A Monster Calls Review

A Monster Calls

- Patrick Ness

Illustrated by Jim Kay

Based on an Idea by Siobhan Dowd

Publisher: Walker Books

The monster showed up after midnight. As they do. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming...
This monster, though, is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.
It wants the truth.

Conor is a teenager who’s mother is sick. Very sick. One night when a monster comes to visit it’s not the monster he is expecting. The monster tells him three stories...stories where the truth is not what is first appears...

First I have to say the illustrations in this book are beautiful – dark, atmospheric and reflective of Connor’s mind at this time. I could look at them for hours. Jim Kay has done a beautiful job. Second Patrick Ness has a wonderful hand of writing stories where there is no black and white – nothing is simple. He makes you think. Connor is going through a tough time – the toughest time of his life. His mother is his only family – his father is living in America with his new wife and child. All the teachers and his old friends at school behave differently towards him now. Connor is as isolated as can be and no-one can reach him – apart from the monster.

I cried while reading this – this is a full box of tissue books. Connor is struggling to come to terms with what is happening and how his life has changed. I think everyone should read it. I will admit to being biased as my mum has been undergoing treatment for breast cancer for the last 18 months. It’s buying her time and some of the emotions that Connor has are very familiar and relatable – luckily I’ve had a better support from my friends and family than Connor has.

A Monster Calls invokes a range of emotions from despair, guilt, sadness, anger and sympathy. This book will surprise and enthral you – and is one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. It will not be the happiest book you read this year but it will be one of the best and one of the most important. Highly recommended.

Recommended for fans of John Boyne and Michale Morpurgo. 10 out of 10.   

Guest Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go

Guess what one of my friends got me for my birthday? A review! And not just any review - The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. This was one of my favourite reads before I started blogging and I still love it. I feel a little bad that Emma hadn't read it before now - if I'd have known I would have forced her to read it and the rest of the trilogy...

 

The Knife of Never-Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1)

- Patrick Ness

 

Publisher: Walker

 

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?

 

I thought I'd get Mel a review for her birthday this year, to be deployed whenever she needs it. Happy Birthday Mel! Hope you like it. Hope all of Mel's lovely readers like it too.

I have to start this review with a confession, and a digression: I have become slightly obsessed with China Mieville's wonderful books recently; because of this I jumped at the chance to see him speak at the Edinburgh Book Festival. The event was excellent, largely due to the lively interaction between China and his interviewer, Patrick Ness. Intrigued, I looked Ness up, not really being aware of his books before then, and discovered he's best known for writing multi-award winning Young Adult fiction. Well, one itchy kindle finger later I became the owner of a copy of The Knife of Never Letting Go, book one in his Chaos Walking trilogy:

"Imagine you're the only boy in a town of men. And you can hear everything they think. And they can hear everything you think. Imagine you don't fit in with their plans... Todd Hewitt is just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man. But his town has been keeping secrets from him. Secrets that are going to force him to run..."

I wasn't planning to buy this book. All I intended to do was download the first few pages to satisfy my curiosity about the author and his work. But I found myself drawn in, found myself compelled to read on. From the first page you're plunged directly into the head of Todd, a grumpy 12 year old, counting the days until his 13th birthday, when he'll finally, finally become a man. There's a lot of Todd which reminded me of Just William - he's got the same shoe scuffing impatience with the adult world - but unlike William, there's no warm, loving family to support him, and many of his grumblings and suspicions are very justified. Todd's world is dominated by Noise from every living thing near him. Every man can hear the thoughts of every other, resulting in a howling cacophony, impossible to block out unless you're completely alone. His world is also completely lacking women; they all died just after he was born, from the same illness that caused the Noise. It's hardly surprising that Todd's village, the only village in the world, a village that's slowly dying out, is not a nice place to live. However, as is often the case, things aren't quite what they seem, and when Todd finds a mysterious hole in the Noise we're flung into his fast-paced, thrilling race for answers.

I really enjoyed this book. It was refreshing to find a main character who wasn't a teenager, or a precocious genius child, wise beyond their years, but someone who felt absolutely what he was - 12 years old. It's a fast read, mainly because as the tension ramps up, my ability to put it down decreased accordingly. I'd definitely recommend it. 9/10

Recommended for fans of Philip Pullman, oh and Richard Crompton of course!

A New World/Kindle Review

A New World

-          Patrick Ness

Kindle Version

This review is split in two – a review of the story itself and a second review of reading with a kindle.

In this dramatic prequel to the award-winning Chaos Walking Trilogy, author Patrick Ness gives us the story of Viola's journey to the New World.

A New World is a short prequel story to the Chaos Walking trilogy (excellent books - so much more than a children’s story – so many shades of grey – please check them out starting with The Knife of Never-Letting Go).  It covers the events leading up to Viola’s crash landing and entry into Todd’s world. While it doesn’t add much that isn’t mentioned during the course of the trilogy, it does add more to Viola’s motivations throughout the novels especially regarding her determination to never give up hope. I’m not sure how much it would mean to anyone who hasn’t re ad the trilogy – at best it’s a great teaser trailer for books and if you’ve already read the trilogy then you really need no encouragement to pick this up – especially as it’s free either on the Amazon kindle site or on Patrick Ness’s website. It’s not a long story but I enjoyed a brief revisit to that world and it had me thinking about re-reading the trilogy, even though I only finished it a few months ago.

This was the first thing I read on the kindle (other than the user guide!) and i have to say I’m really impressed. At first I was a little worried that the kindle is so light I would be throwing it around, but after a while I got used to the lack of weight and loved the fact I could hold it in one hand – especially useful for reading while eating! All the hype surrounding the non-glare is true – it looks and feels like paper rather than an i-phone or DS and there is no backlight which means you can’t read it in the dark, just like paper. I showed it to a few people and they all immediately tried to scroll through the pages using the screen – until I pointed out that it’s not a touch screen. (It’s amazing how quickly everyone has got used to touch screens like the i-phone so quickly!) The kindle was easy to set up and it wasn’t long before I was able to download books – the hard thing is remembering that these books cost money just like paper books! My favourite thing about reading with the kindle is how once you settle in, you forget you’re even reading and are transported to the world you’re reading about.  

So now I’m all digital, am I going to forget about the old-fashioned paper books? Short answer is no. I still have nearly 80 books on my TBR-pile to get through and I still have all my favourites in hardcopy. What the kindle will do is help me save space – especially as my new flat hasn’t got that library room (one day!). I think with the series I’m already reading I’ll continue to purchase hardcopies so I can have the full series in one format. But all new series and one-offs I will try to get in digital format – especially as most of them seem to be cheaper at the moment (or at the least the books I’m interested in!).

Recommend A New World for fans of the Chaos Walking trilogy and people who want a taste of one of the best children’s trilogies since Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials. 7 out of 10

Recommend a kindle so all those who enjoy reading but are fed up of carrying bricks around with you. 10 out of 10