Early Review: More Than This by Patrick Ness

More Than This by Patrick Ness
Reviewed by Noelle: September 3, 2013
(YAA received an ARC of this book from the publishers)
(Will be) Published on September 10, 2013 by Candlewick Press
Goodreads • Preorder on Amazon • Kindle




Here's the thing with reviewing Patrick Ness books: I don't want you to read reviews of Patrick Ness books.  I want to Panda slap your laptop out of your hand before allowing you to read any details about Patrick Ness books.  I want you to skip GO, do not collect $200 dollars and JUST FREAKING READ THEM ALREADY. Save the review browsing for after.

Which might be a bit scandalous to say as a book blogger (goodbye page views!) but: 1) I don't want you to get spoiled because part of the fun of reading Ness is feeling like you are a reaction GIF brought to life, and  2) Preconceptions and Ness books just don't mix.

Your brain will try to fill in the blanks and make assumptions--specifically that you can try and guess where the story is going in Part One.  Patrick Ness will smile to himself, suddenly amused on the other side of the planet, not quite knowing why.  Part Two comes around and you'll chuckle ruefully.  That Ness, he gets you every time!  But you've read a book before, you know where Part Three is going, right? RIGHT?  Part Four comes along and there you are lying in the fetal position in your driveway as Ness lays down rubber doing donuts around you while screaming "MWAHAHAHAHA!" out the window.

We've all been there.

I always thought one of the best things about Patrick Ness was the beauty of not being sure where he was leading you but being willing to open up and experience the journey. Ness has made that thought into a book.

"I'll just see", he says. "That's all I'll do.  I'll just see what's next."

What's next takes the universal feeling of being sure there must be More Than This, focuses it into a tight close up shot of a teenage boy's dying face and then pulls it back all the way to the atmosphere.  Detailed personal agonies let go to boundless breadths of emotion.

I somehow didn't cry until page 381.

More Than This is unconventional.  It might test your patience and expectations as a reader.  But, as a reader, haven't you ever read a book and wondered, isn't there more than this?  Well, my dears.  This is it.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

YAA Soundtrack: Chaos Walking

By Noelle

If you scroll through my favorite books on Goodreads, chances are I have a soundtrack for them on my iPod.  For any other playlist aficionados out there who enjoy making and listening to book-themed soundtracks, you've come to the right place!  We will occasionally be posting links to playlists from my personal soundtrack collection. 

This week I'm posting my soundtrack for the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness...or as I affectionately call it, Chaos Crying.  I went full-on twangy with lots of duets for the dual protagonists and (I'm helpless to resist!) several Noise nods.  There will be a lot of no comments in the liner notes in an effort to not spoil anything but if you think I'm referring to something I probably am. (Nice blanket statement to make me sound like a genius too, so win/win really.)

You can listen to the playlist on Grooveshark or read the tracklisting with liner notes below:


1. Goin' Against Your Mind - Built to Spill: Starting my playlist with an 8 minute song--bold choice or most skipped song on the playlist? Time will tell!
2. Helplessness Blues - Fleet Foxes 
3.  Rattlin' Bones - Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicolson
4. Orphan Girl (cover) - Crooked Still
5. Coal War - Joshua James: If we don't walk free with hand in heart, it's time. / If we cannot see all we destroy, we're blind. / It's not the hand that cuts, it's the heart we left behind / It's not the hand that cuts, it's the hatred deep inside.
6. Blackbird (cover) - Evan Rachel Wood
7. Walking - The Dodos
8. Bartholomew - The Silent Comedy: Saw the darkest hearts of men / And I saw myself staring back again
9. David - Noah Gunderson: This one is for you, Davy.
10. Oh, Death! - Pearl and the Beard
11. Nothing Else Matters (cover) - Lissie
12. Come Away to the Water - Glen Hansard
13. Voice in My Throat - Pearl and the Beard: My Todd and Viola song. Don't ask me how many times I played this in a row after finishing Monsters of Men.  No matter what you guess you'll guess low.
14. The Lost Boy - Greg Holden: I'm sort of convinced this song is about this series.
15. Early One Morning -  Nana Mouskouri: Because I'm eviiiiiil.

As always, thanks for listening!

Series Review: Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness

The Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness 
The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, Monsters of Men
Reviewed by Noelle: May 23, 2013
Published by Walker Books, Ltd
Goodreads • Buy at Amazon • Kindle • Book Depository

 I won't go into specific detail in this review as I want it to be safe as possible to read at any point in this series, but just know this: the less you know beforehand, the better. I urge you just to try it out and experience the crazy beautifulness of the series for yourself. 

 To put it in the most mundane way possible, I prepare for Patrick Ness books by making sure I'm stocked up on anguish and crying GIFS for my Goodreads status updates. Pick a page and any of these could be an accurate representation of my emotional state:

Yup.

Bask in the pain.

Let it all out.

It might seem over the top but it is true.  Reading Chaos Walking is a catharsis, and will leave you feeling raw, but OH is it so worth it. To try and put it more seriously---

Chaos Walking is set on a planet other than Earth and Ness describes the indigenous species' method of communicating like this: 

“I find I am swimming in a river of voices reaching out and touching mine"

“And I realize he ain’t telling me with words. [...] he’s surrounding me with it, letting me sit in the middle of it, knowing it to be true.” 

And honestly, that is what reading this series was like for me, complete emotional immersion. Ness continually challenges the reader with his exploration of the moral ambiguity and hypocrisy of human nature. He has readers questioning the characters, their motives, their decisions, and examining their own belief system. He asks the hard questions and demands truthful answers (whether you agree with him or not). It results in a level of emotional investment that in my personal experience, is just about unparalleled.

Each book in the series multiplies in complexity. The first is action-packed, the second is a grind of mind games and moral quandaries and the final is a combination of both---cranked to a million. Each book also adds an additional point of view that fills out the world wonderfully. In Chaos Walking, high-stake dilemmas aren't merely used for suspense value. When Ness puts his characters (and by proxy the readers) in horrific situations and forces them to make impossible choices, those decisions have real consequences and cause actual, sometimes irreparable damage. The repercussions don't just disappear, they alter the world of the characters.

Nearly every character is a complex, three-dimensional person. Both heroes and villains are shown to be capable of good and evil.  Not only did I come up with a curse word in honor of the protagonist (TODDAMMIT), I count the antagonist as one of my favorite characters of all time.  

The themes of the series are explored in devastatingly beautiful and honest ways. Vengeance vs. forgiveness. The power of love to save and destroy. Trust, truth and openness vs. suppression, misdirection and lies. Questioning yourself vs. blind certainty. The meaning of redemption.

It’s not how we fall. It’s how we get back up again.  

I'm so glad I stumbled across Patrick Ness and Chaos Walking. I cannot recommend this series enough. The beauty and emotions Ness can convey in a phrase, scene and story is breath-taking. I know it will stay with me for a long time.

Chaos Walking: 

I've linked to my individual Goodreads reviews below.  Be forewarned, the reviews will contain small spoilers.

The Knife of Never Letting Go: 4.5/5 stars (review)

The Ask and the Answer: 5/5 stars (review)

Monsters of Men: 5/5 stars (review)