Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go
Author: Patrick Ness
ISBN: 9780763645762
Pages: 496
Release Date: September 8, 2008
Publisher: Candlewick
Genre: Teen/YA, Science Fiction
Source: Library
Rating: 3 out of 5
Summary:
Todd Hewitt lives in a world where everyone can hear each other’s thoughts. Called “The Noise,” there is no privacy in Prentisstown, nor are there any women. They were all killed during the war with an alien race called the Spackle. One day, Todd discovers something when he’s out with his dog Manchee, something that changes the course of his future. He discovers that everything he knows may be a lie as he races to a place that may or may not exist.
Review:
I’ve heard great things about The Knife of Never Letting Go, so I decided I wanted to pick it up and read it. I’ve really been enjoying the YA dystopian fiction that’s been becoming more and more popular lately.
This was really different than any other book I’ve read in recent memory. First, the writing style was difficult to get used to. In order to create atmosphere and to reiterate the fact that Todd is uneducated, Ness purposefully misspells words (suspishun instead of suspicion) and uses a lot of slang. While it’s effective, it’s also very annoying. It’d be one thing if it was just in Todd’s dialogue, but it’s in his narration as well. However, as the book progresses, either Ness dials it down or the book becomes gripping enough that the reader doesn’t notice it.
The book also starts off very slowly. For the first 100 pages or so, it’s hard to get into it. But then, it picks up very quickly and becomes impossible to put down. Regardless of the flaws in this book, and in my opinion there are many, I was completely hooked.
The reveal of the history behind what really happened comes much too late in The Knife of Never Letting Go. By that point, I had already figured out most of it and very little of it was a surprise. Additionally, I found the reason why everyone was after Todd to be rather disappointing.
Despite my dissatisfaction with The Knife of Never Letting Go, I still will be reading its sequel, The Ask and The Answer. Why? Because the book was that gripping. Patrick Ness really knows how to tell a story. Despite the fact that I wasn’t a huge fan of this book, I still want to know the answer, especially since the ending of this one was such a cliffhanger!
11 comments:
That is curious...you were annoyed by the misspellings, and you figured out the secrets, but you still loved it! That certainly speaks for the authors skills. I've heard both good and bad reviews on this one. I may take a closer look.
I felt similarly, except on the misspellings; the book had issues, but I do really want to know where the story is going.
I haven't read this one yet, but we have it in my school library so maybe I'll get to it one of these days.... Check out this link for humorous logos for FTC disclosures: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/12/ftc-disclosures-made-simple-for.html
I've seen lots of great reviews of this book, but I'm not sure it's for me. Your review has convinced me that it's probably not.
I feel like this (and The Help) are those books that everyone has read but me and by the time I get around to them, I'll know everything about the book :-) Glad you're continuing on with the series even though you didn't love the book- sometimes they can get better!
Hmmm... Not sure what I'll do. I keep hearing rave reviews, but I have a hard time with misspellings in books, though it's not as bad when it's part of the dialogue. I think I might lose my mind if I had to read an entire book like that, even if the author did do it on purpose.
I'm really going back and forth on this one. Probably I'll read it eventually, but I'm not going to do too much to make it happen sooner rather than later.
I've heard some good things about it and thought about picking it up. I'm a bit weary now that you mention the spelling thing. That sounds a bit annoying.
I've heard so much about this book that I'm pretty sure I will get around to reading it at some point. I'm not sure about the purposeful spelling errors though, I think they will annoy the heck out of me!
I'm still on about page 50! I do plan on getting back to it. The spelling and style issues haven't been bothering me as much as I thought they would.
Heather of Tales of a Capricious Reader has been telling me so many good things about this one that I finally have it on my list to read. Too bad it didn't settle with you quite right. Hopefully the next one will read more smoothly to you since you will know what to expect with the writing style.
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