The Knife of Never Letting Go

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Published January 1st 2008
479 pages
Genre: Young Adult Dystopia, Fantasy 
Stars: 5/5

Description via Goodreads: 

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee - whose thoughts Todd can hear, too, whether he wants to or not - stumble upon an area of complete silence.

 They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden - a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives. 

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

My thoughts:

The Knife of Never Letting Go is a really fantastic and gripping story. It's not often that the first line manages to pull me in completely but this is what happened with this book. I did love how the interesting information was held just out of our reach for most of the book- it was frustrating because I wanted to know but it also added a wonderful layer of suspense to the whole story.

Todd is a wonderful character. His narration fits perfectly with the world he is living in. A lot of the time his thoughts are really jumbled up and run into each other, like he's trying to catch them, which makes sense as he has grown up having to listen to the thoughts of 100+ men every hour of every day, which is bound to confuse your brain. His actions and thoughts felt real and believable; he was torn between doing the right thing and doing what he had to do to survive. His sheltered upbringing definitely seeps through when he's trying to make these decisions.

I liked Viola a lot. I liked that she was so withdrawn and quiet at the start because it made sense, given what she's been through. I did think she warmed up to Todd at little too fast in the end (going from not speaking to full paragraphs of speech) but I can also see why she would. I liked Viola's story and I loved that she was such an independent person and that Todd saw this and recognized this.

Animals in books usually annoy me but Manchee was just lovely!

The book certainly wasn't perfect... there were patches where it dragged; page after page of Viola and Todd just walking... but it always picked up pace and by the end I was totally captivated. It ended on a huge cliffhanger and I'm so glad I have the second book to dive into right away.