Ness specializes in writing post-apocalyptic worlds where things are rarely as they seem. The author’s newest novel is riveting, edge-of-your-reading-seat stuff from beginning to end.Īrtsy, creepy, and full of psychological suspense. It is a gorgeous story with masterful pacing and unforgettable passages.Īt times, More Than This is like a literary experiment that only by the grace and dedication of its creator resulted in a novel proper, but in the hands of a poised, perfectionist prose-smith like Patrick Ness, it’s rarely less than life-affirming. Ness is not only a good storyteller but an interesting prose stylist, and his latest effort is as provocative as ever.īooks are often described as ‘mind-blowing,’ but this is one of the few books in which, while reading it, I have exclaimed aloud, ‘Oh.

It is a fast-paced journey that even reluctant readers will pursue. Ness captures the mind of a teenager perfectly. Ness leads readers on an adventure into a world that astounds and amazes. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books The thematic explorations of the nature of reality and the afterlife offer some heady discussion fodder, while the nail-biting tension and high-stakes action sequences make this an easy sell to the legions of dystopia fans as well. Ness subverts familiar sci-fi/survival tropes and storytelling conventions, leaving readers with an ambiguous ending. This complex, genrebending book opens with Seth’s violent drowning death at sea, described in such spare but devastating detail that readers may feel themselves gasping for a breath as Seth draws his last. Ness has crafted something stark and uncompromising. Ness’ knack for cliff-hangers, honed in the Chaos Walking series, remains strong, while the spare, gradual, anytime, anyplace quality of the story recalls A Monster Calls. It is a very compelling, multidimensional story.

In characteristic style, the author of the Chaos Walking trilogy delves into the stuff of nightmares for an existential exploration of the human psyche.Ĭompulsively readable. Ness brilliantly plays with contrasts: life and death, privacy and exposure, guilt and innocence. A delicate balance between dystopian survival and philosophical grappling means that many different kinds of readers should appreciate the story. This haunting and consistently surprising novel raises deep questions about what it means to be alive, but it doesn’t try to console readers with easy or pat answers.

More than this book patrick ness