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frostlywild17's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Gun violence
tadpolefox's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Gore, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Misogyny, Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Genocide, Racism, Violence, and War
Moderate: Death of parent and Gun violence
Minor: Vomit, Sexual harassment, and Alcoholism
asourceoffiction's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
BUT, I absolutely loved it. The concept is incredibly clever - we're in a mysterious land where a strange disease has wiped out all the women and enabled men to read minds. And despite the assault on my emotions I was completely hooked. I got so angry at the rampant misogyny and religious zealotry, but was so engaged by the incredible raw emotion and affection that began to emerge as the book went on.
I'm so glad I read this when I already have the next book in the series, otherwise I'd be screaming at Patrick Ness for leaving me with that unbearable cliffhanger. I know what I'm bumping up my TBR next!
Graphic: Animal death, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, and Murder
nannahnannah's review against another edition
5.0
Settlers left the Old World for a simpler, better, and more peaceful life guided by God. Unfortunately, the hardships of New World didn’t allow that to happen: infertile soil, foreign diseases … and the Spackle, an alien race the initial scouts failed to discover. Todd Hewitt, the last boy in his town (who will become a man in thirty days) has grown up on this strange New World, where all men can hear each other’s thoughts in Noise, a jumble of words, thoughts, feelings, and pictures. Women never had Noise, but then, they were all killed off by the Spackle disease in the war before Todd was born.
Todd doesn’t know what will happen when he becomes a man, but he knows it’s important, because all of the friends he had don’t talk to him any more, not since they became men themselves. But when he discovers a pocket of silence -- an impossible area of no Noise at all, an actual, living girl -- the town’s secrets (and the entire New World’s) start to spill over.
The concept of this is so original and kept my attention to the very end (which is a cliffhanger … beware). The main two characters are very well described and realized, with, let’s be honest, major flaws. But that’s what I love about them. Even when I’m so almost unbearably angry at them, it’s wonderful because I’m angry at them for being so well-realized, not for being stupid for the plot’s sake or awfully written.
The writing is kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, it makes the action and emotion very immediate. It’s written in a dialogue style, using misspelled words and incorrect grammar -- mostly because our protagonist can’t read and has a southern-style accent (ish). While this can be super, incredibly annoying, this is probably the only book where it works more than it doesn’t. I think because even without the use of the dialogue, the writing is still very strong (as compared to, and I’m sorry, but Blood Red Road by Moira Young, where her style was a crutch rather than something to add to her world and story). However, reading The Knife of Never Letting Go this time around, there were things from the style that bugged me, like the use of “effing” -- where once or twice it would be okay, but several times it became way … way too much (“and I didn’t say ‘effing’ either”; “and do you think I said ‘effing’”?, etc.). The misspelled words didn’t bother me as much as I thought they would, but eff, those effing words just took me right out of the story.
Lastly, I just want to touch on the gender thing the book has going on. I was hoping upon reread there would be hints of something in regard to other genders, but -- at least in the first book here -- there was nothing. I know Patrick Ness supports trans people and he talks about them often in interviews about how he’s very excited to read and support books by trans authors, so he’s (probably) not transphobic, which is great. So maybe this was just something he … overlooked about 10+ years ago, or became aware of later. But in any case, the whole “women have no noise, men have noise, and that’s IT” is a little uncomfortable to read as someone who’s non binary. Where would people like me fit in?
Anyway, I’m unbelievably happy to find out that this book is still one of my favorites.
Graphic: Animal death and Gore
roenfoe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
From the start and all throughout, TKONLG had me hooked. It's been a while since I have read a thriller-esque story and I had forgotten how fun a page-turner can be. I really enjoyed the writing style at first, but found myself skipping some descriptive language later on where the repetitive waffle was at its zenith. However, even with the tense plot and my anticipation, this novel managed to drag around the 350 page mark. Following
I really liked TKONLG- it was great, but not earth shattering. I hope that the sequel improves on some of these issues.
Moderate: Blood, Animal death, and Gore
victoria_2002's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Murder, Vomit, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Blood, Death, Grief, and Misogyny
desiderium_incarnate's review against another edition
- 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
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."
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
_eleanorgreen8_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Self harm, and Animal death
daringreader13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book pulled me in from the start. The language was a bit hard to understand at the beginning but as I kept reading it became easier. Can't wait to pick up the next book and keep going with the series
Edited 4/23/23
OH MY GOD. Reading this along with the audiobook made it ten thousand times better! I literally reacted out loud so many times and never wanted to put it down. It didn’t help that I had two dogs in my lap and one by my feet at a certain point in the book
Graphic: Death, Grief, Gore, Violence, War, Death of parent, Cursing, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Genocide, Sexism, and Vomit
darnays's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Murder, Sexism, War, and Religious bigotry