More from Patrick Ness please!

More than this by Patrick Ness

Rating: 4 out of 5 hearts
472 pages
Released: September 2013
Buy it @ book depository

A boy named Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America. But the neighborhood around his old house is overgrown, covered in dust, and completely abandoned. What’s going on? And why is it that whenever he closes his eyes, he falls prey to vivid, agonizing memories that seem more real than the world around him? Seth begins a search for answers, hoping that he might not be alone, that this might not be the hell he fears it to be, that there might be more than just this. . . 

Review

Patrick Ness has done it again! This book is like "A Monster Calls", it's hard to truly explain how you feel when you finish it. Anyone who reads this will get a different meaning or take something away from this. 

For me, what I take away from this is that we as humans live such short lives and we should try to make the most of what we have now. There is always more out there and never feel like 'is this all my life is going to be?'. If your life isn't what you want it to be, then go out there and do what you want and make it how you want it to be.

Seth was a refreshing character, I didn't particuarly like or hate him, but I can understand him. He was realistic and I liked that. I really loved Tomasz, always saving the day and giving us some comic relief in a world where there's nothing much except confusion and fear.

As with Ness' other books that I've read, there are always so many questions needing to be answered and lots of twists along the way too. This book is no different. There was action, suspense and mystery. I want MORE Patrick Ness please!

The next part of my review is a bit of a spoiler so read at your risk if you haven't read the book. Ness really made me think: How would I feel if all my life until now had ony been a sort of dream, not real and that I was living a life that meant nothing? If this isn't real then I would be happy with the descisions I've made. But, I don't think I'd like to live two different lives. I'm happy with the one I have now, I can see how for some people this would be a blessing to have a chance to live life a different way.

 

On the cover 

Something I have to mention about this cover is the feel. When holding this book in your hand and rubbing the cover it has a weird almost soft feel to it. Pick the hard cover up and have a feel. I love this cover! So simple but it draws my eye straight away. It's telling me could there be more than this? Open up this book to find out.

What I'm listening to next: How I Live Now Meg Rosoff

 

13 Favourite Books of 2013

Last year was a great year of books for me. I read lots of fantastic books and It was really hard to try to choose only thirteen. Last year I did a post which had my 12 favourite books but being as though it was 2013, this time I've chosen thirteen favourites. I've cheated a little bit and picked a series as being one book on two occasions, well they were all favourites!

Here is my list of books from last year and reviews listing them from 13 through to 1.

Number 13

The Knife of Never Letting Go & The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

Number 12

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Number 11

Girl Defective by Simmone Howell

Number 10

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Number 9

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Number 8

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Number 7

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Number 6

The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do

Number 5

The Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta

Number 4

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Number 3

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Number 2

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

Number 1

The Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

What were your favourite books from last year?

An author I'm never letting go of

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness

Rating: 4 out of 5 hearts

478 pages

Released: May 2008

Buy it @ book depository

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

Check out this book trailer - it's amazing!

Review

"The Noise is a man unfiltered, and without a filter, a man is just chaos walking.” 

I read and reviewed "A Monster Calls" which was also written by Patrick Ness and it was AMAZING! It was too hard to express it's awesomeness, this book is also pretty amazing. Ness has an incredible talent to writing a story.

The writing style was hard to get used to, but it didn't take long for me to fall deep into the story. It's difficult to get used to because there's deliberate grammar mistakes to give the reader the sense that the characters aren't well read or very clever. I feel that listening to this on Audio helped with getting used to the writing mainly because I didn't have to read the mistakes.

I loved the idea of the "Noise". Of being able to hear everyone's thoughts, even animals. It's so unique and I think Ness did a fantastic job of writing it in a way that was believable.

Todd and manchee are a perfect team. Then they meet up with Viola and the twosome becomes a threesome. Manchee reminded me of Dug, the dog from Up (the disney-pixar movie), mainly because he's a talking dog and because at one point in the story he spots a squirrel and yells "SQUIRREL" just like Dug in Up. Todd and Viola are two young kids I want to wrap up in my arms and keep them away from the bad men. But I wouldn't need to do that because they have so much strength and take care of themselves, It made you want to root for them.

This is a very long winded epic story about two kids and their dog who are walking, and at times running, away from the bad guys. But there's so much more in this book to enjoy. There's mystery, friendship, love and heartbreak. There are many twists and turns with lots getting revealed along the way, some things I had guessed but most was very eye-opening.

In a way this reminded me of World War two. There's an evil dictator who determines a certain group of people are bad and influences the rest of the people to take them to war. Even when the certain group have done nothing wrong. 

The book ended with a bit of a cliff hanger but not big enough for me to rip my hair out. I really look forward to reading the next book in the series.

On the cover

I don't particuarly like this cover but it's perfect for this book. The noise, the knife and the trees in the background. There is another cover I have seen which has the same red knife but the background is white, I prefer that cover.

What I'm listening to next: Ashes by Ilsa Bick

12 Favourite books of 2012

I love reading about which books have captivated people, scared them out of their pants, made them laugh, made them cry or or even feel a bit swoony. Something that I know everyone loves doing is recommending a really great book or even bagging out a book they hated. I also love all these things and what a perfect way to showcase all of that is by sharing with you twelve of my favourite books for 2012. (I thought that it would be nifty to pick 12 as that's also the year's number) I plan on showcasing some books from 2012 that I didn't enjoy all that much in another post later on.

I know I'm really late in posting this but who cares! I'm going to list them from 12 to 1 so you have to scroll down to see my ultimate favourite. Although I have to mention I've cheated a little bit with the amount of books you will see because I have mentioned series, so technically there's more than twelve but oh well!

Number 12

Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Number 11

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Number 10

Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

Number 9

Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin

Number 8

Juliet by Anne Fortier

Number 7

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Number 6

Purity in Death by J.D Robb & others in the 'In Death' series

Number 5

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Number 4 

Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy

Number 3

Then by Morris Gleitzman

Number 2 

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Number 1

The Hunger Games & Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

If you click on the title it will take you to my book review.

Did you have any favourite books from 2012? I'd love to know what you loved

 

Stories are wild creatures

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
215 pages
Buy it @ book depository

The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.

But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming...

This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It wants the truth.

Review: What can I say that probably hasn't already been said about this. It's so sad at times but also funny, Patrick Ness weaves such a beautiful story and the illustrations compliment it so well. I wasn't sure what to expect when a friend first showed me the book trailer. I just remembering feeling that this was going to be something truly special and it was.

Conor gets visited by an ancient monster at seven minutes past midnight, and the monster isn't who he was expecting. Conor isn't scared of this monster, he has seen worse in his nightmares. This monster wants to know the truth but first he has some tales to tell before Conor must tell the fourth.

As the story unfolds it felt very obvious to me what was happening but what we find out at the end is kind of unexpected but not in a way you think. This book is so hard to explain because nothing is really as it seems.

It honors stories and how they make the reader feel. I urge people to please read this! The only way you are going to truly know what I mean is by reading it. I've recommended this to so many people so far and convinced them to read it.

I'm am really looking forward to reading "The knife of never letting go" also by Patrick Ness as it has been on my radar of books to read for a long time now.

Check out the Book Smugglers review of this book, it's very inspiring!

READ THIS BOOK!!!

On the cover: This cover is amazing! It helps give an image of the monster in your mind. What you can't see are the also amazing illustrations through-out the book. You see a few in the above book trailer.

What I'm reading next: Nevermore by James Patterson

Have you read a book that you can't seem to explain how it made you feel?