A review by nila
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

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. 
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