Hello! The Knife of Never Letting Go- Patrick Ness

Hi.... long time no see. I have just been so busy lately. Sorry. 

Time for a discussion!

Last night I finished a fantastic book called The Knife of Never Letting Go (let's call it The Knife for short). It is so different to anything I have read. It contained everything I love reading about- it was action-packed, gruesome, mysterious, funny, a tiny tiny ( I actually mean tiny with a capital T) bit of romance. It was barely there, though as I was reading I felt it.

The main character is Todd Hewitt, who is a boy living in a town called Prentisstown, in New World. In Prentisstown, a boy becomes a man when they turn thirteen. It is thirty days until Todd becomes a 'man'. In Prentisstown, everyone can hear each other's thoughts, and they call these thoughts Noise. Also, there are no women. You'll have to read it to know why.

So Todd and his dog Manchee- and by the way, you can hear animal's thoughts too and what they are saying- go to the swamp to pick fruit. They don't like going into the swamp because of the stories about the Spackle- creatures who roamed the land before people came and claimed it as New World. Apparently, the Spackle carried the Noise germ, that killed the women. It is believed the Spackle don't exist anymore. However, Todd says the swamp is kind of the place where the Noise of Prentisstown is quieter in a way.

Todd comes across something astounding. A quiet spot. No Noise. Just silence. He freaks out. His carers, Ben and Cillian, find out by reading Todd's Noise that he found a silent spot. They quickly pack a bag for Todd and pack his ma's book that Todd didn't even know about. They usher him out as the Mayor Prentiss and his son Prentiss Junior storm into their farm and start fighting. Ben leads Todd back to the swamp, along with Manchee. He tell's Todd to run. He gives Todd his knife.

Sound's good, doesn't it?

What else is interesting about the book is the way it is written. Patrick Ness has written words in the book by the way they sound.

So instead of-

Through it's thru
Though it's tho
Know it's no

Todd speaks a lot of slang, he says things like ain't and yer and stuff like that. He has a rough way of speaking. I imagine he has a Western accent, like a cowboy. He speaks with an edge. Well, I guess he was brought up with people who spoke like that. It adds to his character, which is good. He swears A LOT, but it doesn't actually say it in the book. If 
you know what I mean. You might or you might not, I don't 
know. Anyway-

This book is not suitable for children. Definitely. Not. It is very gory, and you can visualise everything. It has parts that are quite scary.  I just think children will be scared and frightened of some scenes in this book.

So it's an amazing storyu. It's book one in a trilogy called Chaos Walking, and I can't wait to read the second one, the Ask and the Answer.

Zobo!

P.S- Here is a book trailer I found that someone had made on the book. It's kind of a representation on what I think Todd may have sounded like, maybe his voice a bit rougher. And I kind of imagined Manchee as a little bulldog or something like that, but anyway-