Series Read: Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

Thread for the series buddy read of the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness

Books:



Rules & How to
1. Identify the book you are commenting
2. Comments that give away any plot must ALWAYS be under spoiler tags

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

reserved

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

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[Christina]

Does a start date of June 7th sound good to anyone? My May is already packed with other buddy reads and BOM selections and then I'll be out of town for a little while.

[Joi]

June 7 is perfect. May is full for me.

[[deleted user]]

I'm in. the 7th is great.

[Justin]

I've read the first two and will try to catch you all for the last book. I'm not a big fan of YA, but these are great!

[Christina]

Great! This is my first informal buddy read. Should we have some type of schedule for the read? Maybe reading one book every two weeks? I've looked at other buddy reading threads and it looks like everyone just posts say: Chapter 1-5 and then has a spoiler tag for that, or for whatever chapters you just finished reading. Does that sound like something we should do?

[Joi]

We can either make a schedule (but seeing as I don't have the book yet, I can't make it) or we can post up to where we are. Whichever one you all are more comfortable with. I vote for the schedule because I tried to read this book before and DNF'd it.

[[deleted user]]

I vote schedule, that way we're all on the same page.

[Christina]

I can work on a schedule if most people want that. How about whoever wants to join in on the read along post whether or not you'd like to have a schedule by May 15th. Then if the majority of us would like that (and BTW I'd vote for a schedule, too!) than I will take care of it. I'm thinking of reading one book every two weeks. The first book is 479 pages (trade paperback version), so that would be about 240 pages a week. That would be good for people who won't have the time to read the book that quickly. Then we wouldn't have to worry about spoiler tags that much if we don't post about anything that goes beyond what the scheduled pages were so far for that day. Does this sound like a good plan?

[[deleted user]]

that sounds good.

[Jennifer]

Sounds like fun.. Count me in!

[Joi]

Hey, anybody started yet?

[Christina]

Hi, Joi! We discussed at the beginning of this thread that we are going to start on June 7th since May is pretty full already with other read alongs and BOM. Next week I will post a schedule where we pretty much read one book every two weeks. I wrote more details about that in the posts above. I hope this sounds good to you and you can join in then!

[Christina]

Hi, everyone! I finally finished making the reading schedule for the first book in the series, The Knife of Never Letting Go. I have us reading the first book in 12 days. It’s the shortest book in the series, so I don’t think it should take everyone the full two weeks to read it. Please let me know if there is a problem with this schedule because I am more than happy to change it around if it doesn’t work for most people.

So, for example, the schedule says for June 15th we were to have read through chap 24. Say it was June 15th and you wanted to post a comment, just make sure you weren’t leaving a spoiler for anything that would happen past chapter 24. I hope this is clear! This way it might be easier than always having to tag things as spoilers all the time.

Around June 14th, I’ll post the reading schedule for book #2 which will start on June 21st.



Reading Schedule for Chaos Walking Trilogy

June 9th The Knife of Never Letting Go Chp 1-3

June 10th TKoNLG Chp 4-7

June 11th TKoNLG Chp 8-11

June 12th TKoNLG Chp 12-14

June 13th TKoNLG Chp 15-18

June 14th TKoNLG Chp 19-21

June 15th TKoNLG Chp 22-24

June 16th TKoNLG Chp 25-27

June 17th TKoNLG Chp 28-31

June 18th TKoNLG Chp 32-35

June 19th TKoNLG Chp 36-38

June 20th TKoNLG Chp 39-end

[Christina]

So far I’m really enjoying this book! I’ve heard several people say they couldn’t get into the writing style, but I’m finding it a unique and clearly crafted first person POV. And I’ve always liked reading stream of conscious writing. It makes the book flow really well for me and I can read it quickly. The world building is great so far, and I hope we get lots more details. Some of the strange spellings are a bit jarring, but hopefully it won’t be that annoying to read.

And I have so many questions I need answered! Does Todd have something to do with the rip in the Noise? What was he supposed to learn on his birthday? Who were the Spackle and where have they gone? Why did the Noise germ just kill the women? Is there a reason why the Spackle wanted the women dead besides the obvious answer that there would no longer be any more people in the world after the men died out? I’m very engaged with the story so far!

Lots of great metaphors, too, that parallel our society, too, like how we construct the truth in our heads to make the world into how we want it to be and not necessarily how it really is.

