Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Knife of Never Letting Go

Noise, Book, Book review, The Knife of Never Letting Go, Book one, Science FictionTitle: The Knife of Never Letting Go

Author: Patrick Ness
Illustrator: Lynne Condellon and John Picacio
Genre: Science Fiction
Age: 14+
Pages:  479 (paperback)
Publisher: Candlewick Press

   
        A world where everyone can here everyone’s thoughts and feelings. Wherever you walk there's noise that surrounds you and never leaves. Not when you're alone, not when everyone’s asleep, never! Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown and boys are quite rare because every woman was killed in the Spackle war. The germ that the spackles released years ago had killed every last women. The spackles, an alien species that dominated their planet called new world, which is where Todd lives, were also annihilated during the war. Todd feels, rather than hears, an unbelievable silence, a few weeks before his birthday. Soon, he is told to run away from Prentisstown, but where do you run off to where there's nowhere else to go? In a series of events, the young boy must learn to trust people and accept the fact that everything he thought he knew was a lie! With an army chasing him and a girl at his side, Todd must make choices that may save him or destroy him!

        This was one of my most favorite reads! Starting with the writing style. It was so genius, because you could really "feel" the character. He had his own way of expressing himself and the writing technique used really showed how the characters were. For example: when Todd speaks, he usually says ain't or tradishun or thro. It did take a chapter or two to get used to it, but once you're at that point, it's really worth the trouble. The Knife of Never Letting Go had two major aspects that made the story so great.

        Let's start with the action. Even when the characters were resting somewhere, I was pumped up! The way that the author created this wonderful piece of art was made so that every event seemed interesting. It had what every great book needs and that's captivating your audience on the first few pages. The plot is very well thought out and so it wasn't hard to encourage people to read it, but to make people finish a whole novel can sometimes be a big task.

        Off to my second point. Patrick Ness is one of my favorite authors for developing characters. It's great that there weren’t many characters so he could really focus on the main Protagonists and antagonists. The characters, for me, feel so real. Like Todd can be so believable with his self conciseness and he's never sure of himself, while Aaron is just straight out crazy and sadistic. Even Manchee, Todd's dog, was a very believable and amusing character with the few words he said, or rather thought with his noise. One last thing, this book had a very very good cliffhanger right at the end, and I always like those because it encourages me too buy the second book and I at least know there's something in store for me in book number two!

        The only things I disliked was that the book really liked to go on and on about something as simple as running away. I understand the mechanics behind it, and without this anticipation you would get a very good result in the end story. Yet, it could have been reduced to one chapter of going up a hill and down the hill up a hill and down the hill rather than three.

If you guys want a book too read this is the one! I swear it's going to be well worth the 10$, so make sure to buy it off the link for amazon!

Available on Amazon


Rating 4.5/5

7 comments:

Anonymous

I've seen this book everywhere and I was not sure whether or not it was any good but your review has definitely convinced me! I also love it when character's fully develop and it really adds to the novel.
Amazing review Nic :)
- Alex

Unknown

Hey Alex, this book is everywhere for a reason. It was truly one of my favorite books and I've read the second one in less then 3 days.
The characters are what makes a story very compelling for me. Bad characters= a bad story weather the plot is good or not. Thanks for the compliment, hope too see more reviews from you aswell!

Laceyshoelaces

I've heard of this book but I was still unsure if I wanted to read it but now I think I do. So did you instantly connect with the characters or did it take awhile? Great review!

Unknown

Hello Lacey,

Thanks for the comment, you should really buy the book. It's worth the money. You can click on my link to amazon if you're interested. As for the characters, Todd is a very realistic charcter. He just feels so real I could really connect with him right into the first few pages. Viola is another story, but you can see for yourself xD

Dahl's Doll

Hey Nic! Great review! I felt how excited you were about it just by reading your review. I actually received an arc copy of this book oh, a while ago, but never had the chance to read it. I keep meaning to go back and read it, but this review makes me want to jump up and grab it off my bookshelf right now...

Okay, I actually did that and then realized I will have to dig through many boxes to find that book, so I will wait until morning. In the meantime though, The Knife of Never Letting Go is going on my TBR list.

I think that character development is my favorite part of a story. Obviously the book needs a good plot and mechanics as well, but I always love the characters. Do you think that the characters in this novel can be relatable to anyone, or did you connect with Todd Hewitt on a more personal level? Just curious.

Unknown

Hey Zoey, oh gosh how you are lucky to have had an ARC copy all this time! I envy you :P Read taht book ASAP and tell me what you thought. It was honestly my favorite book of the year. Well up to now atleast. It even surpassed Divergent :)
Todd didn't really make me think of anyone I know but I could easily imagine someone like him. His personality was very likeable but I always wanted to help him out in situations :( Anyways great novel <3

Dahl's Doll

You're making want to read this so bad! I may already be reading four books, but I think this one will be worth putting on the pile.

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