The Knife of Never Letting Go
The first two chapters were brutal to get through. I had picked up this book and put it down on several occasions before I actually read it. It did get much better after that. Having read 'The Gunslinger' by Stephen ruined this book for me. It has almost the same premise and flow. There were a lot of unnecessary sentences and repeating of same sentences but just worded differently. I had to keep reminding myself that this is a YA novel, not Stephen King.
The plot is somewhat unique and drives the story forward. It keeps your interest. I would have like the story a lot more if it was not for the ending. I was expecting to be left with the feeling of 'WTF' but in only left with a 'seriously, that's the ending' feeling.
The story follows this boy Todd Hewitt who grew up in Prentisstown, a town filled with only men. Apparently the only town in the New World. He is the last boy and all the women have died due to this thing called 'The Noise' where all men can hear each others thoughts. Todd is an a**hole and he's the biggest a**hole to his dog Manchee. Before Todd turns into 'a man', the two men who raised him after his mother died send Todd off out of the town with a book his mother wrote him. He now realizes that they are not the only town in the world. Everything that he has known growing up is a lie and he has to get to this town called Haven to warn them of the Prentisstown, though he does not know of what. He finds a crashed spaceship with an actual girl still alive that has traveled from the Old World. He realizes that he cannot hear her 'Noise'. The two set off to Haven together with a crazed minister Aaron and an army of men from Prentisstown chasing them.
The girl, Viola, is my favorite character. I wanted her to punch Todd most of the time for being a whiny brat. Maybe we were supposed to hate him?
I am not sure if I will continue reading the rest of the series. I would suggest that have not read The Gunslinger series by Stephen King or this book and you wished to read them both, read this one first.
