You might recognise the name of this series from when it was meant to have been turned into a film featuring Tom Holland, but they messed up the filming. I've chosen to talk about this series all at once as the plot goes from one book to the other, finishing each book, even the last one, as a cliff hanger, in true Patrick Ness style. The books are, in order ‘The Knife of Never Letting Go’, ‘The Ask and the Answer’ and ‘Monsters of Men’.
If sci-fi/fantasy could be encapsulated in a single book series, it would be this one. The Chaos Walking series is set in a dystopian world in which all living beings can hear and see each other's thoughts. Admittedly the books are large, but they also deal with colonialism, feminism, and several other social and political issues. Quoting my original review for this book that I wrote in 2015, ‘It questioned society in enough ways to challenge even Rowling’ so if that isn’t an endorsement from the past for 2020, I don’t know what is. The layout and visual element of the books is done in such an incredible way, immersing the reader into the world even more. The Chaos Walking series will make you laugh, cry, rip your heart out, fuck it up and put it back in barely mended and then make you laugh again. Patrick Ness is an incredible author and I will forever recommend his books.
In terms of queer representation, the main character was raised by his two adopted fathers and there is a gender ambiguous / gay humanoid, who is native to the planet on which the story is set. Unfortunately, this is the extent of the queer representation within the series, however given the gay author with a range of other incredible books and the political issues dealt with, I felt it important to amplify this series.
The Guardian said, ‘You only have to read the first sentence to realise how great this will be’. The first sentence is ‘The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say’. I don’t know about you, but I am hooked.
In addition to the trilogy, there is an online set of two spin-off books, both available for free on Kindle. They are ‘New World’ and ‘Snowscape’. Admittedly, I have only read the first one once a while ago and so can't really comment on those, but I definitely recommend the series.
By Taylor Adams
Get a copy of The Knife of Never Letting Go, the first book in the Chaos Walking series, from Book Depository or AbeBooks.
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