Book Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go

The Knife of Never Letting Go: Chaos Walking #1

by Patrick Ness

Summary

Part One
Todd Hewitt, the youngest individual living in the town of Prentisstown in the New World. There are no women, only men and boys. With a calendar year of 13 months, Todd is one month away from becoming a man when he turns 13 years old. 

Twenty two years prior, a war occurred between the Spackles and the rest of the world. Better known as the Spacks, individuals who lived in the swamp area outside of what used to be a flourishing town, released a virus known as the noise germ. The germ killed half the men and all of the women, driving the rest of the men mad and soon to kill all of the Spacks with guns. The Spacks’ buildings still lined the swamp where their bodies were laid to rest, poisoning the swamp with their rot and decay. 

Todd’s Pa died of the sickness and his Ma soon after, leaving Cillian Boyd and Benison Moore, Ben, to take care of Todd. Ben believes Todd‘s Ma to be one of the last women left on the world.  Todd is fond of Ben, but not so much of Cillian due to his harshness. Todd never met his parents, but Ben was convinced to go to the New World by Ma. They had all known each other for quite some time, leaving Todd to Ben when his parents died out of previous world relationships. Manchee, Todd‘s unwanted dog gifted to him by Cillian, is introduced on page one as a small minded talking mammal. Due to the virus that was spread during the war, members of the town can hear each other‘s thoughts, referred to as the Noise. 

As the years went by after the war, schools became sparse and gentlemen’s work became the priority. With one school left, led by Mr. Royal, it was eventually shut down in learning from books became even more sparse. For a while, boys watched videos, learning about women, animals that are long gone, and the world as it used to be. The mayor decided to burn all of the books that remained in the town, and any individual that was caught learning to read or write received punishment. After Ben was punished once, Todd never learned how to read or write again. The lack of education is shown throughout the book with Todd’s specific dialect, diction, and spelling, leaving the reader to believe they are in some sort of southern area. 

With a population of 147, one building for each specific use, and a depleting food source, the town is left to think horrible thoughts. Thoughts that others can hear. The preacher, Aaron, says that God can hear them and repeats the idea that if one falls, they all fall, meaning that the group needs to stick together no matter what. 

Todd and his adopted family are one of the three meat and war providers for the town and or a key asset to all the members. Been asked Todd to go get apples near the swamp one day, Todd obliging because of their good relationship. With Manchee in tow, the two head to the swamp and scour for apples. Manchee sees something strange in the Spacks’ decaying buildings and alerts Todd. With no silence in town, ever, the two are overcome with a quiet ambience, like a rip in the Noise. When Manchee goes after the silence, a “figure” moves, leaving the silence away too. When Todd gets home, he “shows” Ben his Noise, and Ben is aware of the danger, telling Todd that he needs to get to safety. 

Part Two
Ben and Cillian had a rucksack prepared, knowing something like this could happen. The rucksack had clothes, food for a few days, and a journal written by Todd’s ma. Ben sends him on his way before returning to the farm to help Cillian keep the intruders, who heard his Noise, out. Todd runs into Aaron, the abusive preacher, in the swamps, but he is soon taken away by crocs. Todd and Manchee chase down a Spackle to find out it is a girl. Aaron surprisingly survives, calling the girl a “sign”, then taking after her to bind her hands and use her to what Todd thinks as a sacrifice of the church. Aaron is killed and they get away. 

The girl sends Todd and Manchee on a wild goose chase as they follow her around the swamp. Todd finds her aircraft and two bodies who he presumes to be her ma and pa, dead and burned. The girl climbs into the mess of metal, pulling out her own rucksack as if she was waiting to leave. The inside of her rucksack contained technology Todd had yet to come in contact with and was disappointed he couldn’t explore her ship more. 

The three head off, following the map Ben made, and hours pass before they need to rest. Aaron and the Mayor come after them on horseback, with Aaron showing some form of sixth sense in locating people. Besides speaking one word, Todd soon finds out that the girl can hear his Noise even though he can’t hear hers. She fears him and his thoughts, running away when he thinks she could die from the germ. Aaron and the others get closer and the three keep running until they hit a bridge. The girl blows the bridge up and introduces herself as Viola. 

