I discovered recently that people really aren’t a fan of Patrick Ness, and I was baffled: he’s one of my favorite YA writers. I loved how dark and weird the Chaos Walking trilogy got, and I will never stop being disappointed that Charlie Kaufman is no longer involved in the movie adaptation of it. I thought what he did with the bare bones of A Monster Calls was lovely and touching. I thought More Than This was very weird, but interesting. I even liked Release […]
‘Life is happening to us now, just like it’s happening to you’
Mikey is about to graduate from high school and head off to college, escaping his small town and irritating parents, but leaving behind some amazing friends. His anxiety is through the roof, trapping him in loops of hand washing and counting, and that’s before the indie kids start dying. There’s something strange happening in this town. Again. There’s been soul eating ghosts and vampires and gods and now there’s something else lurking in the woods causing the deer to freak out and the police force […]
‘Haven’t you ever felt like there has to be more?’
Seth drowns. His body is beaten against rocks, bones broken, and he dies. He wakes up in the street outside his old house in England. He’s lived in the US for almost a decade. And the world around him is crumbling. Food is moulding on the shelves, a sinkhole has opened in the middle of the road. And he is alone. Until he meets The Driver, a seemingly unstoppable force that’s out to kill Seth. But can he die when he’s already dead? Is this […]
Hunger Games-level of third book slump
I think this is the last one? I hope this is the last one. This book took all the gains that were made in book 2 and retreated waaaaaay back behind the starting line. It’s the super stylized writing that gets me, the page after page of stunted, one-line paragraphs repeatedly truncated to show rapid action. I mean, sure, it helps the book move quickly, but it feels like reading a seizure. Again, this book picks up right where the previous one left off. A […]