No youngster on a tough passage to adulthood should need to make the journey always ready to use a hunting knife for self-preservation. But such are the perils for young Todd Hewitt, the protagonist in The Knife of Never Letting Go (2008, Walker Books, 479 pages), a surprisingly violent children's novel by Patrick Ness.
Exciting, suspenseful and well written, this book for readers aged 14 and above compares favorably to J.K. Rowling's tales about a young wizard named Harry Potter. Difficult to categorize, it's partly adventure, science fiction and love story, including the profound devotion between a boy and a dog.
As Todd nears his 13th birthday, his life in Prentisstown, a future settlers' community at the edge of a crocodile-infested swamp in a world much like the Earth, erupts into horrific chaos. Before long, he must revise almost everything he knows.
Humans had little choice but to resettle. “Old World's mucky, violent and crowded... a-splitting right into bits with people a-hating each other and a-killing each other, no one happy till everyone’s miserable. Least it was all those years ago.”
After the settlers' spaceships landed, they tried to do better, but with mixed results. Oddly, Todd's hometown lacks women and all the men can hear each other's thoughts drift through the air in a steady ruckus nicknamed “the noise”.
“There ain't nothing but Noise in this world, nothing but the constant thoughts of men and things coming at you and at you and at you, ever since the spacks released the Noise germ during the war, the germ that killed half the men and every single woman, my ma not excepted, the germ that drove the rest of the men mad, the germ that spelled the end of all Spackle once men’s madness picked up a gun.”
Some readers liken this “noise” to the information overload that modern earthlings face. That too never stops, but it's much easier to tune out.
Even animals, like Todd's diligent dog Manchee, can talk. “The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say. About anything.”
Things go awry when Todd and Manchee detect an unexpected silence in the swamp. Then excitement and danger come fast and furious.
“And we run and Manchee lets out a frightened yelp and leaps past me but I see a croc rear up outta the rushes in front of him and jumps for him but Manchee's so scared he jumps even higher, higher than he really knows how, and the croc's teeth snap on empty air and it lands with a splash next to me looking mighty pissed off.... and I'm running and it jumps for me and I'm not even thinking and I'm turning and I'm pushing my hand up and the croc comes crashing down on top of me and its mouth is open and its claws are out and I think I'm about to be dead....”
Todd's knife gets heavy use. “I take out the knife. The blade still has dried blood smeared on it here and there.... But the rest of it still shines, shimmering and flickering, flickering and shimmering.”
Originally from the United States, Ness moved to London in 1999. He writes for newspapers and radio too. His earlier books, a novel, The Crash of Hennington, and a short-story collection, Topics About Which I Know Nothing, were for older readers. For three years, he taught creative writing at Oxford University.
After joining Ness and Todd on a long, perilous path toward refuge and hope, readers reach a dissatisfying conclusion that settles nothing. They may react to the nasty-surprise ending by bashing the book against walls.
Evidently, Ness wants to herd his readers into a now-available sequel, The Ask and the Answer (528 pages). Those who feel betrayed at the end of The Knife of Never Letting Go may refuse to go, fearing another wild ride into discontent.
Approval rating: 71 per cent.
For more information: www.walker.co.uk
(January 25, 2010)
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