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Years have passed since the Noise Germ infected humans and all the women died. Now Todd Hewitt is the only boy left in a town of men — a place where the cacophony of Noise is nearly unbearable and where every thought can be heard as clear as a shout. Still, Todd looks forward to his birthday, when he’ll finally become a man and find his place among the Prentisstown men. But the town is hiding something from him, and before he really even understands why, Todd is forced to flee across the swamp with his loyal dog, Manchee.
When Todd stumbles across a strange, silent creature — a girl — trapped in the swamp, he begins to question everything he’s been told. Who is this girl he’s suddenly struggling to protect? And why wasn’t she killed by the Germ like all the other females on New World?
Hostile men from Prentisstown — men he thought he knew — are after them. They are relentless in their pursuit. They won’t stop until he’s caught, and they seem eager to see him dead.
I have never been as conflicted about a story as I am about The Knife of Never Letting Go. Did I like it? Did I hate it? I still can’t decide. Mostly, I’m left confused.
This is not a genre I’m familiar with, which may be part of the reason for my confusion. Still … Is this story dystopian? Sci-fi thriller? Both. Kind of. Either way, it’s not for the faint of heart, featuring extreme graphic violence that left me a little disgusted and horrified. Coupled with the violence is a predictable, almost tedious, plot of constant running and extreme danger and villains who are evil for the sake of being evil (and who also happen to be indestructible and more than a little crazy).
It took a little while for me to adapt to the writing style, which reminded me a lot of Tom Sawyer with its misspelled words and slang, but at the same time I really appreciated the authenticity it gave to the character’s voice, and I feel it was a strong point of the story.
Overall, the message of the story is clear but not always well executed. The lessons to not always believe what you hear and that people can be brainwashed into hating came across (at least to me) as jarring and brushed off as no big deal. Also, Todd is supposed to be innocent — he’s counting down the days until he officially becomes a man, after all — but really he’s a character with conflicted thoughts about himself and his worldview, which sometimes leads him to do horrible things.
Still, I liked the world, the premise, and the possibility this story has to offer. Enough to read the next book? I still have not decided.
Rated: High, for frequent graphic violence and dark tones. Language content is high, including one use of strong language and more than 45 uses of a variation of it, a few uses of moderate profanity, and at least 46 uses of mild language (half of which include the name of Deity). Sexual content includes innuendoes from men who have sex on their minds (especially when they remember women), as well as insinuations about what they plan to do with the girl when she is caught.
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