiction is not your usual "go-go", Patrick Ness's writing can get you hooked! I am looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.
Find out more about Patrick Ness.
Chaos Walking Trilogy
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