"Monsters of Men" by Patrick Ness

This is the third volume in the 'Chaos Walking' trilogy (which started with The Knife of Never Letting Go)  and starts immediately after the second one (The Ask and the Answer) ends.

New World is now at war. The native Spackle who communicate telepathically such that each can link their mind with every other Spackle are attacking the armies of New Prentisstown led by the Mayor and Todd. Viola and Mistress Coyle, leader of the rebellious Answer, are holed up on a hill on which the scoutship from the waiting settlers sits.

The Mayor is teaching Todd to control his Noise. This means that Todd no longer broadcasts his thoughts telepathically to the world, a fact that Viola (his girlfriend who, as a female, does not broadcast Noise) distrusts and dislikes. It also means that Todd can hide from all the awful things he is seeing and doing in the war; it deadens his feeling. It also means that a telepathic bond is growing between Todd and the Mayor; each can start to use thought to control the other and other people. This makes Todd feel powerful. At the same time he is growing closer to the Mayor.

And the Return, the only Spackle who escaped from the slave Spackle concentration camp where Todd was a guard, talks to the Spackle boss, the Sky and vows revenge on Todd.

In the middle of all this Todd, Viola and Bradley from the scout ship are trying to negotiate peace with the Spackle while the Mayor and Mistress Coyle try to take credit for victory, manoeuvring to be the one to rule.

Loads of subplots. But I think it became too complicated and too drawn out. I knew how the story ought to end and I wanted it to end considerably sooner than it did. The actual end was a bit Harry Potterish, using thoughts instead of wands. In his bid to explore every last loose end I think Patrick Ness may have added too many layers. The first book was so tight and left so many questions unanswered. I do not see why the third book could not have been the same.

January 2011; 603 pages

Chaos Walking is now a film: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Walking_(film)

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God

"The Ask and the Answer" by Patrick Ness

Book 2 of the 'Chaos Walking' trilogy

And, as is often the way with sequels eagerly awaited, this was a disappointment.

The first book, 'The Knife of Never Letting Go', dealt with hero Todd and heroine Viola as they raced across New World away from the chasing army of Mayor Prentiss and towards the town of New Haven. As they ran they tried to understand why they had to run and the reader was encouraged onwards with the dribble of information leaking from sparse clues (it was a brilliant move that Todd, carrying a map and a book, could not read and was too ashamed of this fact to let Viola read for him). A wonderful twist was the fact that hero and heroine both succumb to temptation, both are flawed. And of course one never but never knows whom to trust.

Book 2 begins exactly at the cliff hanger where Book 1 finished. Todd is is prison, later being made to work at a Spackle farm, being corrupted by the everyday presence of evil around him. Viola works as a healer. But Viola's friends become freedom fighter, terrorists, bombers, as a resistance movement grows against the army into which Todd is being inducted. Throughout, President Prentiss manipulates Todd and Viola, tricking them into betrayals of themselves and one another.

Perhaps I was unhappy that Todd has sunk so low. Perhaps I have become bored by the minimalist prose, otherwise so fresh and exciting. But I think the reason why this was a good read rather than a great read is that it has become more predictable. I know a lot more of what is going on in New World so this is now a fight between Good and Evil (and, yes, it is still true that I am not always certain who is good and who is evil) and thus less interesting.

Still a good read though and I have already started book 3, 'Monsters of Men'.

Chaos Walking is now a film: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Walking_(film)

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God

"The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness

"Without a filter, a man is just chaos walking." (Chapter 4)

"A knife ain't just a thing, is it? It's a choice, it's something you do." (Chapter 8)

"Too much informayshun can drive a man mad. Too much informayshun just becomes Noise." (Chapter 36)

Wow! What a book. Read at a gallop.

Prentisstown is a settlement in a New World, a world in which all men can hear each other's thoughts and all women can hear the thoughts of every man (but female thoughts are hidden). A world where all these thoughts have turned into a never-ending Noise. A world in which animals can talk (though the stupider ones have most limited vocabularies; the sheep just say 'Sheep').

Todd Hewitt, the last boy in Prentisstown is told to run from the town a month before he becomes a man. He runs with the first girl he has ever met, because all the females in Prentisstown are dead, killed by a germ from the Spackles. They flee mad preacher Aaron, Mayor Prentiss and his army and his sadistic son Davy.

This 'children's' book is all about loss. Todd has already lost mother and father, Ben and Cillian who bring him up soon disappear, and it seems that everyone Todd meets will die. He loses his innocence too.

It moves at an incredible pace (as Todd and Viola run towards the town of New Haven, where there is Hope). You can never relax because if you do you will be caught by Aaron, or Davy, or the army of Mayor Prentiss. Everyone is suspect and your Noise always give you away. The prose is sparse, and tight, and key words are repeated with surprise, and Todd is a brilliant hero because he is a boy who feels things but has certain handicaps (he can't read so the map he has is almost useless; although Viola can read he is ashamed to let her and by the time he does she hasn't the time to read much so all the dreadful, secrets of the New World are let out little by little).

A wonderful book which ends on a complete cliff hanger so I just have to read the next one NOW...

December 2010; 479 pages

Thee trilogy continues with:

The Ask and the Answer

Monsters of Men

There is now a feature film based on the trilogy called Chaos Walking

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God