Author: Patrick Ness
Series: #1.0 - Chaos Walking
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: September 29th, 2008
My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
A dystopian thriller follows a boy and girl on the run from a town where all thoughts can be heard — and the passage to manhood embodies a horrible secret.
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.
My Review:
Patrick Ness created a beast in this book. I was pulled into this monster and it drug me under it's darkness over and over again. Todd and Viola are some of the most unique characters I have found in a book in a long while. However, the main fault i have in this book is their age. It's not that I think the book would be better if they were older or younger, I just couldn't relate to them as well. At first it annoyed me and frankly I threw their age out the window and drew them older. Personally it made that small issue disappear for me.
The narration by Todd gives a wonky, gritty, and sometimes really confusing jargon and dialect that some people my hate and not be able to get past. Trust me, move past it and there will be a story unlike any you will dream of. This is a great story about friendship or relationships, I am not so sure on the relationship because of the age group of Todd and Viola, aside that what friends do for each other and how they grow up and change around each other is astonishing.
Aaron for the first book was a great choice for an antagonist. There wasn't another character that was crazy or demented enough to convey the same fear. As well, the pain and how many times Aaron seems to escape and mold death into himself and keep coming back for the kids seems to make him the obvious person to fear and hope doesn't come back. But Aaron isn't the only antagonist, now is he?
The town of Prentisstown is a work of art. I couldn't even come up with that on my own and I have some pretty wild thoughts at times, just ask the people I work with. The Noise, the fact that theirs only men in the town, and how the secrets come out about what the town is, the town's past, and other odds and ends, just adds to the story, the fear, and the complete understand of Todd and Viola and how they need to run.
The one point that I felt needed addressing more than anything, was the Spacks. Who were they, how were they involved in the war, just something about them. There was a scene with one of them, and it just peaked my interest into them and what they embodied, but there just wasn't enough of them to make me feel anything of fear or sorrow, or frankly understanding for them.
Well anyways, the book was great! Even if some people would call it a "children's book". Sorry this book is just as good for anyone over the suggested age group, and I highly recommend people at least pick it up, give it a few chapters and try to tell me you aren't curious either.
