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Patrick Ness

Author of The Knife of Never Letting Go

41+ Works 24,871 Members 1,524 Reviews 39 Favorited

About the Author

Patrick Ness was born on October 17, 1971 near Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He studied English Literature and is a graduate of the University of Southern California. He was a corporate writer before moving to London in 1999. He taught creative writing at Oxford University and is a literary critic and show more reviewer for the Guardian and other major newspapers. He is the author of eight novels including The Rest of Us Just Live Here and a short story collection entitled Topics About Which I Know Nothing. His young adult novels include the Chaos Walking trilogy, More Than This, and Monsters of Men, which won the Carnegie Medal. A Monster Calls won the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration, the Carnegie Medal, and was made into a movie and released in October 2016. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Debbie Smyth, www.firstthreenoflash.com

Series

Works by Patrick Ness

The Knife of Never Letting Go (2008) 6,563 copies
A Monster Calls (2011) 5,669 copies
The Ask and the Answer (2009) 2,987 copies
Monsters of Men (2010) 2,571 copies
The Rest of Us Just Live Here (2015) 1,911 copies
More Than This (2013) 1,726 copies
The Crane Wife (2013) 657 copies
Release (2017) 624 copies
The New World (2009) 469 copies
Burn (2020) 453 copies
And The Ocean Was Our Sky (2018) 373 copies
A Monster Calls [2016 film] (1900) — Screenwriter / Original book — 111 copies
The Crash of Hennington (2003) 95 copies

Associated Works

Doctor Who: 12 Doctors, 12 Stories (2014) — Contributor — 271 copies
Doctor Who: 11 Doctors, 11 Stories (2014) — Contributor — 270 copies
Monstrous Affections: An Anthology of Beastly Tales (2014) — Contributor — 246 copies
Doctor Who: 13 Doctors, 13 Stories (2019) — Contributor — 50 copies
Losing It (2010) — Contributor — 36 copies

Tagged

2012 (79) adventure (217) aliens (104) audiobook (92) bullying (120) cancer (215) Chaos Walking (157) coming of age (217) death (250) dystopia (670) dystopian (306) ebook (269) family (113) fantasy (951) favorites (122) fiction (1,337) friendship (121) goodreads (91) grief (186) horror (139) Kindle (167) LGBTQ (79) library (116) magical realism (105) monsters (103) novel (126) own (88) read (197) science fiction (1,249) series (227) sf (86) sff (83) survival (129) teen (137) telepathy (172) to-read (3,274) war (201) YA (932) young adult (1,208) young adult fiction (176)

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Group Read: The Knife of Never Letting Go ( in Read YA Lit (February 2012)

Reviews

I've never been so GLAD to see the end of a book. I wanted to just quit several times, but I stuck with it, hoping it would get better. Sadly, it did not. Needless to say, I will NOT be reading the other two books in the trilogy.
 
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thatnerd | 404 other reviews | Mar 2, 2024 |
This is a beautiful melancholic young adult novel that deals with tragedy, hope, helplessness, and trauma through the eyes of a 13-year-old boy named Connor. The author portrays the isolation and the internal suffering that comes along with personal tragedy, which is never blatantly spelled out but is shown through the interactions that Connor has with other characters.

At its heart, what this book tries to convey is honesty, and coming to terms with the truth that lies deep within the sadness. And the truth can sting harsher than the sadness which encloses it. Only by accepting this painful fact, can one truly let go of the source of the suffering and move on. Hiding from, or evading the cruel reality will only worsen what is already damaged. The author manages to capture all these profound insights in a very simple and straightforward manner.

The only reason I did not rate this novel higher is due to the style of writing which I did not enjoy as much as the deeper meaning seeded within the plot. This is in no way a matter of objectivity and entirely a matter of preference. With that being said, it is a really good read which I would highly recommend to anyone who's looking for a light yet impactful read with a memorable narrative.
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buddhawithan.n | 458 other reviews | Feb 29, 2024 |
Along with the Chaos Walking trilogy, this book is now one of my favorite Ness novels. A blend of contemporary and dystopian YA, "More Than This" manages to be both familiar yet fresh and all-together compelling. The main characters were very well fleshed-out and each had distinct voices; they were realistically flawed but likeable, and I found myself quite attached to them!
The narrative jumped back and forth in time, and usually I'm not a huge fan of that, but Ness really made it work here. The timelines felt seamless and I liked seeing the pieces fall into place. Also, there was just enough psychological teasing in here to make "More Than This" surprisingly suspenseful! As the scenes unfolded with The Driver I found myself more and more on the edge of my seat. The Driver is seriously one of the most chillingly alien YA antagonists I've read- loved him!

The only reason I'm docking a star from my rating was for the ending. I saw another review call the end too ambiguous, and I agree with that wholly. As a reader I felt like I was missing out of the real climax of the book. Although I don't mind a few loose threads, I think the book could have used a couple more chapters to really wrap things up better.

I would definitely recommend reading this though, no matter what your reading tastes are. Ness is a very talented author and he has yet to disappoint me. Will definitely keep reading his books! :)
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deborahee | 82 other reviews | Feb 23, 2024 |
I don’t like to use the word “boring” in reviews because it’s so subjective, but honestly it’s the only word I can think of to describe my feelings about this book. After the first few pages the prose, writing style, and action became incredibly repetitive and I quickly lost interest. Although I admire Ness for getting creative (kind of) with his Moby Dick reversal where whales hunt the men, there’s nothing else about this that stood out to me. Well, there was the ending and that WEIRD AF reveal (I’m still ?????? about that part) but that was largely because it was the most exciting thing to happen in the whole story. Even the emotions I felt were more because I was sad at the thought of a whale dying in general, but not because it was any of these particular whales or the way Ness had written a death.
I can’t think of anyone I’d recommend this to...maybe if you’re a diehard Moby Dick fan? Or just want a book with...a whale? And lots of talking about whales? Okay, yeah, I really don’t know who this book is suited for.
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deborahee | 25 other reviews | Feb 23, 2024 |

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Statistics

Works
41
Also by
5
Members
24,871
Popularity
#845
Rating
4.1
Reviews
1,524
ISBNs
607
Languages
23
Favorited
39

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