herondalecristina

[herondalecristina]

The knife of never letting go

I gotta say, the hype for this one has been real since pretty much ever. I’ve heard about it so much for years and years, especially in the early days of Booktube and internet book-talking. It has been hyped and hyped as one of the best dystopian books/series and beloved by so many. Overtime, since the dystopian craze dwindled, the conversation surrounding The Chaos Walking trilogy has quieted, only occasionally popping up in “Favourite series of all times” or “Dystopian recommendations”, and it is generally regarded as a “modern classic” series, in the same way The hunger games, or Divergent are. So safe to say, I’ve always been intimidated by it. I have a very hit and miss history with dystopians, mostly hindered by the fact that we live in such a dystopian-esque society to begin with, the last thing I want from my escapist reads is more reminders about how the world sucks and people are bad. I generally enjoy them overall, but hate the act of reading them, which was exactly the case with The knife of never letting go. 

Don’t get me wrong, the book is stellar, but reading it while a bunch of white supremacists are storming the US Capitol because they’re unhappy with the election results, while in the UK the pandemic kills about 500 people a day and the news report it as “well in April there was 1000 dying soooo” makes me wanna yeet myself off the planet too. Thank god for the audiobook, and the engaging narrator that pushed me through it!

After finishing it I literally yelled because I didn’t know what rating to give. The themes of this book are phenomenal, and the way Patrick Ness slowly builds them, with so much craft and care, unfolding them thread by thread, before unleashing them in a final crescendo that brings together every single crumb laid through the story is nothing short of genius. In this regard, the execution of the book is exceptional. At its core it’s a story about the loss of innocence and how you can mature, but still try hold onto the hope you had when you were an innocent. The theme of society forcing you to change to fit into a certain mould, and the refusal to do so, because you don’t think it’s right, is interwoven with historical revisionism and how that affects people, with heavy themes like colonialism and the fear of the “other” being carefully underlined as well, just to name a few. My mind is still trying to absorb and comprehend the complexity of what Ness created in this book.

However, regardless of how impressed I was by the themes and how they’ve been executed, the execution is also my biggest complain when it comes to characters. I understand that Todd is meant to toe the line of unlikeable, because he needs to grow and change, but in some parts of the book I really couldn’t bring myself to pick up the book again after I just put it down because I didn’t want to be stuck in his mind again. Viola could be an interesting character, but for the most part she seems to be either too scared to show off a personality, or a plot device for Todd to achieve character growth. I couldn’t tell you much about her other than “she’s kind” and “she’s resourceful”, but she does grow as the book unfolds, and by the end it’s interesting to see her reach an internal conflict (that I hope is explored more in book 2). 

However, by far the most annoying character is Aaron. All I have to say is how the fuck did this guy not die about 6 different times??? I really hated this so much, because every time he would pop back again it would make me take the book less seriously. It made no sense. I agree with Todd when he asks "How are you still alive?" bc same. I literally said that aloud multiple times.

Another thing that made me sigh in frustration was how this book really feels like torture porn for kids. Which I’m not sure how this is even “middle grade” when I don’t think emotionally scaring kids would be a good idea. Going back to how great the themes are presented, I do think that it would be a great conversation opener about heavy topics, but my god this book is bleak. For a book that talks relentlessly about hope, it surely gives none. If anything, I found it a journey in losing hope, be it Todd (with his family/town), Viola (the new world her and her parents hoped to find), or both of them (the overall journey of the book itself).  I know stakes are needed, and character growth is achieved through certain structural conventions (this book does read like a classic fairytale structure - with trials, challenges, and losses), but after living through 2020 and the first week of 2021, I just want some hope, man. Which is not the book’s fault.

Overall, as much as I was frustrated with certain things, I understand them. I understand why they were needed, even if it didn’t align with my personal preferences. Which is why I can’t rate it any lower than 4.5 without doing a disservice to the complexity of the things this book set (and succeeded) to achieve.

Also, I find it very apt that Daisy Ridley is playing Viola in the adaptation, since she reminded me a lot of Ray, the Star Wars character played by Daisy. Also Tom Holland casted as Todd is another *chef’s kiss* choice.