From the Bookshelf of Diversity in All Forms!…

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

Patrick Ness

Start date: August 1, 2017

Finish date: August 30, 2017

Discussion: Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: The diversity topic we are covering in August is Men & Masculinity.
The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos W…more
[close] The diversity topic we are covering in August is Men & Masculinity.
The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking, #1) by Patrick Ness

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What Members Thought

Jun 27, 2019 Audrey rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, 2019-books

It’s hard to classify this one. It feels the most like a post-apocalyptic story, but that’s not exactly what it is. It’s Tom Sawyer meets Maze Runner with a dash of Hunger Games, at least in the feel of it.

It is expertly written. The world-building is great with important elements introduced naturally; no info-dumping. The pacing is solid, though the book is non-stop running from bad guys. It’s in first person present tense, which I hate, yet it didn’t bother me at all in this case. The author p ...more

19 likes · Like · see review

May 09, 2017 Andrea rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: hated-every-single-second-of-it, did-not-finish, hated-the-hero, dystopian

DNF @59%

That's it. I'm sorry. But I quit.

...give up. I put my head down, right down, on the roadside ... A shiver shakes me and I roll to my side and pull myself to myself, curling my legs to my chest, and I close my eyes and I've failed and I've failed and please won't the darkness just take me please...

That's pretty much how I felt for the whole half of the book I (mostly) skimmed through. I really liked the idea. There was so much potential for epic weirdness, what with the post-war society, DNF @59%

That's it. I'm sorry. But I quit.

...give up. I put my head down, right down, on the roadside ... A shiver shakes me and I roll to my side and pull myself to myself, curling my legs to my chest, and I close my eyes and I've failed and I've failed and please won't the darkness just take me please...

That's pretty much how I felt for the whole half of the book I (mostly) skimmed through. I really liked the idea. There was so much potential for epic weirdness, what with the post-war society, the travelers from heaven knows where, the NOISE... I really really really wanted to like this violent, desperate world with it's crazy people.

But I just couldn't. The writing style confused me to no end, even though I really admired it. I felt like Ness wrote a very convincing scared teenage kid who could hear everyone's thoughts and knew that everyone else heard his thoughts - every second of every day. I felt like the writing reflected his confusion admirably, and it gave me a headache most of the time, so hats off for making me feel like Todd felt!

But honestly? There wasn't very much plot IMO. Most of the time Todd was running, hiding, being discovered, running... I wanted to get some answers, to know what started the war, why there are no woman in this backwater hole (and seriously, how are they planning to survive in the long run without any women? Although, scratch that, I can imagine a way, and it doesn't make me want to spend any more time with these people), to know what exactly the point of that army running after Todd was (I mean. Is he a special chosen one or....), to know why OH WHY people would want to settle anywhere near this hellhole full of crazy people, what exactly the mysterious "spackle" were and where they came from... But by the 60% mark I still had ZERO answers. And I just don't care anymore.

Also, can we talk about the killing? (view spoiler) ...more

13 likes · Like · see review

Aug 04, 2019 Audrey marked it as duplicates

*Goodreads Duplicate*

Review found here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 26, 2015 Sally rated it liked it

Shelves: read-2015, young-adult, dystopian

I'd heard good things about this book and wanted to read it. It didn't take me long to get used to the writing style and deliberate misspellings.
Todd's dog Manchee helps lighten an otherwise dark and violent book, and the development of their, and Todd and Viola's, relationships are really enjoyable to read.
I found the plot hard to swallow though, a character who never dies, an army that's chasing them for no apparent reason, just didn't work for me. ...more

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Jan 07, 2012 Megan P ☆ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, own, excellent-writing

The one thing I didn't care for with this book was the pacing. It was a bit too quick for me, actually, and a pattern developed of 'running/meeting new people, then fighting a bad guy, then running some more until another bad guy soon shows up', especially during the first three quarters of the book. I also have a lot of unanswered questions, but there are plenty of time for answers in the two sequels! I liked the characters a lot. I felt a strong enough attachment to them and the story that one ...more

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Dec 15, 2013 Mom2triplets04 rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own-read, audio-listened

4 1/2 Stars. Recommend Audio Book for this book. It's very fast paced and the audio book is amazing. Leaves you on a cliffhanging wanting you to grab the next book immediately. Dropped down 1/2 star because of the spelling and cursing which made it a bit hard to get used to. ...more

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