The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Originality- 20/20
Characters- 18/20
Remembrance- 8/10
Quote-ability- 8/10
Entertainment- 19/20
Ending- 9/10
Recommend to read- 9/10
TOTAL- 91/100
Grade- A

Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him — something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd's gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.
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This is my favorite kind of book! I really enjoy books that bring a whole new idea into YA literature, and for me that's dystopian books. It's fun to read something that you have no idea what will happen next because most of the ideas are new.

Instead of having some long boring get to know you time with Todd, we were submerged right into the action. The day we first meet Todd is the day his life changed forever. Eventually we did get to know him, but it happened gradually throughout the book while he got to know Viola.

I really liked the idea of everyone hearing each other's thoughts. It added a whole new level of danger to Todd's journey. I'm used to things like this only happening to one person and it being a huge secret, but for the New World everyone had this disease.

This book was just so fun to read. The entire time I was on the edge of my seat. Every time I thought things were getting better and they were finally safe things got all out of control again. I almost screamed "Just kill him already!" several times.

I began to love Todd. At first I thought the accent and bad grammar in the book was annoying but it grew on me. Now I think it sounds cute. I love me some country boys. He was so conflicted about everything. I could feel his frustration when he found out a lot of his life has been a lie. Unlike other books I didn't flip flop between whose side I was on. I was team Todd all the way.

Overall I would say that The Knife of Never Letting Go was a crazy ride with so many creative points I couldn't get enough of it. I recommend this book for anyone who likes action and freaky things.

-Amanda