Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

9 reviews

arctoarcturus's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I  really enjoyed the writing and overall themes -- a lot of great and thoughtful concepts, creative writing styles and extremely emotive. I would have given it four stars except for the utterly exhausting and traumatic plot. These kids can't catch a break, almost to the point of me wanting to put the book down completely. I often felt tense out of sheer frustration while reading because it seemed like the author was intentionally flipping the table before the reader had a chance to recover from the last upsetting episode. And while I get that this was probably a purposeful writing device, it made my experience of the book far less enjoyable, not because I was empathizing with the characters, but because I was feeling exasperation towards the author.

While I'd love to keep reading the series to dive deeper into the concepts and characters, I'm not sure I have the energy for all the trauma porn. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Gun violence, Xenophobia, and Animal death

Moderate: Sexual violence

Minor: Genocide, War, and Torture

book_becca's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Not an awful book, predictable at times. Writing style was not for me but can see the appeal.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Vomit, Abandonment, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Misogyny, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Gore, Genocide, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Kidnapping

anneminusmarie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cursing, Hate crime, Murder, Gun violence, Animal death, Body horror, Vomit, War, Death, Torture, and Suicide

desiderium_incarnate's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

"We don't say nothing more. What else is there to say? Everything and nothing. You can't say everything, so you don't say nothing." 

Das tat weh. Ich glaube nicht, dass ich dieses Buch so schnell vergessen kann. Es ist so unglaublich, brutal, aggressiv, verzweifelt, verwirrt und liebevoll. Es steckt voller Verluste und Entscheidungen und (falscher) Informationen von Menschen, die man sein Leben lang kennt. Es geht um Neuanfänge, die unerwartet schief gehen, sprechende Hunde, die verstummt werden (der Hauptcharakter ist kein John Wick aber die beiden würden sich sicher verstehen) und (das) Unbekannte, was als Feind angesehen wird. Es ist unfassbar schlimm und ich bin so schockiert. Warum zur Hölle lese ich so etwas gerade eben? 
Ich weiß nicht, ob ich diese Geschichte weiterempfehlen würde, ich bezweifle es, warum sollte ich andere leiden sehen wollen, nicht in diesem Ausmaß! 
Ich mag dieses Buch nicht, es ist ist so kreativ und überzeugend gestaltet aber für mich zu heftig. Ich respektiere es aber. Es ist ein starkes Werk. Es hat mich nur ziemlich geschafft. 

"Doing what's right should be easy. It shouldn't be just another big mess like everything else." 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and War

ilsota_77's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This ending 😭😭—- I have to get the second book ASAP

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Genocide

Moderate: Death and Gun violence

Minor: Kidnapping, Torture, Vomit, and Death of parent

hazelmort's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The main character annoyed me a lot most of the time BUT I did find myself really engaged with the plot and asking questions the whole time

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence and Murder

Minor: Vomit, War, Death of parent, and Torture

kellypower_17's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is my absolute favorite! I read this when I was younger and decided to buy it because I remembered loving it. The character development in this book is immaculate. The plot is beautiful and I can’t wait to read the next book. This will definitely be a book I’ll recommend for many years.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Vomit

Minor: Child abuse and Panic attacks/disorders

silver_lining125's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Sexism, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Gun violence, and Grief

Minor: Torture and Suicide

nila's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Review from 2012: I finished this whirlwind of a book in a matter of days, and it was brilliant. The language takes some time getting used to, but it didn't bother me much after the first chapter. Ness is a patient and generous writer, he leads you carefully through the adventure using his language as a guide, but without underestimating you as reader. Everything seems right in the first of the three Chaos Walking novels, but there are times when I did feel that Ness didn't get it a 100% right... For example, I wish Todd had been older. Of course, innocence is a major theme in the book, but the mixture of juvenile misunderstanding and adult reflections seemed odd to me. How wonderful is Manchee? Manchee is such a gem, and in the beginning I was afraid Ness was going to overuse the perfectly-timed comedic inputs from the world's greatest dog, but he didn't. I wish I had a friend like Manchee. 

Reread in 2021: Eight years later and finally being open to re-reading some old favourites, I decided to revisit this series in time for the film release. Of all the YA dystopian series that were released during *that* era, this series was my ride or die. Honestly, it's as good as I remember, perhaps even better. The book strikes the perfect balance between the character arcs and the plot. It is a very honest and at times brutal reminder of the darkest aspects of human nature and reading it now as an adult, the depictions of war, genocide, sexism, xenophobia and corruption seem more striking. I stand by my thought regarding Todd's age, I still wish Ness had written him older, especially considering I know how his relationship with Viola develops in the next books. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Xenophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Torture and Sexual assault