Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness 
Published: May 5th, 2008
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Pages: 479
Challenge: 100+ Reading Challenge, 350 Page Books Challenge, YA Series Challenge
Other: First book in the Chaos Walking Trilogy. Book two and three, The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men, are already published. The film rights for The Knife of Never Letting Go were acquired by Lionsgate earlier this year.
Buy the book: Bookdepository


Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him -- something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd's gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.

This book turned out to be so much better than I thought it would be. Thanks Stacey for recommending this one to me! I've never read anything like it and it was absolutely brilliant!

Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men - a town of men who can all hear each others thoughts in a constant stream of Noise. You can't hide what you're thinking in Prentisstown and the Noise in his town is incredibly violent. It's driving Todd insane. When he is forced to flee the town, he and his dog Manchee (LOVE!) are out in the wild without the constant Noise for the first time ever - but of course it's not all that easy and with a girl in tow, a strange, silent creature, they go out to find a safe place to stay - with all the dangers that come with it.

Ness has written his story in a way that couldn't have been a more perfect fit for the story. You're reading the book like you're amid the Noise. It's written as if you are hearing Noise yourself - Todd's thoughts are often all over the place and full stops are not something that's in his vocabulary. It takes a little while to get used to, but I loved it and I thought it was brilliant that the Noise was also audible with animals ('Poo, Todd? Poo?') and the Spackle.

I felt connected to Todd, Manchee ('Ow, Todd? Ow?') and was completely engaged in the story. The bad guy in the story was really well developed and it was nice to see that with some of the 'bad guys' in the story, the Noise showed that they were not all bad. They had feelings, they had a past, which made them the way they are. And they had good reason for that, too.

The Knife of Never Letting Go is a rollercoaster ride that I can't wait to continue. Packed with lies, brutal honesty, danger, adventure and Noise, I think I may have found a new favorite series.

My overall rating:


Four and a half stars for Todd - I'm SO curious to see what happens next - fingers crossed that the mailman will bring book 2 soon!