Yup! More dystopian novels being read by yours truly~ I can't help it. It's one of my favorite genres and I've been meaning to read more of them as of late. So when I heard about The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness and how amazing the premise was, I just had to go to my library and read it for myself. However, I am a little disappointed with what's happening within the novel. It's not as epic as I thought it was going to be. The story, dude, is great. I am really into the history of New World and its inhabitants. The plot is not the problem. Neither is the writing, although I do have my complaints about that (more on that later). My main problem are the characters.
Whenever I read a book, I must have my characters being amazing otherwise, I won't enjoy the story no matter how good the plot is. Todd, the male lead, started off as really immature and just plain stupid. A lot of the problems that he encounters happen because of the foolish decisions he makes. There are times when he overreacted to a situation. Like that battle between him and a Spackle, an alien species that are natives in New World, which he had no reason to go apeshit on the poor creature. I'll admit, I'm towards the end of the book right now and he has shown improvement. He's grown, but he did so many stupid things throughout the book that I can't seem to bring myself to like him at all. He's the blame for something really bad that happens... I won't say for spoiler's sake... but know that I am pretty pissed off at him for it. *Twitch*
Another character that got on my nerves: Viola. She starts off not saying a word to anyone. I thought she was a mute which I found to be intriguing. She was mysterious and cool, I thought. Then we got to know her... and my God, did I want to slap her! She was pathetic. Okay, I know she's in a new place and she's scared out of her mind. But when your life is in danger and there are people chasing after you to kill you, you don't just sit around, rocking back and forth, waiting for them to come chop your head off! A lot of the time both Todd, Manchee (more on him in a bit), and Viola nearly died because of how stupid she was acting. However, unlike Todd, she really shows character development. I really hated her at the beginning but now, that I'm almost done reading the book, I can actually say I like her. She made the decision to buckle down, keep her head held high, and try to survive this hell she was tossed in. She's surprising me with how brave she truly is. She's the perfect example of a character that, even if they are scared out of their mind, if they try hard enough, they can face any danger. Plus, she's was awesome when it came to Manchee.
Manchee is my favorite character in the entire book. He's Todd's loyal dog, a dog that comes through for him time and time again. My God! I cannot even begin to tell you how many times he's saved Todd's ass. He is such a good dog. I love him to bits. Words cannot express how truly wonderful he is. Plus, he's an endless amount of entertain throughout the entire book. His simple vocabulary and his honest feelings being expressed throughout the novel shows his genuine love for Todd. I'm really taken with him and it was for him that I was able to continue reading the book. Because, even though I love the story and the mystery hiding behind the villagers of Prentisstown, I couldn't really stand the main characters. It's a good thing they are getting slightly more bearable, though!
Patrick Ness's writing style is... unique. He purposefully write grammatically incorrect to show Todd's lack of education. Now, I'll admit... it's a bit hard to get used to at first. I'm still not quite used to it yet but... I'm able to handle it. What I don't like about his writing style is the need to keep going without pause. He's a genius when it comes to run-on sentences. I know this is what he was aiming for but... I'm not a fan of it. I'm just not. I can handle not using proper grammar and his need to repeat things three times to shown emphasis but when it comes to going on and on and on about something without the use of periods... it irritates me... quite a bit. Just my opinion, of course. Even though I'm not too big on his writing style, I love his ability to tell a story. Such a fantastic story as well! It's well-thought out and it keeps you in suspense. I will say this though... the story seems to drag out slightly. Most of what the characters do in the later half of the book is running away from the army. It is exciting but at the same time... you feel like, "Uh... didn't I read this already?" I love the story but it could have been cut shorter to save from being redundant.
All-in-all, it's a good book. A decent read. I wouldn't say it was the greatest but it's doable. I was expecting a lot more so I am disappointed... especially since it's such an amazing story! *Shrugs* I don't know. You should pick it up and judge for yourselves. It's definitely not a horrible book but I've seen better. Anyway, that's all for now. For a more detailed review, don't forget to read my GoodReads! I will talk more about the problems I've had with the book once it is finished.
Just a quick reminder that the main purpose of this blog is to mark what I am currently reading and what I think about it so far. All proper reviews are done in GoodReads so if you really want to see what I thought about the whole book after I finish reading it, then go there! As for the rest of this series... still not sure if I'm going to read it. It's good... but... considering what happens in the book and how the content hits home for me... I'm thinking I might just skip the rest of the series.
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