Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking, #3) in Pick-a-Shelf

Jan 26, 2010 Luann rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, war, science-fiction, adult, dystopia, 2012, snakes-n-ladders, carnegie-medal

Wow. Just wow. This is going to be one of those books I can't write a proper review for. I just now finished it and I'm still on that world, with those characters, feeling overwhelmed by it all. I waited a long time to read this because I knew it would just engulf me - and I wasn't sure it would all end well. How could it? I already know from the previous two books that Patrick Ness doesn't pull his punches. And this deals with huge issues such as war, power, leadership, personal relationships, ...more

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Sep 09, 2024 Kerri rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 3-star, science-fiction, juvenile-or-ya-fiction

This book was nice. I read it via library ebook so many years after reading the second one, that I wasn't even sure if I'd like it. I'm glad I came back for it.

There are tedious spots of back and forth action that I skimmed, and the choppy writing at places to portray urgency and fast action gets old, and that is my main criticism. It is also maybe a bit unsubtle, with characters telling you exactly what the takeaway from a situation should be, which didn't bother me. There's probably a lot of o This book was nice. I read it via library ebook so many years after reading the second one, that I wasn't even sure if I'd like it. I'm glad I came back for it.

There are tedious spots of back and forth action that I skimmed, and the choppy writing at places to portray urgency and fast action gets old, and that is my main criticism. It is also maybe a bit unsubtle, with characters telling you exactly what the takeaway from a situation should be, which didn't bother me. There's probably a lot of other things I could nitpick, but I'd rather not.

Yet, the main characters were still as compelling as I remembered them to be. The focus on human nature, making irreversible decisions, and living with those decisions was what made this interesting. There was some basic politics and deception too. The young characters really do feel like their age in terms of their idealism and susceptibility to manipulation by persons if authority, and it felt believable. It also continues to show the ugly, shameful thoughts that people tend to have and wish to hide, which seems to be a common thing with Patrick Ness books (maybe, I've only read the Chaos Walking series and A Monster Calls). There are big messages about humanity, war, and morality here, but I think the most beautiful one that Ness likes to portray is one about developing emotional intelligence and self honesty.

Even though I have this a lower rating than the previous two books, I am also an adult now. I was a teenager when I rated the previous two books (I don't want to change the rating unless I reread them again). Although the first book is probably still my favorite one, the quality is overall consistent across the series, and I think I fell back in love with the things that this series does well. The themes are worthwhile. It's a great series for young people (and adults) to read, with a wonderful concept, gray morality, and complex characters who can be hypocritical and confusing like real people.

And so, I give this a solid three stars. I would recommend this series or at least the first book to a lot of people. ...more

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May 02, 2011 Lynai rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own-a-copy

Sorry for the corny-ness, but: BOOM!!!

That was such a very powerful ending. Okay, let me gather my thoughts first and I'll get back to you.

***UPDATE!!!***

How do I begin to write my thoughts on a book as intense and powerful as Monsters of Men ? Honestly, I’ve been procrastinating writing a post about this book after I’ve read it a few weeks ago. It’s not that I don’t want to write about it. Monsters of Men is a book so powerful and amazing and intense and (insert appropriate superlative), Sorry for the corny-ness, but: BOOM!!!

That was such a very powerful ending. Okay, let me gather my thoughts first and I'll get back to you.

***UPDATE!!!***

How do I begin to write my thoughts on a book as intense and powerful as Monsters of Men ? Honestly, I’ve been procrastinating writing a post about this book after I’ve read it a few weeks ago. It’s not that I don’t want to write about it. Monsters of Men is a book so powerful and amazing and intense and (insert appropriate superlative), it would be unfair if my blog won’t contain a post about it when I make it always a point to write about a book I have read.

The reason why I am dragging my feet on this one is because I feel that my thoughts are still in shambles that to attempt to write them down would be an epic failure on coherence and thus won’t give any justice at all to this one great ending of a very incredible trilogy. (Gah, it’s only two paragraphs and already I’m running out of adjectives.)

But I must do this now, or else I’ll lose my resolve altogether. And that would be such a disappointment, right?

Monsters of Men is the last instalment of Patrick Ness’s astounding Chaos Walking Trilogy. I read the first book, The Knife of Never Letting Go, in May last year, and the second book, The Ask and The Answer, seven months after. Aside from the fact that I have to wait for a few months before I have my own copy of the second book, the other and the main reason of the gaps in between reading the books, despite the cliff-hanger endings of each one, is because I felt that I have to take a breather first before proceeding to the next one. I just cannot take all the deaths and the plot twists that I must rest for awhile, recover my senses, and prepare myself for what other surprises Mr. Ness has in the succeeding books, otherwise I feel I will die from hyperventilation and heart attack!

It’s a good thing that I found reading buddies to read with for this book. Aside from the motivation, it’s always wonderful to share sentiments (and grief) about the unacceptable things that happened in the book with friends in my book club who share exactly the same musings. In a way, talking about the book while reading it eased the pain in my heart as well as the clutter in my mind.

Please continue reading.

...more

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Oct 07, 2019 Joanna rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-read, fantasy-sci-fi, kindle, young-adult, lexile-800, rws-2019-fall

For YA dystopia, this isn't awful. But it never fulfilled its promise either. The concept of Noise--that thoughts can be heard out loud from men and even animals--is great. Lots of potential for world-building with just that small idea. And at points in the trilogy, the books edged into really exploring this. But then they got lost in moralizing about why war is bad, bad people are bad, and noble savages are good. And running. And more running.

The plot was fast enough for me to want to know what ...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Rosemary rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I liked this a lot better than the second in the trilogy. The addition of the Spackle voice works very well and I was glad of that. The Spackle are my heroes. I can't accept Todd as a hero. He is far too weak and under the thumb of Mayor Prentiss. I thought Viola should have moved on from him.

I couldn't quite drop my feeling from volume 2 that it would be a lot better if the humans were destroyed completely. Overall, this trilogy has made me feel that we are a cancer on our own planet, as well a ...more

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