Book Review | The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking: Book 1)

Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go
Author: Patrick Ness
Genre: Young Adult - Science Fiction - Dystopian
Publisher: Candlewick
Release Date: July 22, 2014
Pages: 512

Synopsis:

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

Review:

I loved this book. Loved, loved, loved. I’ve known about this trilogy for a while now, but I recently started seeing an influx of people naming it as their all-time favorite trilogy which intrigued me. I’m SO glad I finally picked this up. I actually buddy-read this with a friend and it was my first time to ever buddy-read something. It was cool being able to discuss with someone as everything went down in this book. And there was a lot of action.

The plot was very unique. Anyone can come up with a cool plot, but the execution is the hard part, and Ness executed it perfectly. He also added in some nuances such as incorrect grammar and spelling that I felt added to the atmosphere of the book, as well as made Todd feel more genuine.

Todd hasn’t gotten much schooling and doesn’t even know how to read, so to me, it made sense. Some people point out the grammar and spelling in this book as flaws or things that made them dislike the book. In a way, I can understand it, but on the other hand it seems like a shallow way to look at the book. There’s so much more to The Knife of Never Letting Go than you can what’s on the surface, and it’s sad if some people couldn’t see that just because of some incorrectly spelled words.

Another thing I really liked about this book was the visual representation of Noise. Seeing the page with all the jumbled up thoughts of men in Prentisstown really gave me a solid idea of what it was like to hear everyone’s Noise. Also, if you look at the cover of the physical book in the right light you can see noise all over the front cover, as well. I thought that was a nice touch.

I honestly took a lot from this book. I wasn’t expecting it, but I did. Todd is just a 12 year-old kid, but he taught me a lot and it was great going on this journey with him. When I finished reading the final page and closed the book, I almost immediately headed out to the library to get the next two books in the series. Almost every chapter of the book ends in a way that makes you keep flipping the pages and the very last page was no different. I’ve got to know what happens next!

So, yes. I loved this and I think if you give it a fair chance, you will probably love it, too. I definitely recommend it.

5 stars!