The Knife Of Never Letting Go

If you’re looking for an engrossing action mystery set in a post-apocalyptic world than look no further than The Knife Of Never Letting Go. Written by Patrick Ness, The Knife is a spectacular example of balanced creativity, premise, and mystery. Ness grips his readers with The Knife, a bold beginning to the Chaos Wallking Trilogy. Though the book begins quietly enough, in seemingly ordinary Prentisstown, the home of almost-a-man, Todd Hewitt, it quickly picks up the pace and reaches its heart-racing, explosive ending.

Todd Hewitt can’t wait until he becomes a man. He has lived 12 years of 13 months each in his isolated village, Prentisstown, made up of only men since the Spackle released a vicious disease, which killed all the women, including Todd’s mother.  Only a month from his birthday, Todd’s life is uninterrupted farm life, until Todd learns a shard of Prentisstown’s murky past and is forced to flee Prentisstown. However soon, Prentisstown is hunting Todd.

Patrick Ness combines creativity, emotion, mystery, and action in The Knife of Never Letting Go. Ness skillfully balances many tricky components of his story flawlessly. He not only establishes a new world, filled with realistic tensions, habits, and relationships, but also mirrors plausible relationships that cause his characters and his readers to question the limits of humanity. On top of this, Ness blends themes of innocence, maturity, and humanity in The Knife’s haunting plot. Even with this long list of attributes, I found The Knife Of Never Letting Go’s plot a little slower to begin than I would have liked. Written in the 1^st person, The Knife Of Never Letting Go can also be an adjustment to read as Ness underlies Todd’s limited education by spelling many words incorrectly.

I find the The Knife Of Never Letting Go is a promising read for readers, who are not put off by the book’s length, 479 pages, and looking for an exciting adventure story.