The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Ness, P. (2018). The knife of never letting go. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.

 The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness is the first of the Chaos Walking Trilogy. This dystopian novel follows Todd Hewitt the last boy in Prentisstown, a town full of men infected with the Noise Germ. The noise germ makes all of mens' thoughts available to hear to anyone- no hiding and no secrets- or so Todd thought. Todd is so excited to become a man in one month, on his 13th birthday, until his surrogate fathers Ben and Cillian send him away with a knife and his mom's old journal. For all of Todd's life, he believed that all of the women died from the Noise germ when they arrived to this world, but it is only when he meets a 'live girl' for the first time in the swamp does he realize that not everything is what it seems, even when you can hear everyone's thoughts. 

 Todd, Viola, and Manchee embark on a great and terrible adventure to make it to Haven to escape the men of Prentisstown. This journey is wild and winding with danger always looming behind them. Todd is always frustrated with Viola's silence (as she does not have a Noise) and his obsession of becoming a man. He has constant internal struggles with both of these problems as he wants to "be a man" while not fully understanding what that means. He develops a strong friendship with Viola bonding over mutual loss and the ever present danger of 'Aaron.' This is a coming age story like many in YA literature. This dystopian novel focuses on both the coming of age aspect, but also focuses on what power and tradition can do to a society. It is through heart-wrenching loss and revelations of unspeakable truths about his town that he realizes that he already had the strength and courage of a man. This 1st novel in a series ends on a cliffhanger with Todd already having lost his father(s), his dog, and carrying the only important person left in his arms while she is bleeding out, having made it all the way to the town of Haven to find that it was a trap after all as Major Prentiss has now deemed himself President Prentiss of this New Prentisstown. 

 One of the elements that makes this dystopian/science fiction story so effective is the consistency and relate-ability to the main character, Todd. Patrick Ness was truly a genius in creating the idea of the Noise Germ as a device for the readers to hear the inner thoughts of nearly all of the characters, especially Todd. It allows for stream of consciousness to be a focal point as the reader can see inside his mind and see what he is trying to hide, and also sometimes what he is trying to hide from himself. This is human nature as we all, especially as teenagers, try to hide things from each other and ourselves. The dialect that the author uses helps also bring Todd's character to life by enabling the reader to experience what his life was like in Prentisstown, his lack of schooling, not being able to learn to read, etc. This is all expertly shown through the character's stream of consciousness and dialect. I felt like I wasn't reading in the future or in a science fiction novel, because I know those little towns. I grew up in a little town that people drawl out their words, don't see the point in learning new things, and never leave their small towns. There is definitely still the science fiction aspect - Noise germ, no women, reading each others thoughts, settlers on a new planet, etc. But what truly drives the story and makes the reader want to continue reading is the character development and relationships. Todd defies all of the rules of his world, as most teenagers do, and at the end of the book is starting to see what the consequences might be in the next book of the series. I also want to mention that a read the majority of this book using my ears, as my local public library had a long hold list for the ebook copy, and I think that it added a tangibility to Todd's character to be able to hear his voice in the dialect. I did not realize until I had the book in front of me that some of the words like 'damnasyon' were spelled phonetically. To me, this is a bonus because it sheds light on how people who struggle with reading or learning difficulties experience written works. 

 Other books that you may like if you enjoyed this book: 
(I do want to cavate this as I do enjoy dystopian novels, but I do not read them often enough to have a vast amount to draw suggestions from. I will be providing some that my previous students enjoyed when we did a Dystopian sub-genre unit- each student got to pick their own dystopian novel. Quite a few picked this one)

  • The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (Book 2: Chaos Walking Trilogy) 
  • Monsters of Men  by Patrick Ness (Book 3: Chaos Walking Trilogy)
  • Unwind series by Neal Shusterman (one of my favorites- told from 3 different perspectives) 
  • Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Students suggested this classic after they read it at the beginning of the year.) 
  • Nemesis by Brandon Reichs (I have not gotten to read this one yet, but I have read many great reviews) 
  • Ender's Game By Orson Scott Card (Ender starts off with the same innocence that Todd does in a way- I see them as kindred spirits)
  • Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Another one of my all time favorites- unique and strong young male perspective going against the norms) 

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