Knife, Ask, Monster: A trilogy of awesome

You might think working in the Boy Factory might lead me to reading more adult or more trashy books when it comes to holidays. But truthfully, I don't think I ever quite left the Young Adult section of the bookshop. All of my favourites come from there, and not in a nostalgic kind of way. And not in a "It's an easy read" kind of way. I love the depth, the symbolism, the sophistication of the modern Young Adult novel. Or series of.



Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking trilogy is one such example. A post-apocalyptic coming of age tale, with Todd finding himself and discovering the New World on a developing settlement on a new planet. Sexual politics, racial prejudice, the overload of information in this post-Web 2.0 world, power, responsibility, terrorism... Ness deals with all of this in a delicious way, with stunningly drawn characters and a depth of emotion.

As other reviewers have noted, it is near impossible to discuss this book, or these books without giving away delicious details that are such a joy to discover in the rollercoaster of reading it. Just know this: JK Rowling has done a great deal for the increased publication of quality young adult fiction. Reading Harry has taken away lots of the negative stigma associated with reading kids books. But even more importantly, it is because of the popularity of her books that really excellent quality novels like this one have been published. Then again, I also blame her for the fact that Stephanie Meyer managed to get that vomit-in-the-shape-of-a-book-called-Twilight published. But that is a blogpost for another date...

The classification of Young Adult has generally lead to some heated diatribes, like this from Frank Cottrell Boyce in The Guardian (also loosely a review of the Chaos Walking trilogy). This article from The New Yorker also bellows about the brilliance of Young Adult dystopian novels. The general concensus of those whose opinion is more widely published than mine is that the YA section of the library and the bookshop is not the vacuous wasteland it has been in the past. The voices, the conflicts, the metaphors and the journeys of these books are rich and deep and brilliant in their construction and execution.

And I know this sounds like me trying to justify my penchant for kiddies' books. But seriously, they are just so awesome.

I am so utterly impressed with Patrick Ness and his trilogy. I don't understand why there isn't a copy of this book in everybody's hands, on buses and tubes and train platforms the world over. It is not without its critics. Punkadiddle thinks it is too violent (to which I say 'suck it up, tinkerbell, the violence raises the stakes, the violence is not meaningless, and not gratuitous). Jenny Brooks (a blogger who reads the end first) has issues with the structure and dialect (which is actually what hooked me in the first few pages) but ultimately she has much love for the story.

I wouldn't be overly surprised if this trilogy gets picked up for films. The narrative structure, particularly in the second two volumes, is really filmic... but I don't want to give away too much!

The first two volumes, The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and The Answer, are in paperback - they have been out for a few years. The third, Monsters of Men was released in the last few weeks and at this stage is only in hard cover. This is a recommendation of the Highest Order.

Speaking of Y-A Dystopian... Only six weeks until the conclusion of The Hunger Games trilogy is released. Perhaps a re-read about Kitness is asked for...?