A review by alienor
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

5.0

Okay, we have a plight here : I feel the urge to lower almost all of my high rating. Seriously, I'm currently struggling to prevent me from scrolling down my bookshelves and -

Well, take a star or two away from the books which are there. I know, that's crazy.

What are their fault, you're asking?

Genuinely nothing. Except.

*whisper* they're not these ones. These ones with all that noise. These ones with all those awful choices. These ones with Ben and Viola and Angharrad and that annoying horse, you know, Submit!

These ones with Todd. The man who can't kill. The character who's just made a coup d'état (hey, I've just found out that we use the french word in english too! Okay, nobody cares about it, I get it) in my favorite of all times.

But let's get right to the point before I begin to ramble - Yes, because I'll so ramble, sorry about that : This book was amazing. What am I saying? These books were awesome. Heart breaking. World changing.

"Like all that fighting yesterday never happened.
(except it did - )
(except it still happening in my head -)
(I am the Circle and the Circle is me, I think, light as I can -)

I'll try to write a real review and not a rambling about Todd and how special he is. No promise though. I'm not sure I can.

Where do I begin?

1) The ending. Yeah, I'm logical that way (shut up). It was perfect. But don't get me wrong, I'm still speechless, so that says it all. I actually cried and smiled and more than that, I was amazed. Truly stunned. I knew I could trust Patrick Ness to offer us an ending which would be worthy of the wonderful trilogy he created. But there is always a bit of angst when you start the last book of a trilogy you love, you know? You find yourself asking a lot of questions that we can sum up in this one : Will this last book spoil the others?

I'm answering : No, no, no, non.

Monster of Men doesn't spoil all the happiness (yes, happiness) I felt when I read the first two. That's just the opposite.

2) The plot. I read this in another review, and it's true : we don't get all the answers we need. I know it, but I don't even care. We do have the explanation for the Mayor's behavior, and trust me, it's no insignificant matter, because I've been struggling to understand him for a long time. As The Ask and the Answer, this book quickly involve us in the difficult choices the characters must face. No simplistic debate here : we have to hear the voices of all sides, and they all seem right sometimes.

"True but not right -
True but so dangerous -
Which is that if they kill him -
If they hurt him -"

Plus all the events are coherent, and I've already said how enthusiastic I was about this world. As I loved the new additions in it - all this Land concept, for example - I obviously enjoyed my reading. A lot.

You will too.

3) The characters.

✔ The Mayor. That's a really complex villain we have here. I mean, okay, we know he's bad from the beginning. But still, maybe Todd rubbed off on me, but sometimes I hesitated - Is he always on Team Evil? And why is he so interested in Todd, why? Because right, I think Todd is an adorable and perfect boy, but The Mayor? What can he see in Todd? I was so happy the author gave us an answer to this very question!

And can I say? *blush* He made me laugh sometimes, in his messed-up kind of way. I know, that's a shame.

"Didn't you finish your chemistry in school?"
"You closed the school and burnt all the books."
"Ah, so I did."

✔ Mistress Coyle now. Well, what can I say? *sigh*

"She's even started talking about how to make the truce. Apparently, this involves a lot of blowing things up."

I know, right?

✔ Lee. Sorry but WHO?

Spoiler

✔ Ben. I'll say just one thing : Thanks. He succeed in making me feel better in a moment I was a freaking mess. So, thanks. Moreover, he seems to be in my head someway. I mean, I was thinking a lot of things about Todd, I was saying a lot of things about Todd (my cat knows him well, my boyfriend too ^^) and here he is, sharing my exact thoughts.

"He forgives me for all of it, tells me I don't even need to be forgiven, tells me I did the best I could, that I made mistakes but that's what makes me human and that it's not the mistakes I made but how I responded to 'em (...)"

I was like, "EXACTLY!" I almost clapped my hands.

Okay. *blush* I clapped my hands.

✔ Viola. I must confess that she annoyed me several times in this one. She's always strong-minded and courageous, but my extreme loyalty to Todd made me want to yell at her sometimes. I was wrong, and I officially apologize here : Okay, maybe you love Todd as much as he does.

Spoiler

And you totally redeem in the end, by the way.

*cough* can we please go over to the very special one character we really want to talk about?

Todd

"Out of this whole planet, you're the only thing that matters."

Oh Todd, who won me from the first page of The Knife of never letting go, who made my heart bleed in The Ask and the Answer, whose choices I couldn't stand sometimes...

Todd who will stay one of my favorite -

No, that's not right. I can't say he's one of my favorite heroes. I can't compare him to all these book boys I love..

- If you want to roll your eyes, just do it, I won't be angry at you, I promise -

But Todd.

This feeling? It's actually more than an addition to my BBF's list. Because this young Todd Hewitt whose loyalty made my heart ache? I'll never forget him. Not ever.

Is he perfect?
Not by a long shot.

Did he make mistakes?
Sure he did. Repeatedly, I'm afraid to tell.

But - what I want to explain is - Patrick Ness created him in a way that made us forgive him. Always. Okay, perhaps not every reader, perhaps that's just me (and thousand others), and I'm sure Todd has many haters but I couldn't help but forgive him and love him and care about him all the freaking time.

Because *take a huge breath* : he's loyal and caring and adorable and wants to make the right thing even if his world is a total mess full of haters and he tries to control his mind and he feels the ache of all the bad things he makes and he can't read and maybe you don't see where I go with this but these moments when he doesn't succeed in reading his mother's journal?

They killed me.

And -

"Boy colt?"

To sum up : These books earnt a very special place in my heart, and I know I will read them again. I already want to reread The Knife of Never letting go, and I'm going to be really annoying with my friends until they'll meet all these wonderful characters. Sorry about that.

Viola?

Keep calling for me -

And I'll keep searching for you -