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Jul 18, 2017TEENREVIEWCREW rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The Knife of Never Letting Go follows a boy named Todd Hewitt and his dog Manchee and is set in a far away world where the thoughts of people and animals can be heard out loud, regardless of whether the person or animal wants their thoughts to be heard or not. The story is set in the future as the protagonist lives in a colony that was settled on by people who travelled from Earth in search of a better world. Todd lives in Prentisstown, the last known settlement on the planet which is only populated by men due to a tragedy that took place in the town many years prior to the point at which the story starts. The book is a well-executed sci-fi teen fiction novel with an interesting concept, themes and story. There is plenty of character development, interesting dynamics between characters and a steady stream of new information that is given to the reader at a good pace that will keep you engaged. The ending however is meant to lead into the next book in the series (known as the Chaos Walking series) rather than an actual conclusion to this story, and as a result leaves a lot of issues unresolved, although the ending to this book isn’t completely terrible. Overall, a 4/5, definitely worth checking out. - @Fulton of the Teen Review Board at the Hamilton Public Library The concept behind the Knife Of Never Letting Go is very unique. In the story, there is the “noise”. The noise means that the people in the story can hear the thoughts of every man nearby -- meaning that there is no true silence and that there is no privacy between people. This is destined to create conflict as you can never truly have a thought to yourself. However, the noise only applies to males, so females do have the privacy of thought. This creates a conflict between genders. The symbolism in the novel is also very important. The knife represents duality. Todd, the main character, always has the choice to kill the main enemy in the story several times, but refuses to do so. Overall, the symbolism and concepts in the book are very interesting. The book is definitely hard to read at first because the dialogue is written grammatically incorrect because of the way that the author was trying to portray Todd. However, once you get used to it, the book is not a hard read. I think this was a great book and would rate it 4/5 stars. - @SuperSilk of the Teen Review Board of the Hamilton Public Library The Knife of Never Letting Go is set in a dystopian world of all men; women have died off. Though there is a twist, they can hear each other's thoughts. Imagine hearing your father's, brothers', neighbors', etc. thoughts day in and day out. Todd, the last boy in his little town of only men, is forced to leave the only place he knows with only his knife, dog, and a girl he picked up along the way. This book is dark, gritty, and out-of-this-world immersive in its storytelling. Todd and Viola feel like real characters, especially Todd, who is narrating the story. Despite the all-around good quality of the book, I actually didn't enjoy it that much. I don't blame anyone for it, I think it’s just not my type of book. If you like a Southern-style dystopia that centers around calling out toxic masculinity and the loss of childhood innocence, then I definitely think it’s worth the read. And even if it isn't your style, I still think you should give it a read because I truly think the storytelling is absolutely amazing, descriptive, and talented. I'm probably going to try and read it again in the near future. - @Spectacles of the Teen Review Board at the Hamilton Public Library