The Knife of Never Letting Go

 By Patrick Ness

Chaos Walking Book 1

Young Adult Fiction

Reviewed by Mikaela-Winkler Summer Reading Programmer

    If you came looking for quintessential YA coming-of-age, The Knife of Never Letting Go does not disappoint in the slightest.  Todd, a boy on the cusp of manhood, lives in Prentisstown, a place where everyone can hear everyone's innermost thoughts.  The germ that cause the Noise killed off all of the women.  Todd has been raised by Ben and Cillian and is the youngest boy in the town, the last one to become a man by the Mayor's standards.  The Mayor, with his iron fist, and his right-hand man Aaron, a fire and brimstone preacher, ensure that the men left in Pretisstown remain miserable and fearful of their Noise being invaded.

    One day, Todd and his dog Manchee are walking along throughout the Noise filled countryside when they encounter something they have never experienced-silence.  There is also  a girl, the first girl he's ever seen, and she's both alive and void of all the Noise.  This girl inadvertently sets herself, Todd and Manchee far away from Pretisstown, and toward settlements which Todd didn't even know existed, full of men and, notably, women.

    The Knife of Never Letting Go is a thrilling coming-of-age sci-fi novel on the surface, with its otherworldly elements, but it also delivers on the further commentary Ness has to offer on the concept of manhood and the role oppressive belief systems have in masculinity.  Todd's journey to manhood takes him along a path in which he questions everything he's ever been taught-one where he eventually has to define manhood on his own terms, not by his town's standards.  This book, despite being in the Young Adult section, is a valuable read for both teens and adults, regardless of gender.  The themes of religion, masculinity, and gender equality ring true for today's sociopolitical climate and offer a warning: that what we teach our youth to be acceptable and what groups dictate the morals of society, can have deadly consequences.

5/5 stars

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