Monsters of Men

Could have done with some hard editing - was at least 1/4 too long and too repetitious - however apart frm that it was quite enjoyable. ( )

Seriously, I am so glad I stuck with this trilogy! The first had me banging my head against my desk because it was such a dark, freaky, frustrating read. The second began it's redemption. And the third?!

WOW. It all comes together! Todd, Viola, The Mayor/President, Simone, Bradley, Lee, Wilf (LOVE Wilf!), Angharrad (what a horse!), The Spackle/Land/Sky/The Return, Humans/The Clearing....what character development!

Half-way through, I felt like I was totally twisted in my thinking of who is good and who is bad. There are wars, peace talks, radicals, insane personalities, an understanding of who the Spackle/Land are and what the Clearing/Humans have done since they have arrived on this planet.

In many ways, I felt like it was a futuristic tale based on the the America's being invaded by the English (and more) and how the Native Americans were treated - especially when we learn more about and listen to the Land and the Sky and the Return.

Is the Mayor really changing because of Todd? Is Todd becoming more like the Mayor?

The tension! The darkness!

Loved it over and over again. And if I ever get the horse I was promised by my parents in 8th grade, I will name it Angharrad in honor of this trilogy! ( )

I liked the first two books a lot, but this third volume was a disappointment. It was repetitive and strained, and at 600 pages, it got really tiresome. I kept hearing the book say to me: "Submit!", but I never could. Some of the biggest concepts introduced in the first two very good installments - the Noise itself, how humans adapt to a fundamentally alien environment; the nature of the gender schism in the human society; who the Mayor is in his essence;hell, even the content of the mysterious journal Todd's mom left him - most of these were haphazardly dealt with, or even dropped. There were lots of missed opportunities. It was a big story, and making the understanding of it contingent upon accepting the preternatural malevolence of the Mayor is more weight that the plot can bear. I can still recommend the first two books, and if you read those, you will be compelled to read the third. If you are like me, you will have wished you'd simply made up your own ending. ( )

The third and final book in Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking Trilogy picks up where the last one left off: at the beginning of a battle between three warring factions. The pace doesn't slow down much for the entire 600 pages that follow. Fans and casual readers alike will want to see how it all ends for Todd, Viola, and the rest of the settlers on the New World.

Ness's third novel is, for the most part, fast-paced and very strong. He writes in a way that makes the reader work to keep up with what's happening and has a knack for cutting scenes off at the peak of suspense. That being said, this reader found that the addition of the voice of the Land and 1017 was a hindrance more than a help to the story (although she understands the stylistic choice of adding a third voice to the third novel, just as he added a second voice to the second novel). While the battle scenes might be a tad overlong and the dialogue sometimes takes a turn for the repetitious, the book works as a whole.

The last 150 pages make up for any issues readers might have with length, and the trilogy concludes beautifully. Highly recommended.

( )

Monsters of Men, like The Ask and the Answer, picks up right where the previous book left off. The third book is very much a war story, with the divided settlers now facing a massive army of the native “Spackle.” Todd and Viola remain separated between Mayor Prentiss’ army and Mistress Coyle’s Answer, with Viola now joined by two of her fellow settlers from another scout ship.

A third narrator is added in “The Return,” the lone Spackle survivor of the Mayor’s massacre. The Spackle are joined by their noise into form of collective consciousness and consider themselves all part of a greater “Land.” The Return is still an outsider, and Ness does a great job of making him alien yet also a relatable character.

This final volume makes for another tense yet disturbing read. There’s pretty much nonstop action, including some disturbing scenes that are to be expected of a war story. A very satisfying conclusion to a very inventive series.