Book Loving Kiwis discussion

Use this folder to discuss The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.
Replacing The Curtain Twitcher's Handbook.

My copy of this arrived in the post this morning. I am almost finished The Princess Bride, so this will be my next book to read.

I'm really enjoying this book. The whole concept behind it is quite asbsurd, but it works! I adore Manchee the dog. I wonder what my dogs would say if I could hear them speak and think. Is anyone else planning to read it?

I think this book is up there with The Hunger Games trilogy. This is the first book in the Chaos Walking trilogy. I thought that both Todd and Viola were great characters, and I look forward to reading the other two books. If you are undecided as to whether to read this book, I say go for it!

The whole trilogy is on my birthday list - only 2 weeks to go. The Amazon reviews are fantastic. I like the look of this one by the same author too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Monster-Calls...

Got it! Unfortunately nobody has given me the time to read it. That's what I'll ask for for Christmas - more time. When I've read it, I'll put some comments in this folder.

Happy Birthday Jo. I hope you find the time to read it soon. Let me know what the rest of the trilogy is like too. I've only read this one.

Jo wrote: "Got it! Unfortunately nobody has given me the time to read it. That's what I'll ask for for Christmas - more time. When I've read it, I'll put some comments in this folder."

Hey Jo, If you get some time for Christmas - can I have some???
I've got NONE.

Crap, isn't it, Colleen? I keep looking at my new books with longing.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, Angie!

I'm about three quarters of the way through The Knife of Never Letting Go.

The whole idea of it is fascinating - a 'new world' populated by escapees from Earth who seem to have gone back to the old days, shunning modern technology. As such, they live very much like settlers did in the new worlds of America or Australia, or here, but on a different planet which is very much like Earth. So what's the difference? Just the odd thing to start with - talk of a war long ago, where the settlers wiped out the 'Spackles' (aliens). And, more strangely, mention of a virus that wiped out all women and made it possible to hear every man's thoughts (and animals too) and impossible to hide your own.

Todd, the protagonist, is about to become 'a man' at thirteen, but, for some reason, this will set in motion a huge event in the settler's lives. And it doesn't sound like a good event. The two men who raised Todd warn him that he must leave the community before it's too late, and so he sets off, chased by the community leaders (who can hear his thoughts), with only an annoying dog (which he never wanted), a map, and the diary of his dead mother (which he can't read).

I won't say anymore about the plot - the above is only what happens in the first chapter!

The voice of Todd is wonderful, and the dog turns out to be wonderful too - a major character - and you can't help but fall in love with him. The writing is effortless to read, and really grabs you. You follow Todd through many many dangers as he travels and you come to really care for the boy and his dog.

As an illustration of that, I took the book to my son's guitar practise on Saturday - a mistake. I ended up reading the most heart-wrenching chapter, and sat there gulping down the lump in my throat and holding back the tears without anyone noticing. (You'll know which chapter, Angie!)

The best book (and the first book!) I've read in 2012!

More to come...

Angie - once I've read the second and third books I'll post them down to you.

Oh yes, I know which chapter you're referring to. It upset me so much too. And thanks for offering to send the rest of the series down to me once you've read them. I'd love that. My copy of The Knife is with the librarians at the school I teach at. They are reading it to work out whether it is appropriate for a primary school library. I'm not sure it is. We have The Hunger Games series but I think there are a couple of issues in The Knife that are inappropriate for younger children. Especially if our ten/eleven year-olds pick it up.

I know what you mean about The Knife. It goes a lot deeper than something like the Hunger Games. I think the very sad thing that happened definitely goes against the grain for younger teens. After reading that, I actually flicked all the way through to the end of the book to see if he reappeared. I thought: "Surely, he will. He's a major character. Surely he's not..." But he didn't and that really surprised me.

I wish these books had been around when I was a teenager. We had some really boring ones at our school and they seemed to pick the most boring ones of all for our class reads.

This IS Manchee!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSi...

Jo wrote: "This IS Manchee!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSi..."

How funny! Love it!

Just realised that I haven't visited Goodreads for ages! I've almost finished the 3rd book in the Chaos Walking Trilogy - 'Monsters of Men'. As with most series, the first one - 'The Knife...' was bloody excellent. The second was good. The third is... not so good.

The third seems to be a lot more effort to read than the last two, and it's a hefty book too, just about all of it documenting a three-way war in far too much detail. Todd and Viola are mostly separated and rarely see each other - a shame when they are so good together. The baddy almost turns good, and then turns bad again.

There are still elements I love here. Manchee the dog has been replaced by Angharrad the horse, who is very simple and touching in her thoughts. The world itself is really well drawn and believable, and Todd is still very loveable. But the story itself seems to be stagnating. Unless something utterly amazing happens in the last 100 pages, I'll be left disappointed with the way this trilogy ends.

(Angie, let me know if you still want the last two books posting to you and I'll send them down when I've done)

Welcome back, Jo. We missed you! I'm glad you've had the chance to do some reading. I'll check if my library has those books. If not, I'll be in touch about getting you to send them down. Thanks! What's next on your to-read list?

Things have changed. There are so many new people in your group. It's fantastic!

Next up is our very own Paddy Richardson's book The Company Of A Daughter set in my favourite place - the hokianga. After that I've got In Defence of Dogs or The Night Circus
Hurray for reading!

Things certainly have changed. Quite exciting really!

Hi Jo,

I was speaking to the school librarian yesterday and she has ordered the entire Chaos Walking Trilogy for the library. I'm first on the list to read them! Thanks for your offer.
How are things going with your book, by the way?

I'll be interested to see what you think about how the trilogy pans out. I just missed Manchee too much. He was such a great character.

As for my book news, there is none. If you play by the rules, you can only submit your book to one UK agent at a time, and they can take up to two months to reject it. It's an astonishingly slow process. My book's been with the same agent for seven weeks now and still nothing... yawn :-o

Hope school's going well. Not long until your Easter reading break!