A review by plumpaperbacks
More Than This by Patrick Ness

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is undoubtedly one of the slowest, most confusing books I’ve ever read. That being said, I like what Ness did with this novel. He created complex characters and an intriguing world where literally nothing is as it seems. You never know exactly what’s going on, and for every answer you get, there are at least five new questions.

While the intrigue was maintained, I won’t lie: sometimes, the slow pacing was off-putting. However, the desire to know what the fudge was happening paired with the extremely short chapters kept me reading. I also quite liked Regine and Tomasz.

Thank you, Erika, for pushing me to read this for the last couple of years. I’m glad I finally did. More Than This is better than the Chaos Walking trilogy, even if half the time, I had no clue what was real and I never knew what to expect. Now I can recommend it alongside you. It’s a twisted story, but one that’s worth the read.

Representation

• queer protagonist and side character in a m/m relationship (occurs prior to the story and in flashbacks)
• Black fat side character

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, Kidnapping, Body shaming, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Blood

Minor: Bullying, Fatphobia, and Sexual violence