Book Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go
Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go – Chaos Walking: Book One
Author: Patrick Ness
Genre: Fiction – Dystopian
Publisher: Walker Books
Publication Date: First published in 2008.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Do you like reading dystopian fiction? Do you like a little bit of gruesome and a lot of action? If you answered ‘yes’ to either of these questions, then this may be the book for you. The Knife of Never Letting Go is the first book in the Chaos Walking series. The Chaos Walking series is a trilogy that my youngest son got for his 14th birthday from his brother and sister. He has been encouraging me to read it for most of this year.
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Todd, the main character in The Knife of Never Letting Go, is the youngest boy in Prentisstown. He lives in the new world with Ben and Cillian who became his parents when his mother and father died. Todd is counting down the days until his fourteenth birthday when a boy officially becomes a man in Prentisstown.
The history of Prentisstown is important to the story. Although there are different versions and understandings of what happened, Todd understands that all the women died of a germ when they came to the new world from their old world. This germ was released by the native inhabitants of the new world, referred to as the spackle. The same germ that killed the women, made the men, boys and animals have ‘noise’. This is where their thoughts can be heard or seen by everyone around them. Other versions of Prentisstown history include the Mayor of Prentisstown killing the women.
When Todd is sent to pick apples from the swamp with his talking dog, Manchee, he discovers a girl. Due to his understanding of history, Todd didn’t realise that girls existed. Her lack of noise that puzzles him. Through Todd’s noise, Ben and Cillian realise that Todd is a danger to himself now that he has discovered a girl. He would never be able to keep this out of his noise, but it would draw attention to himself. He must leave Prentisstown. Unfortunately, someone does hear Todd’s noise and Mayor Prentiss and his son begin to pursue Todd. Before Todd leaves, Ben gives him a book that his mother wrote to him when he was a baby. There is one problem: Todd cannot read. Reading, learning and education about the past were not allowed by Mayor Prentiss in Prentisstown.
Todd is sent to another settlement on the other side of the swamp which is another thing that confuses him. He had grown up believing that the world only consisted of Prentisstown. He begins to learn that different truths were kept from him to protect him. On the way to the new settlement, Todd comes across the girl again. Her name is Viola and together they travel on to the new settlement. As they go, they discover that Prentisstown is out to get them. The Mayor wants Todd to become a man, which Todd doesn’t discover until later that it involves killing someone. Viola is alone in the world after her parents die when the scout spaceship they were travelling in, crashes.
Rumour of war continues to trickle down through the different settlements that Todd and Viola travel through on their way to Haven which is the main town that Todd and Viola are heading towards. People in the different settlements turn hostile when they learn that Todd is from Prentisstown.
During the story, there are two main villains: these are the Mayor of Prentisstown and Aaron, who is the priest of Prentisstown. Prentisstown folklore taught that to become a man, a boy had to kill. This is what both Aaron and the Mayor are wanting from Todd but for different reasons. Todd kills a spackle but regrets it. Somehow this is not the same as killing a man as spackle are seen as inferior. Towards the end of the book, the mayor’s son, David Prentiss Junior, shoots Viola and Viola and Todd become separated.
There are many powerful themes in The Knife of Never Letting Go. These include growing up and coming of age, what it means to be a male or a female and what it means to separate and have your own identity. Other themes include power and loyalty, what is truth, and the lies we spin to protect ourselves. Another interesting concept that is explored is that of what it looks like to conquer a new world and the beliefs and attitudes that the settling people have towards the world’s original inhabitants.
There were many aspects that I loved in this story. I loved how the history of Prentisstown was so vital to the current story that it made the place seem real. I really enjoyed the ‘noise’ of the different male characters. It made me wonder what my noise would look like if others could see it and hear it. It made me wonder what it would be like to live in a world where you could always hear other people’s internal voices. I loved the characters. Each character was distinct and well-developed, including Todd’s little dog Manchee. The characters also felt very real and three-dimensional.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves dystopian fiction. Its target audience is youth and young adults. It is a little bit gruesome in parts so if you’re not into gruesome maybe steer clear. I enjoyed this book, and it was definitely well-written.
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