[Christina]

It's been a few days since I've commented, but I finally caught up with reading up to where we are scheduled for today. I'm still REALLY enjoying this book! I've quite a few YA dystopian (and this seems like a mash up of sci-fi and dystopian), and this so far has been the most engaging, well written one I've read so far.

I think the pacing of the book is well done. It's a nice mix of character development and engaging plot. Having several mysteries running throughout the story really keeps me engaged and interested.

The book is not perfect. Some little things still annoy me, like the character of Viola. She seems unapproachable and annoying at times. But since Todd is telling the story and this is how he feels towards her, I guess that's how we should be feeling, too!

[Christina]

So far no one else has commented on the reading. Has anyone else started reading the book yet? What are your thoughts? Please discuss with me :)

[Shannon]

I know this is late but I didn't even know it was a buddy read and I just finished reading the whole series.

Just thought I would mention that I really did enjoy the series, but I thought that book three was a bit of a let down to the end of this. I loved the first two books though

[Laura]

Christina wrote: "So far no one else has commented on the reading. Has anyone else started reading the book yet? What are your thoughts? Please discuss with me :)"

I read the series quite a while ago and loved it. I remember thinking that about Viola as well. I think your opinion may change!

[Christina]

I kind of stopped reading the series since it seemed like this buddy read just fizzled out, but I do want to continue the series. My August is really packed with buddy/group reads plus other pre-orders, but I'm hoping to pick up the series again in September or October and finish before the end of the year.

Glad to hear that book 2 is good, but disappointed about book 3. Hopefully I'll like it better than you did, Shannon! I'll jump back on this thread and let you know what I thought when I finish reading those books.

[Shannon]

It is definitely a good series, I hope that you do enjoy book 3 more though. I had mixed feelings about it. I did enjoy it but I thought it was a bit of a let down. probably because I enjoyed the first two books so much that I couldn't help but compare them (I won't say too much more but I didn't like how it ended).
It'll be great to see what you think!

[Emily]

The Ask and the Answer- Up to Part II (pg. 70)
Todd's dialect doesn't seem as realistically done to me in this one, although I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just consistency again. Plus, him knowing words like oblivion conflicts with his poor grammar. I didn't really think about this in the first book, but it's surprising to me to what a degree Todd's (and Davy's) grammar has fallen in just one generation, when the older men from Prentisstown (like Ben and Cillian, and Mayor Prentiss) don't speak that way. I know Todd wasn't formally educated much, but a lot of how we speak is just copying those who we're around and who raise us. So I guess I find that a bit unrealistic.
This book is shaping up to be interesting, with both similarities (like the number of mysteries we're left wondering about, both left over from the first book and new) and differences (the fact that (view spoiler)[they're separated and not traveling (hide spoiler)]) to the first book. (view spoiler)[he next section looks like it's from Viola's POV, which is a big change. The first book was so deeply from Todd's. I'm looking forward to learning more about Viola. (hide spoiler)]
(view spoiler)[Wow, Mayor Prentiss is quite the expert manipulator, isn't he? Quite the masterful use of both the carrot and the stick on both Todd and the town. I'm very curious about him, his past, his plans, his special mental powers. Like how did he learn how to manipulate so well? I also think Mayor Ledger is an intriguing character.
Mayor Prentiss separating the men and women seems quite ominous to me- like he's going to control who has access to the women and reward good behavior with "privileges" with women. (hide spoiler)]

[Emily]

The Ask and the Answer- Up to Part III (Pg. 148.)
So far, I'm not liking this book as much as the first. I'm not disliking it either, but I'm not really sure where it's going or what the themes are. Plus, I think one thing I really liked in the first book was (view spoiler)[the dynamics between Todd, Viola, and Manchee, which obviously we haven't had in this book. (hide spoiler)]
(view spoiler)[Viola's voice in the sections from her POV is not as well written as I had hoped. She comes across to me as pretty bland and lacking in personality. Which is strange because Todd's voice definitely doesn't have that problem! (hide spoiler)]
I'm wondering if (view spoiler)[Mayor Prentiss arranged for everything, up to and including Davy antagonizing the Spackles until they attacked, so that Todd would ride up just then and see Viola hugging him. That seems very unrealistic, too many variables to time perfectly, but so does it just being a coincidence. Although, it's the kind of coincidence that happens all the time in books, the kind timed perfectly to create confusion and drama and advance the plot- something that often annoys me. Does that kind of coincidence ever bug you? (hide spoiler)]
Mistress Coyle is an interesting character. I certainly don't trust her, but I'd choose her over Mayor Prentiss (who's such a great and frightening villain!) any day, based solely on their respective interpretations of leadership. Mistress Coyle says that "being a leader is making the people you love hate you a little more each day," which while very cynical, doesn't seem untrue to me and shows that she understands that leadership should often be a burden. While Mayor Prentiss's view that "Leadership isn’t grown, Viola. It’s taken..." has, to me, a lot to do with everything that's wrong with the world.

