Chaos Walking
Chaos Walking Series (The Knife of Never Letting Go; The Ask and the Answer; Of Monster and Men)
By: Patrick Ness
I read these books back in 2016, but the first movie (I’m assuming they’ll make more…?) just came out so I’m revamping my review since my original review on Goodreads was only a couple sentences! (Movie comparison at the end.)
The premise: Todd is the youngest male in an all-male village, Prentisstown, where everyone can hear everyone’s thoughts (pretty interesting plot point). But something is amiss. Where are all the women? When he is nearing his coming of age ritual, becoming more and more cognizant of something awry, his guardians help him escape. This triggers an aggressive game of cat and mouse. When he stumbles across a girl, Viola, and she has no discernible thoughts, Todd is off on an intense, heart-wrenching, journey of escape and discovery- both the existential and exploratory kinds.
This series is one where you become very invested in the story. It’s one I hated and I loved. My memory of specifics in each book is foggy, but I remember being somewhat relieved when it was over because I would get anxiety from my readings. The constant intensity is a bit exhausting. I suppose that kind of emotional investment is a marker of good writing.
The writing style of the book is very unique. At times there are words smattered on the pages in all size of fonts, overlapping each other creating a mess but delivering a message. It captures the chaos of audible thoughts, the struggle of trying to hide what you’re thinking- whether for vanity or safety-and the immaturity of the main character, Todd. His voice is childish, wandering, wondering, and transparent. Which makes the things he goes through that much more gripping, authentic, and suspenseful. (Disclaimer: including some swearing, not my preference, but feels less offensive in this series than other books for some reason)
This is not a pretty story all tied together with a bow. I mean, if Patrick Ness is willing to kill off Todd’s dog (his best friend) in the very first book then there are no lengths he will not go. I’ve read plenty of books where the main character is matched against his opponent and they go back and forth until someone finally ‘wins.’ But typically you have a sense of ‘they’re no match for our hero!’ and your overall demeanor is one of anticipation, triumph, and vindication. You won’t find that here.
This is a story where Todd seems far out-matched. Every time hope crests, it comes crashing down again. The bad guys are dark and evil and you wonder how he will ever survive. How can good ever triumph here? IsTodd, the picture of innocence, corruptible?
You’ll have to read it for yourself to find out if Ness offers enough hope at the end to be satisfactory.
Besides an emotionally hijacking suspense story, this book also offers conversation on race, sex (gender), humanity, manipulation, and colonization in a futuristic but yet archaic setting. I feel this series is like nothing you’ve ever read before, but only you can determine if you’re up for it.
As to the movie:
It was quite different. The credits said Patrick Ness helped write the screenplay but I’m wondering why he diverged from the storyline so much. For example, Viola’s ship with the next wave of colonists doesn’t come into play until the end of the series, but the movie is portraying it docking before anything remotely similar to book two happens.
I don’t want to give too many spoilers so I won’t discuss all the differences in the plot. It took forever for them to finally release the movie and with all the production struggles, I’m wondering if they will even be able to manage a sequel of any kind. If no follow-up comes to fruition, it makes this first movie a lot worse because of the things left out and the way it ended.
My husband never read the books, but he thought the movie was pretty good. So there’s that… Books are usually better than the movies anyway, but if you’re debating between reading the books or watching the movies, you might have to do both (read first) because the movie will take you on a different journey.