The Knife of Never Letting Go (2008)

I have been seeing rave reviews for The Knife of Never Letting Go over the past year, and yet I was turned off from buying this book because of some of the quotes that I had seen in various reviews. The format of the Noise and the dialogue of the characters seemed too strange, and I wasn't sure it was something that would appeal to me.

However, you can't read that many raves without being just a little curious about why everyone loves a book so much. So when I had a gift certificate to a book store burning a hole in my pocket I decided to take a chance on The Knife of Never Letting Go. I have to say it is one of the best book purchases I have made this year. It is deserving of every single rave review that it has received.

The Noise that emanates from the male characters of the book contains every thought that they think, and those thoughts are sounded out loud for everyone in the vicinity to hear. Because of this it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to keep a secret, especially not a boy like Todd Hewitt. So when he finds something that he's not supposed to know about, he is less than successful at keeping it out of his conscious thoughts. Pretty soon he is running for his life, and the worst thing is that no one will tell him why, because if he knows then he will be in even more danger as others will read the information in his thoughts.

There are some books where an unusual dialogue format or usage of slang can detract from the overall effect of the book, but this was not one of them. The usage of another font for Noise (the audible sound of all of the men's thoughts) adequately conveys the overwhelming effect of the Noise on the population of Prentisstown. I will admit that it takes a little while to get used to the slang and Noise, but it works so well with the story that it is not a distraction, but rather enhances the plot.

It only took a chapter or two to rivet my attention to the story; after that I read the book straight through with very few breaks. The Knife of Never Letting Go is an intense and suspenseful read from start to finish. Upon finishing, I went directly to my computer to see if the library had the next volume. When I saw that the second book, The Ask and the Answer was available at the library in a neighboring town, I loaded up the kids in the car and drove over to check it out, which was a first for me. Then I proceeded to read the entire second book in one evening.

The titles, "The Knife of Never Letting Go," "The Ask and the Answer," and "Monsters of Men," (the upcoming third volume) don't really give you any idea of what the books are about. I know I was completely mystified about the meaning of the first and second book titles until I had read a bit of each book, then the titles made perfect sense.

If you like young adult fiction or dystopian fiction, then don't let this book pass you by. Fans of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The Maze Runner by James Dashner should not be disappointed by this first book in the Chaos Walking Trilogy. I liked this book so much, that it will be one of my top reads of 2009, and it has found a permanent place on my bookshelf. ( )

Todd and Viola, Prentisstown. Looking forward to Book 2 ( )

3.5 stars
This was a fantastic audiobook. I don't actually think I would have liked this half as much if I had read it (I had actually tried and couldn't get into it but the audiobook had me hooked.)
( )

Tiptree winner 2008. Enjoyed it very much. ( )

Set in a world where everyone can hear each other's thoughts, the idea was intriguing to me. This book was very hard for me to put down and caused me to care about the characters so deeply. This book left me wanting to know where the story will go next in the sequel. ( )