[Emily]

The Ask and the Answer- Up to Chapter 23 "Something's Coming" (pg. 268)

I'm not liking (view spoiler)[this new, even angrier Todd. I certainly understand where his anger is coming from, especially as he is only 13 (or 14 in Earth years, if we assume that the length of a month on both worlds is the same, which seems unlikely, but you get the idea). However, he just hasn't learned anything from previous times when he's let his temper take control of him (or has almost done so). Characters who don't learn from their mistakes are a pet peeve of mine- although maybe I should cut them more slack, as it's often harder to get out of a pattern of behavior in real life than we would like. And the fact that throughout everything that's happened to him, he hasn't started to realize that violence is rarely the answer... I think my biggest problem with what just happened is that he attacked a Spackle, a being who was weaker than him and in a completely powerless and submissive position in basically every way. I can't begin to understand how Todd could treat the Spackles as he has been. They desperately need whatever help, protection, and sympathy he can give them, not his cruelty, hatred, anger, and abusiveness. He no longer has the partial excuse that he has to do what Mayor Prentiss wants or Viola will be hurt. He no longer has the partial excuse, as when he killed the Spackle in book 1, that he believes the Spackles to be responsible for his mother's death. I put great stock in this quote from Harry Potter (said by Sirius Black in Goblet of Fire): "If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." So it seems to me that Mayor Prentiss is succeeding in corrupting Todd and molding him into the type of person he wants him to be. Maybe that's what I'm supposed to be thinking and feeling right now about Todd, but, as much as I hate to say it, his ability to treat the Spackles so poorly seems to me like a deeper problem with his ethics than something from which he can come back. (hide spoiler)]

I feel like this book is, at least so far, missing the opportunity for the deeper exploration of some issues, like terrorism. Ness has certainly gone deeper than just the surface, but I feel there's still a lot left less developed than I would like. He's got some great morally ambiguous characters and scenarios, though, and I like that he doesn't get preachy. Maybe this is just a further aspect of his tendency to leave a lot up to the reader.

Corinne has a very interesting outlook on the world. She said, "There is nothing more important in this life than the preservation of it... To allow someone, anyone, to suffer is the greatest sin there is.” And later, “Everyone here is someone’s daughter... Every soldier out there is someone’s son. The only crime, the only crime is to take a life. There is nothing else... To live is to fight... To preserve life is to fight everything that man stands for.” While I don't agree with her fully, I think she might possibly be the most moral of all the characters in this book. What do you think of her philosophy? Do you think (view spoiler)[she made the right or wrong choice in not going with Mistress Coyle to join the Answer? While I think Corinne's reasoning was ethically sound in some ways, I also think it was quite naive. I'm very worried about her chances of survival. This doesn't seem to be a world where those who don't think about their own survival are likely to last for long- not while Mayor Prentiss is in charge anyway.
In addition, do you agree with the actions of Mistress Coyle and the Answer- escalating things with Mayor Prentiss, the bombs, blowing up the communications tower? I think, under the circumstances, I would be joining up with the Answer. I would hate it, but I don't see that there is really another option. I agree with Mistress Coyle about appeasement- with a tyrant like Mayor Prentiss who wants complete domination, it doesn't work and would have just lead to greater and greater concessions. Also, I don't fully think that what the Answer is doing is really terrorism. The goal of terrorism is to attack civilians to create a state of terror, exploiting civilian fear to achieve political objectives. That doesn't seem to me to really apply here. Instead, the Answer seems to be practicing guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla warfare is defined as "the use of hit-and-run tactics by small, mobile groups of irregular forces operating in territory controlled by a hostile, regular force" (harassing the enemy by surprise raids, sabotaging communication and supply lines, etc.), which seems to match up better with the situation in the book. What do you think? (hide spoiler)]