The Knife of Never Letting Go

The Knife of Never Letting Go

Ness, P. (2008). The knife of never letting go. Boston, MA: Candlewick Press.  In this Modern Fantasy, Todd Hewitt lives in Prentisstown and is days away from being a man. There are no women in his town, he is the last boy, and they all hear each other's Noise.  The two men that raised Todd, help him escape when they learn that Todd is in danger.  While he is running to a town that could help him, he befriends a girl, Viola, who lost her family when their spaceship crashed.  Viola can hear his Noise, but she is quiet.  Todd learns that everything he has been taught is a lie.  An army is chasing him.  He has to decide if he wants to be the kind of man who uses his knife to murder someone.  The themes of hope and making choices are intertwined in the story.  At the end, Todd learns that Aaron wants him to kill him so he becomes one of them.  The final twist in the story is when they realize that they have been running into a trap.  The mayor has been waiting for them the whole time.  This book was advertised as a "stay-up-way-too-late book," but I found that I could put it down.  I liked the friendship between Todd and Viola, and I cried when Manchee was so violently killed.  It was too disturbing for me about all the women being killed, and the Noise made me uncomfortable.  This book gives readers an opportunity for philosophical speculation. Serial readers will like reading the other books in this trilogy. 

Author's website including trailers:

http://patrickness.com/

Discussion Questions:
http://www.candlewick.com/book_files/0763639311.bdg.1.pdf