Part Three
After the burning of the bridge and the separation between the mayor and his boys, the three of them continue onto the new settlement that is just past the mountain range. Viola explains how her family and her crashed and Todd explains the history of the New World. Viola lets Todd know that she can read and tells him that his ma’s journal told him to warn the settlement.

Next thing they know, they are face to face with an older woman, Mathilde (Hildy) who is pointing a gun at them. Like Viola, she has no Noise, and she invites them back to her farm where they meet her husband, Tam, and his Noise. Todd finds out from the two that there is no cure and the women are immune, leaving Prentisstown a more sour place than before. 

Tam and Hildy have a metal home shaped like a swan, an animal of the past, because of Hildy’s engineering skills. Viola is a new settler and was out on a scouting trip away from her home ship, Expansion Class Seven. This is the group that Todd is to warn, thousands of settlers waiting to come from space to the New World. 

Todd learns space travel is not what it used to be and that it takes 64 years to get from the Old to the New World. Everyone is in hypersleep during the transportation, but Viola was born on board and never was in sleep. Viola’s parents were caretakers and watched over the others on board. The Old World became too violent and crowded so the new settlers began their journey. The original settlers have been on the New World for 22 years, and Viola’s group left over 60 years ago to a planet they knew nothing about. 

Farbranch is Todd’s destination where a road once hooked the two cities together, when Prentisstown was called New Elizabeth. Farbranch isn’t far from Hildy’s farm and Todd is surprised to see men and women. There are other surrounding settlements that Farbranch trades with, and Haven is miles off in the distance, the biggest and first settlement. Hildy has a sort of authority in town and her sister, Francia, is the Deputy Mayor. They are allowed to stay for the time being and Viola alerts them that her ship won’t arrive for another seven months. Todd still has no clue of the history of his town or this world. 

The town is run by women and the men’s Noise is more controlled and at ease because of the women’s silence, or lack of Noise. Matthew Lyle, the man who had issues with Todd upon entering town, comes after him in a barn after explaining that his mom was Jessica. The town members had a meeting, but it was quick to be put on hold when the men of Prentisstown attacked. The town agreed to help Todd and Viola, and the now hurt Manchee. 

Todd and Viola pack their bags and head for Haven, a couple weeks worth of walking distance. As they leave, they see Farbranch being taken over by all the men of Prentisstown on horseback with guns. 

Part Four
The town is overtaken and the three realize they cannot go into any more towns or it could potentially cause its demise as well. 

Viola finally gets permission to read the map and finds out that Prentisstown has been preparing to invade the other settlements once everyone reached manhood. They are picked up by a man who drives a cart and are transported across the plains. He mentions an army and Viola insists he must warn his town, Brockley Falls. 

The mayor’s son finds them hidden on a path and they get into a fight. Viola saves Todd with the machinery needed to contact her ship. Viola comes to the conclusion that they only want Todd to harness his good intentions and turn him into an evil man like the majority of the town. If they can do it to Todd, make him a killer, then they can do it to anyone. 

The rainy trek continues and they stumble upon a Spackle’s campsite, realizing the Spackle has pictures as Noise instead of words. Viola tries to stop Todd from stabbing him but it doesn’t work. The Spackle was terrified, weak, and had no intention of killing either of them. Aaron resurfaces and knocks the two unconscious. 

Part Five
Todd is stabbed by Aaron, only surviving because the brunt of it went through the journal. He manages to cover his wounds and make his way to save Viola. His wounds overtake him along with the hunger and pain until he eventually falls down the side of a hill and thinks he will die. Wilf, the cart driver, carries him out. Todd continues on the cart with Wilf and his wife as they tend to his wounds. 

 Becoming more and more delirious, Manchee leads the way more than Todd. The two come upon a burned down settlement and see Aaron and Viola a ways away. Todd is speaking with Manchee and a hallucination of himself. Despite the hallucinations bringing him down, Todd comes up with a plan to save Viola. The plan works at first before going sour. Aaron gets ahold of Manchee and kills him as the two head down stream on boat. 

