Book Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go

For the past two days, I have done nothing but rave about this book to anyone who would listen. I began reading it on Wednesday night. It is the first time in a long time I have delved into a book where I couldn't wait to get to the next word, next sentence, and next page. At almost 500 pages, it was a heft of a book and a lengthy adventure.

With an intriguing title, The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness, starts off with a bang from the very first two sentences ("The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs got nothing much to say. About anything."). It is the first in a series of books called "Chaos Walking."

As Todd Hewitt approaches his 13th birthday, he is the last boy to become a man in the isolated settlement of Prentisstown on the New World. Life on this planet has been hard, since a war with the residing aliens (the Spackles) has decimated all females and left all men and animals with a tragic condition called "The Noise." Every man's thoughts are audible, spilling out and around, making life in the settlement chaotic.

I suppose this is why I raved so adamantly at the beginning. What a fantastic "what-if" scenario! I really enjoyed contemplating this whole idea of never being able to keep even your most private thoughts to yourself. But, the book doesn't allow you to stand still and contemplate that for long.

Todd and his dog, Manchee, discover a pocket of silence out in the swamps. They are startled and scared and try very hard to drown out the thoughts of their discovery as they return home to the waiting chores. Before Todd can even begin his work, his guardians, Ben and Cillian, unearth a bag they have previously packed for him, containing food, clothing, and his mother's diary, and tell him to run for his life.

The rest of the novel is a pins-and-needles ride as Todd runs from an eccentric, evil preacher (this seemed a bit too PC - of course, the delusional, madman is a religious figure) and an army pursuing them. Patrick Ness has a profound ability for leading the reader on and constantly upping the ante. He creates an intriguing alternate world and doesn't even betray the motive of pursuit until almost the end of this first book.

It is certainly a book that would appeal to teenage boys. It has action, adventure, weapons, violence, and a quest. I should note that the book contains some language and disturbing scenes of violence.

If I had written my review last night, when I was 300 pages in, I would have gushed without end. However, the last 200 pages altered my viewpoint a bit. For one thing, the author just packs too much in. I think the book would have been vastly improved if he had tightened it to under 400 pages. The first 300 were powerful, riveting and absorbing. But, the last 200 began to grow tedious. How many times can the main character(s) face and escape immanent death? Every moment of hope seems to be dashed by the appearance of another Prentisstown threat. And how can Todd keep outrunning his pursuers, when he is on foot and they are on horseback??

Moreover, the ending left me really bummed. It ended with more questions without answers. Of course, his goal is to entice me to read the second and third parcels of this story, but I'm afraid it will end up being more of the same. I'm desperate to find out what happens, but I'm also worried that the trip might just prove too long and over-the-top to fully enjoy.

Once again, I was annoyed with an author's use of vernacular spelling ("creachers," "populayshun," "infeckshus,"etc.). I don't quite understand the purpose of this stumbling block, since it didn't really lend to dialect. Todd is supposed to be nearly illiterate, but if that were the motive, the entire thing would be full of creative spellings, since there are plenty of harder words which are spelled correctly. It seemed that it detracted far more than it enhanced the story.

Still, I don't regret the roller-coaster ride of this read at all. Even with its shortcomings, this book gives a reader plenty to chew on: the idea of information overload, the corruptive nature of power, the interesting dynamics between men and women when it comes to communication (and power), and the futility of Utopian quests. It would be an interesting book for group discussion. I'm pretty sure I'll be thinking about this book for quite a while to come. Plus, I know I won't be able to hold myself back from seeking out the second in this series (even if our library doesn't own it ... yet).