The Knife of Never Letting Go (Sci-Fi / Fantasy)

The Knife of Never Letting Go Synopsis: Prentisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee — whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not — stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden — a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought? – Goodreads

The Knife of Never Letting Go Review

Well, the thing that intrigued me about The Knife of Never Letting Go was actually the blurb on the back, from Frank Cottrell Boyce. He said it was “One of the best first sentences I’ve ever read and a book that lives up to it!” Well, after reading that, obviously I just HAD to turn to the first page, and read the first sentence. Then the second, the third, the first page. Then, only when I had finished the first page, did I look back up at the librarian who had offered up the book as one of her personal favorites, and whisper “I’ll take it!” 

I wandered over, nose thoroughly stuck into book, and edged my way into a library chair (luckily it was empty). I sat without looking up, and continued to read quickly, and giggle. Soon the giggles, though, changed to a frown as I realized how really twisted of a situation the main character was in.

This is one of those books where if you can’t turn off your inner Grammar and Spelling Nazi…you aren’t going to be able to read it. Its written the way its written for a reason, but the horrible misspellings, the paragraph long run on sentences… It takes you a while to adjust and learn to accept them as part of the story.

Wow, this is one of those books that you can’t stop reading. I’d put it aside for a few minutes to get something done, and find myself drawn back into it. I’d say “I’m done reading for the night” and put it aside, only to pick it up again just minutes later.

The pace was fast, but solid, the characters were believable, there were no annoying tropes to speak of, and the author only does one unspeakably evil thing.

Favorite quotes from book:

“Need a poo, Todd.”

“Doing what’s right should be easy. It shouldn’t be just another big mess like everything else.” (The character just then realizing that sometimes the right thing to do is the not the neatest/easiest thing to do.) 

“Do you believe there’s hope at the end?” I ask.
“No,” she says simply, looking away. “No, I don’t, but I’m still going.”

Final Thoughts: You think of teen/YA stuff as being ‘light’ reading, but of all the teen stuff I’ve read recently, none of it has been considered  light. The words are smaller, sure, but the authors do NOT shy away from dealing with any bad stuff at all. There was more than one time when I just stopped, and texted my best friend, giving her some lines from the book, and talking about their implications.

 Click here to find The Knife of Never Letting Go (Reissue with bonus short story): Chaos Walking: Book One now on Amazon.com 

Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go | Series: Chaos Walking #1 | Author: Patrick Ness (site) | Publisher: Walker (site) | Pub. Date: 2008-5-8 |  Pages: 479 | ISBN13: 9781406310252 | Genre(s): Young Adult & Fantasy | Language: English | Triggers: I can’t say without spoiling! No child death, though. | Rating: 5 out of 5 | Date Read: 2015-9-4 | Source: Library