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chaptersonapage'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
Things work differently in Todd’s world. After there was something called the noise germ that was released on the population, two big things happened. One, everyone began to hear the thoughts of everyone else. Two, the female population was wiped out. This is the life Todd Hewitt knows and has grown up with since he was a baby. That’s going to be turned upside down though when he discovers something that shouldn’t be possible. He finds a girl, and she has no noise.
The premise of this story is interesting. It’s different with the way everyone can read everyone else’s mind, but it seems like they can still figure out ways to hide things from each other if they train themselves enough. It was also cool to see the animal’s thoughts in the world too. Initially I wasn’t sure if I liked this or not, but the way it was written worked out well. The more intelligent animals had more to say than others, and every type of animal seemed to have its own unique way of speaking. Manchee especially wormed his way into my heart.
The writing itself took some time for me to get used to, and while I understand it’s use, I don’t think I ever really warmed up to it at all. Even though a lot of the things were written with phonetic spellings, it was hard for me to read the words when they popped up. Small things like ‘yer’ for ‘your’ were negligible and I could read on fine, but the bigger words always stopped me and pulled me out of the moment as my brain caught up with what the book was saying. I think it was a good stylistic choice though and it wasn’t overdone. There was just enough to represent the world without it being too much.
All the characters were interesting to read about as well. My favorite was Manchee, Todd’s dog. I am a fierce animal lover, and he’s such a good pup. He’s loyal to Todd and, even though Todd didn’t want a dog at first, they become closer as the book goes on. You can feel their connection and I found myself wanting to pet and hug Manchee! Since I obviously can’t with a fictional dog, I forced my own into big hugs!!
Todd is interesting too, though his perspective would annoy me from time to time. He’s pretty naive in the beginning, and it takes a lot of the book for him to open up to things. This was made especially frustrating when he would be told something and we would be pulled into his head rather than hearing the conversation play out. We would hear his thoughts of doubt and disbelief over it, but we wouldn’t hear what he was doubting or disbelieving. We’re left with his denial and have to keep reading and reading to see him finally start to accept the truth. Still, he had a lot of good qualities. He was strong willed and determined. He goes through a lot and his perseverance was really admirable.
Viola is the last of the main three characters, and she was an interesting one. She’s silent. No thoughts are floating about in the noise from her, and she both confuses and intrigues Todd. Her story is a mystery, but it slowly unfolds throughout the story and we learn more about her as she opens up to Todd. I was really interested in her background, and I also felt myself feeling the frustration Todd felt at not knowing her thoughts. I think reading from her perspective would have been really neat since it would give insight on what it’s like for her living in the noise.
The best part of the novel was the way they grew together over the span of the book and how they go from distrusting to relying on one another. It’s definitely a book about survival, and it’s a long and hard fought one. It leaves off on a cliffhanger that I was pretty unhappy with, but thankfully the rest of the books are already out!
I’m glad I finally got around to reading this book. There were a few things that had me choose to rate this as a 4 instead of a 5, but it was a toss up for a while. I’m really interested to see how the movie version of the story plays out. I really hope with all the time they put into it, it does the story justice!
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Grief, and Xenophobia
Minor: Sexism
ggmariereads'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
Moderate: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Grief, and Medical content
durrareadsstuff's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Sexism, Misogyny, Genocide, and Colonisation
emusing's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Religious bigotry
Minor: Cursing and Death of parent
btrz7's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Misogyny, Murder, and Violence
aquakerwitch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence
arlorees's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Blood
oliverlang'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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit
triin_s's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
aloeverra's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Most of the characters had flaws but were still loveable, except the villains. The villains were very easy to hate and weren't very dimensional.
This is a journey / travel story, so if you like books that have only a few stable locations this book might not be for you. This book also features a corrupted religion similar to Christianity, so if you don't want any religious notes in your book, you might not like this.
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Animal cruelty