Part Six
Todd wakes up five days, after passing out on the boat, in the town of Carbonel Downs thanks to Dr. Snow. 

Dr. Snow’s town is run by men and the women are to tend to the men and procreate. Todd is to speak with the elder men since Viola’s word is not taken seriously. As they head to the elders, Todd heard the song Ben always sang to him and takes off running to the river. Ben shows his Noise to Todd that Cillian passed. The two exchange commentary, Ben telling Todd he must get to Haven to be safe but he cannot join. Anyone from Prentisstown is unwelcome in the other settlements. The doctor and his men decide to let the two live, but will need to kill Ben because of the law that everyone keeps speaking of. The two get free and save Ben from the inevitable death while the men go to fight the oncoming army. 

After days of running, Ben tells Todd that the Noise germ wasn’t Spackle warfare and that it was already in the air when they landed. The only ones the germ affected were the men. Soon, when crops died and sickness spread, the settlers of Prentisstown blamed the Spacks, killing almost all of them. The mend soon hated the fact that the women knew everything about them and they knew nothing about the women’s thoughts, killing them off just like they did the Spackle. The men of the town were considered criminals elsewhere even if they didn’t murder any of the women. Men tried to leave, but few made it out. Ben and Cillian chose not to fight so they could keep Todd alive, the promise they made to his ma. 

The mayor of Prentisstown wants to take over the New World and needed every innocent boy to comply with his wants and the idea of him being God. The mayor’s sinus soon on their trail, leaving Ben to once again say goodbye to Todd, this time being the final time. Ben cannot go anywhere outside of his settlement because of the history behind it. It been is considered a criminal and he too considers himself a criminal for not fighting back and trying to save the women. The only thing Ben wants is to see his son be free and become the man he knows he will become. 

Without the sound of gunshots, we can assume that been succeeded in holding the mayor’s son back so that they could make it to Haven. 

Viola reads ma’s journal to Todd. Ma explains early life on the settlement, but not too much in detail. Todd figures out that he doesn’t need to hear Viola to know how she really feels. 

The two follow a waterfall and come upon Haven in the distance. Even farther behind is the army, but Aaron is approaching faster by boat, even more torn apart than before. The two hide in a cavern behind the waterfall, what was once an old church, thinking they outsmarted Aaron. Still not knowing what he really wants, he finds the path and gets closer to them all while yelling Todd’s name over and over again. 

Todd figures out that he and Viola are not the sacrifices, Aaron is. For a boy to become a man he must be complicit in the crimes of Prentisstown, something Aaron has been waiting thirteen years for. Todd is supposed to kill Aaron to become a man. “One man’s life was given over to a boy to end” and each new man has killed another man. Instead of Todd murdering Aaron, Viola stabs him in the neck, breaking the cycle of boys becoming men, and he tumbled over the falls. 


Weak and soaking wet, they leave the falls and go towards Haven when Viola is shot by the mayor’s son who was hiding on the hillside. Todd is able to send him away on his horse, and he rushes Viola into Haven screaming for help that doesn’t come. Instead, the mayor approaches them and Todd learns that he had been trapped. With Viola bleeding out in his arms, the mayor formally introduces himself as the president. 

Book Trailer

Two student made videos caught my attention.

Per his website, he has quite a few videos of him reading and discussing his books. I find this to be a great addition to the website and allows people to see who he really is behind the pencil.

Themes

Manipulation, Coming of Age, Rules and Order, Language, Communication, Choice, Gender Roles, Individual versus Society, and Guilt.

Similar Themed Books

Blood Red Road by Moira Young, Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, and Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith. Unfortunately, I have not had the privilege of reading any of the above books, but they were listed as the top three most similar books on www.GoodReads.com, a website I have learned to trust with my previous reads.

Other Books by Patrick Ness

Ness has written eight other books, two of which add to The Knife of Never Letting Go trilogy first published in 2008, and is currently working on his newest edition, Monsters of Men: 10 Years of Chaos and Walking.

Teaching Ideas

The book leaves off on a cliffhanger. Yes, there are two other books in the series, but have students choose one of the two writing prompts.

How would you like the book to be continued in the next of the series?
OR
How would you have made it a full closure ending with no need for a series?