Reviews

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

harrisonp30's review

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DNF after about 80 pages



What. The. Crap.
I have been wanting to read this book for about 2 years now. The library in our town is closing because of COVID so I decided to stockpile a ton of books, this being one of them.
Right of the bat this book starts with a dog talking about poop. Gross, but I can deal with it. Then I figure out that this book is doing a cuz/thru kinda thing and ew but I can deal with that too I guess. THEN TODD STARTS ABUSING HIS DOG like 5 pages in!!! And the dog says ow Todd ow. It’s awful!! And literally nobody cares like y’all he literally smacks him repeatedly on his leg and his bottom.

Okay I decided I would push a bit more and we get some unbearable cringe such as this quote-

“You can eff off, too” I say, except I don’t say “eff” I say what “eff” stands for

No. Stop. After a bit more pushing we have this gem of a word- GAS STAYSHUN literally spelled like that.


Why must you hurt me in this way >:(
y’all pay attention (attenshun) if you are an animal abuser you might enjoy this book, other wise SKIPPPPP

turnergrzegorczyk's review

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5.0

4.5. Cliff hanger much! My mind needs to process everything that just went down in these last 100 pages.

beckysbooktok's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

ladytiara's review against another edition

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4.0

The Knife of Never Letting Go is the first book in a dystopian trilogy set in a far-away space colony sometime in the future (the specifics of where and when are vague). Todd Hewitt is a few weeks away from becoming a man according to the rules of his town. He lives in Prentisstown, the only settlement of the colony that survived a war with the native inhabitants of the planet. The humans won the war, but at a heavy cost: the women all died from a virus that also infected the men with what they call Noise, the ability to hear the thoughts of everyone around them. It's a brutal world, and as Todd nears his birthday, he learns that everything he's been taught throughout his childhood may be a lie, he finds a girl (something he's never encountered in the flesh before) named Viola, and he goes on the run with Viola and his dog Manchee (who can "talk" to Todd; his barks are intelligible Noise).

The Knife of Never Letting Go is a fascinating book. A world in which you can hear everyone's thoughts is a scary one, and Ness does an excellent job of conveying just how difficult it is to live like this. The Noise is constant and loud and often horrible. Words are always spilling out, and Todd frequently hears disturbing things. When Todd encounters Viola, he can't hear her Noise, and the relationship they forge is severely hampered by this difference. Todd and Viola are both engaging characters, and they're two lost souls who are thrown into circumstances far beyond their control. I was completely caught up in their journey.

This is a gripping, intense, moving book. The suspense is constant, and Todd and Viola's journey is fraught with peril. The author's use of language is excellent. The characters speak English, but a slightly altered form, what might be in use in a remote place where the people don't have much formal education. The book uses different fonts to indicate Noise coming from other characters, and it's an effective device. The language isn't hard to read, but it's just different enough to emphasize how alien this world is.

The book just missed five stars for me. It's a great book, but the revelation of the big secret is something of a let-down. There's a lot of buildup, but it ends up being a bit predictable. I'm hoping there's something more to it that will be revealed in the subsequent books.

jml1227's review

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3.0

meh but wrote the action scenes so well

mmmlysaght's review against another edition

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5.0

Absolutely captivating voice, one of the few stories written in both vernacular and first person which I couldnt put down. Ness is a master of stories where you expect the worst possible thing to happen, and yet what actually happens is even worse.

embereye's review against another edition

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4.0

Wow. This book... I started it a day or so ago, and just could barely put it down. It was a surprisingly fast read and I was simultaneously entertained, moved, surprised, and enchanted by the story. Parts of it hit you like a ton of bricks. The writing is also in the dialect of the main character, so that can either hamper or aid you in getting sucked into the storyline. But really, wow. And now I cannot wait for the next one to show up!

valdezjs1's review against another edition

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5.0

I was worried at the start of this book that I wouldn’t like it. The misspellings in the dialogue bothered me but as the story picks up you quickly forget about that. The story moves quickly and is very intriguing. There are some parts that are hard to read but I became emotionally invested in Todd and Viola. I couldn’t put it down. It ends on a cliff hanger and I’m excited to read the next one.

hellybobs's review

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3.0

I liked it until they did the unforgivable thing.

annaforthebooks's review

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

3.0

What a stressful read! I loved the premise and how this book took the time to set up the entire series. I also didn’t mind the deliberate grammatical errors and the literal chaos on some of the pages. However, I found Todd to be really annoying most of the time (I won’t accept the reason that he’s just a kid) and felt actually tired of all the running they did throughout the novel.

Also, Manchee didn’t deserve any of it. What happened to him really made me angry. :(

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